Smiles for the Elderly

This past Sunday October 28th we dressed the kids up in their Halloween costumes, brought bags of goodies and took them to the nursing home with several other families.  We visited many of the residents in the home and had a wonderful time.  The longer the kids were in there the more comfortable they were giving hugs and talking to the residents.  We will definitely be going back on a more regular basis.  The smiles the kids brought to many of their faces were priceless.  They told us before coming and upon arriving that they LOVE kids and what a treat it is for kids to come because they see so few of them.  Being able to share our children with these people was amazing for them and even more so for us.  Watch the video below to see how it went!  One of the highlights was meeting a 105 year old woman that is a resident at the home.  In the video she is wearing a striped shirt and the kids are crowded around her.  She is filled with so much life.  She was so animated she was capturing everyone's attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYV7eMIvX0E&feature=player_embedded

October Mission of The Month

MISSION OF THE MONTH - OCTOBER
October 28TH from 2-4pm at Grace Healthcare (1287 West Main Street Franklin, TN 37064)
We will bring smiles to the faces of the residents with our children dressed in costumes! If you feel called please bring treat bags for the residents filled with toiletries and/or have your children make cards for the residents! Please let me know if you have teenagers who would want to participate in the thrilling bingo game! Teenagers are also welcome to come around and make room visits greeting people.

What's Mine is Yours Event

On September 30th Mission Family went to a mobile home community here in Franklin with truck loads of stuff!  Families arrived and set up all of the items on tables as the Franklin Estates community gathered to shop!  The What's Mine is Yours Event was a huge success!  Families gathered items from their homes and asked others to donate to the mission and then we gave it all away at the event to families in need.  Check out the article link below for more on the story and check out the pics below.  

http://www.dioceseofnashville.com/index.cfm?load=news&newsarticle=14

Creating Opportunities for Giving in your Everyday Life

Annaliese (6) said "mom because you changed baby doctors (we would drive into downtown Nashville the past two pregnancies, but now we are going to a doctor 10 minutes from our house) will we take food to people on the streets" and I said why wouldn't we take food to them and Annaliese said "because they are not on the way to the doctors anymore."  It occurred to me in that moment we have to make it something along our path especially when we are busy with life.  If it is not something along our path and built into our lives we forget about it.    During my pregnancies and anytime we go down town we fill the front seat with water bottles, bananas, crackers, and any other food we have in our house to pass out to all the homeless people we pass on our journey to our destination.  Driving into Nashville you see some and if you open your eyes and are looking for them you see a lot!  We found when we started packing food the people began to multiply, but really the people didn't change it was our hearts.  We were searching for them and made time for them.  My goal is to now figure out a way we work this into our lives again.  I love my new doctor and it works for our family, but I have to figure out a way to make going downtown a regular part of our lives.