Delivering the Goods! Odwalla CFK Game Day Challenge Round Two #CBias #SocialFabric

This month, Champions For Kids is partnering with Odwalla juice in a SIMPLE Service Project to round up some new or gently-used sports/outdoor equipment and donate it to a children's organization.  We decided to give our gifts to Pendleton Parks and Recreation!

Our family has benefited, on so many occasions, from the services that the Pendleton Parks and Rec provides.  Our homeschool group rents out this gym once a week to have free play time.   

Each year, they host the Daddy Daughter Dance---one of the highlights of the year for our girls!

They make sure we've got several baseball fields around town to play in.  Our homeschool group utilizes one specific park the majority of each year for sports.

They maintain all our beautiful parks and make sure we have clean and safe places to enjoy family time!

Before heading out for our shopping trip to collect items to donate to the Recreation Center gym and summer park time, I contacted the Parks & Rec to make sure that they were interested in the donation and to see what sorts of things they needed.  We've never given to a community-wide resource like this, so I wanted to make sure that we were providing things they could use.  Along with our donation of outside equipment, we gave a bunch of Odwalla juice! 

 If you'd like to see more  pictures of our shopping trip, you can check out my Google+ album featuring the #OdwallaCFK project. 

We set up an appointment and delivered the goods one sunny afternoon---on our way to the park!

The ladies who took the donations for us were so blessed by the kids' generosity that they let them each pick a tattoo!  Now our kids can't wait to go back to the Rec Center to play with the toys they donated!

For more information on how you can be involved with Champions For Kids, visit CFK at the following places:

Champions For Kids website

Twitter

Champions For Kids Facebook page

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are honest and are my own.

Our Homeschool and Homemaking Link Up Weekend

Often times, people will ask about our homeschool and wonder how I can possibly do everything it takes to bring these 8 kids up right.  Well, my definition of "bringing them up right" might be a little different than yours...

In our homeschool, we read lots of stories in bed in our jammies.

You might even catch us at the table doing school work in our robes and bare feet!

Sometimes I even let the kids read comics in place of classics!!

There's always time to put on a George Washington costume before sitting down for a geography lesson.

I might even agree to a week off so a project can be finished!

Sometimes I let the kids snuggle on the floor together while their other siblings slave away at math or reading.

Believe it or not, a quiet reading place can always be found somewhere!

When we take turns treating one another like royalty, everyone feels special!

We learn to work through life's wonderful distractions.

We even play with our food!

We work out problems together---(yes, that IS a three-year-old playing with scissors)

We share our talents with one another.

When it's time to do chores, we attack them with the force of superheroes!

We always try and keep our senses of humor in tact.

With all this fun to be had, how can I resist?

Thanks for stopping by this week's Homemaking Link Up Weekend! I'd love to have you join us.  Please link up any and all home/family/craft/recipe/etc. posts below!

Linking with:
Beverly's Pink Saturday @ How Sweet The Sound
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Contentment Part Three: Finding Joy In Our Unique Circumstances

We took the kids to the park for baseball and a picnic on Sunday morning.  Me and baby Kynthia took the picture!

Hebrews 13:5  "Let your conduct be without covetousness;  be content with such things as you have.  For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you or forsake you.' "

This is one that I don't feel like I deal with so much at this time in my life, though I've definitely dealt with it before!  I honestly can't think of anything that I covet.  Yay!!  This is a welcome reprieve for me in this series on Contentment!  Monday, I talked about worry---that was a convicting one.  However, yesterday's discussion on complaining was the big whammy!  It sounds like that one made an impression on others, as well, since I got a lot of feedback about it!

Anyway, back to coveting.

Mom taught me that the grass is not always greener on the other side, and it didn't take much life experience to prove that to be true!  With other people's "stuff" comes other people's junk.  I think the main reason why I don't deal with a covetous spirit very often is because I've come to realize that God uniquely made me to be able to handle/enjoy the blessings and trials that are in my own life.

The circumstances of my own situation dictate what sorts of things will be beneficial for me.  I don't have designer clothes like some because I have a new baby every year who would spit up on them and stain them! (I couldn't fit into them anyway since I'm always pregnant or recovering!)  However, I do have a lot of cute maternity things, as well as the ability to design and sew my own clothing, so I don't feel like I'm always donning a shapeless parachute!

I don't have a fancy sports car---because what I need is a 15-passenger van.  I don't have a sprawling mansion---because what I can manage is a modest, 4-bedroom home in town.  I haven't been blessed with extraordinary beauty and a flawless figure---because I have a personality that desires attention and the Lord knows that wouldn't be beneficial to me or my marriage!

I don't struggle very often with discontent in the area of greed because I am peaceful and happy in the life God has given me!  I know that God will never leave me nor forsake me---therefore, I can be content in knowing that he is working out the perfect set of blessings for my unique circumstances!

Did you miss Part One on Worry??  How about Part Two on Complaining?  Check them out and be blessed!

Linking with:
Loving Our Children Tuesday at Teaching What Is Good 

This article was written for the 61st edition of The Christian Home Magazine.  Check it out and be blessed!