When Kids are Generous

I have been working in Sunday School for a couple years and every time a project or a need is brought to the kids attention there is always some little one that goes above and beyond the call and shows a really generous heart. A few years back we started making crafts to sell because we were led by an example of a little girl who had done the same on her own initiative and raised money to buy school supplies for children. This year was no different! We have sponsored a little boy *who is now a teenager* from Romania for a couple of years and when we started in September we wanted to make a more concerted effort to talk about him and connect him a bit more to our kids whose offering helps to support him. I was so excited when I saw little ones starting to remember to collect their coins, but even more so when I saw the look of joy and pride on their faces when they started bringing ROLLS and ROLLS of pennies and coins that they had personally rolled to donate to our offering. It's wonderful!

Last week I was at one of my art gallery parties and the little girl had asked her friends to donate her gifts to Toys for Tots! I personally see HOW long and HOW many gifts these kiddos get at parties since usually there are about 10 kids they invite, and they get some LOOT!!! It usually takes a little while for them to get around to opening them all and is pretty much the best part of the party for most of the kids! (I don't blame them a bit!!!) But this little girl had decided in the summer that she wanted to collect toys for kids at Christmas and she also donated all her birthday money for the soup kitchen.....lets just say that I was a bit inspired and filled with admiration for her example of a generous heart!

This week I worked in a Grade Six class and noticed a girl had a cute little haircut so I told her I loved it! She told me she had donated her hair to cancer research! She's not the first one in her class either! I think that is PRETTY amazing and I've heard of a few other kids who have done that too. What a blessing to some little girl!

I just love how generous and filled with love people are all through the year, but I love to see it at Christmas! I love seeing and hearing stories about little ones who are building their character and developing patterns of being generous in their childhood that will make them the kind of adult you will really want to have as a friend and partner and coworker and boss! 

I am so thankful I have a generous family and boyfriend! That is one quality that I admire so much in my siblings and my mom and dad, especially since we have all struggled so much with money and finding work and just paying our monthly bills sometimes!! Over the years I can't even count the times that I had to borrow money or have been given gifts of money from people I love (sometimes in secret, sometimes slipped in my purse, sometimes in a card or letter, sometimes in a gift card). Its very very humbling to learn to accept generosity because I would so rather be the GIVER than the RECEIVER...but those gifts of kindness have got me through the hardest times and I have been so thankful that I have parents that value generosity too! My mom has already started her Christmas goodies deliveries to people she loves and runs around doing errands for people who need her help and my dad loves buying presents for his kids and then wrapping them in newspaper....they are already lined up on a bookshelf and are the first thing you see when you walk in our door! And don't even get me started on how my sister shares her groceries with her siblings every week! Its very rare that we go to her house and don't get a yummy snack...actually I don't think its EVER happened! I appreciate and love my generous siblings hearts so much! We LOVE giving gifts!!!

I am so excited to have a little extra money this year to buy some small presents and I keep thanking God for that (I followed my Mom's lead who collects things she finds all through the year in baskets for all of us in her big closet) and last night I wrapped a few little things and was just thinking of how last year I had NO money and NO presents to give and I felt so sad about that! I know that there is lessons to be learned in creative generosity and I am blessed to have been raised in a family that is generous!

I finally found him!!!

(photo taken by the amazing Katherine-MacLaine-Design-Photography)

Every time I hear Enrique sing.....finally, finally, finally found you....well, it makes me think of Dan! I can't believe I have finally found him and every day I realize he is more and more the perfect match for me!  So indulge me a little, my handful of readers, who I know love me...so you probably won't mind.....here is my story....a short version!! hahah

A long, long time ago (way back in 2011), I got an email from a friend asking me if I wanted to go on a date with her bro! I was scared and nervous and very reluctant to do this! I have always been against blind dates personally because I always dreamed of having a best friend that just naturally became my husband! So I kinda refused a few times but inside I was thinking...why not...what do you have to lose!!! So there was a point that my brain switched to start to welcome the idea. So one day I got a little message from Danny Stretch asking me if I wanted to go to a Fundraiser for his cousin! I was scared to death, and my best friend Jules was visiting me so I didn't know what to say. Later that weekend I got a call from a number I didn't recognize and I was sooooo awkwardly nervous when I answered it and heard a super low rumbly voice telling me it was Danny Stretch calling. So I kinda said no to him but was also trying to say that I would be up for hanging out but he could obviously tell I was sooo nervous and pacing around. Anyways...a few days later his sister invited us both over for games and I....well lets just say I felt SICK to my stomach driving to her house that night! But as soon as I walked in I saw Dan leaning over the counter...pretty relaxed and chill and I was still nervous and he was a little intimidating...but his voice was gentle and he was funny! After that it was a few random hangouts and MANY MANY MANY debriefs with my sister and Amanda and emails from his sister and pretty much any girl who would give me the time of day and their word of advice! So we started hanging out a bit more but he was also studying for his first year plumbing tests so there was a few weeks that we weren't really connecting well...and "typical EB" as he likes to lovingly say sometimes to me.... I send him an email and just kinda said....this isn't really working out so well....I don't really want a FRIEND at this point in my life....and he sweetly wrote back and said don't give up and tried a bit harder to hang out with me...this happened a few times and I remember one other time that I sent him a message implying that I was discouraged that we didn't see each other or talk that much and he sent me a text that I should call him that night....so that was another milestone of mine and I had to build A LOT of courage up to call him that night but I did and it was really sweet and fun to talk to him. So the more I hung out with him the more I was starting to really have fun with him. It was the week of my birthday that I hung out with him and we made curry and watched a Chinese/English dubbed KungFu movie and I was thinking....oh man I really wish I could hold his hand!!! (But we didn't!!) So I had a really fun birthday week in June (with surprise visits from my cousin and best friend) and was feeling like I was starting to really like this dude....And later that month (ON JUNE 17TH TO BE EXACT) he invited me to go camping with his friends (VERY NERVOUS) and on our *quiet* drive over to Halifax I was convinced he was bored and definitely NOT into me....but just as we were driving into the city, he said...Do you think your ready to define our relationship? And I said....UM YES!!!!! and he held my hand for the first time and that is how we started our love story!!!!

