Painting with cars

If you know my boys, you know they love cars. They love trucks and anything that goes. However, they aren't big on paint, coloring, or anything like that. So, to incorporate both, I thought it would be fun to dip wheels in paint, and roll them around on paper. This was easy and fun. The clean up was easy too. This was my kind of project. This winter, I will probably do this again. Next time, I will tape large sheets of paper down on the floor, and do a much larger version of this. Give it a try with your kids.

Just tape down paper on a table, let them pick out different cars, and put paint on paper plates.

Here we reinforce red and yellow makes orange. We have gone over this a million times since Halloween.

 

Final product.

A Missed Opportunity

This past Sunday, my church started a series called, "Justice." It is a 5 week series covering world issues that we (us living in the US) tend to ignore. Sunday afternoon, I sat with a group of friends, discussing the 1st week's sermon on orphan care. You could tell that everyone, at some point in the discussion, was overwhelmed by the problem....and also overwhelmed with how to reach out and help. I was also overwhelmed. However, I started to think, 'what if I just took the opportunities that came my way to make a difference. Not just with orphans, but with everyone.'

Suddenly, my thoughts went back to 2 weeks ago. My husband and I had been invited to go to the South Carolina v Tennessee football game at USC. The people that invited us, got us the tickets, set up the tail gate, and did everything. All we had to do was get a babysitter and show up. It was such a treat.

I won't go into the details of the game, but Tennessee lost...and it was time to go home. We headed back to the tailgate, in order to let the crowd thin and stuff our faces with more food. About an hour later, it was time to go. We were given 2 loafs of spice/pumpkin bread for the road. It was SO good. A separate loaf had been on the table at the tailgate, and I probably ate 4 pieces. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. I didn't need the extra calories, but it was really good, and I pictured myself munching on it till it was gone. Yumm.

We had decided to give one loaf to Chris's mom for keeping our boys. That was fine with me, as long as I got at least one of them. However, as we were walking to our car, there were 2 men walking towards the stadium. One man was pushing a shopping cart, full of cans and bottles. The other, looked a little less healthy, and possibly had some mental illness. I could tell he was in need. I heard a voice say, 'give him the bread.' I wanted to, but we had already decided to give one to Chris's mom...and if I gave away the other loaf, there wouldn't be any left for me. So, I ignored that still soft nudge to give him the bread. I kept walking, and almost immediately, I knew I had made the wrong decision.

Could I really be this selfish? I had probably eaten more in the past 5 hours than he had all week long. Yet, I just kept walking, trying not to feel guilty. It didn't work. In fact, I have felt terrible about it for a while now. I just wish I could go back and have a re-do. Know what I mean? In the grand scheme of things, is it THAT big of a deal. I think the answer is, yes.  My mind keeps going back to Matthew 25:45. "Truly, I say to you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

I did finish the bread. I finished it this morning actually. I wish I could find those 2 men, and change my decision. I can't. All I can do, is pray that my actions will be different next time. That I will learn to be less selfish and more of a generous giver. And the next time I hear that soft voice saying, 'GIVE,' that no matter what, I do it...and with a generous heart.