                        

 It only took me a few months until I knew I loved him (it was at Basinhead Beach--camping again!!!)
He told me he loved me in December and made me the happiest girl in the world!
I fell so much more in love with him during the next few seasons of fun.....so many times of cooking yummy meals, having picnics, swimming at Rice Point, Fort Amherst and Canoe Cove after work, playing games with our families, going to church together every week, helping him tear down his barn a little!!, playing video games together, family meals and camping trips......every minute I feel like my heart will explode with love for this guy!

So on December 14th, he came over after work, after sending sweet encouraging texts to me all week and took me to North Rustico to see the crazy lights. And right after we took some funny pictures of ourselves...he said " I want to give you something...but before I do I want you to know I love you so much and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you" and he got on his knee and I jumped into his arms and said over and over...I can't believe it...is this real!!!

                                                       

And we drove and told our parents (and he had sweetly asked my mom and dad the night before) and we celebrated with warm butter tarts and facetimed his mom and dad (and his mom was the happiest screamer of anyone) and started telling the news with so so so so so many people who have loved me and prayed for me specifically over the years to find a good man. And I can hardly believe the gift that I have been given. Its amazing to be loved by such a good man and I look forward to spending the rest of my life loving him and being loved by him!

Christmas Cheer

I really love Christmas. I really really look forward to the months before, and I really feel sad when its over. Dan likes teasing me about that, but its part of the Bredin history...we all feel a bit sad on Christmas night. We like the anticipation, the hopes, the excitement that leads up to that magical day. But, really what I love is how the world around me really gets bright, cheerful and loving. I love the celebrations at work and home and that people are looking out for eachother. I love shopping and watching people as they look at this item or the next and think....they are probably trying to find the PERFECT present for that someone they love! (I don't like grumpy people who push and shove and get impatient with the salesclerks, but I will try to pretend they are rare!!)

I love Christmas with children. I love spending time with my nieces and nephews and even though its exciting to think and dream about what they WANT for Christmas....how could they not with the wishbook and Toys R Us flyers all around them...but I love to hear little voices saying what they want to GIVE....and this was seen even at our Christmas Concert on Sunday...we went down the line and asked the kids what they loved about Christmas and the last little guy said he loved giving presents to his sister....and you should have heard the "Awwww"s allover the church.

Anyways. I have been discouraged. Writing is such a venting place for me and my blog has traditionally had moments of being "Debby Downer" in the past. But today I just feel like Jesus is reminding me of the REASON for the season....not just the season but for LIFE. The joy and excitement I feel at Christmas to love and give is usually just amped up, but I do feel those things all through the year! I just love that the world joins in and really celebrates Love and by default Jesus---sometimes without even knowing they are!

And I do love Santa too. What a guy!!

A Christmas Storm Day....

Today I didn't want a storm day. I wanted a work day! I really really prayed for a call. Every day my upstairs landlords wake me up at 6 am as they prepare for work...and every day for about 20 minutes I lay awake in my bed praying over and over..."PLEASE.....PLEASE......!!!!!" And sometimes I do...but most days, lately...I haven't!

I don't want to spend a whole blog post complaining about that...but today I didn't get a call. I did have a good morning volunteer in a Kindergarten class...not doing much, but showing the school that I care enough to come in without being paid!! But then it got snowy...and school was actually let out early!

All of this leads to....

I still love storm days. There is something magical in the air when you know that school's out! I actually was legitimately scared today as I was driving...my wheels aren't the greatest...but I loved that little brief interlude of being home and having the snow lightly falling and knowing that I was cozy and safe inside my warm house! I even baked a bit, prepared supper, watched a little TV show before heading back in town to tutor but that was a fun little "break"!!!

Now...I am going to be grateful again!!!

3 gifts of unframed art:
One of my part time jobs is to do birthday parties at the local art gallery! I love this job...I don't always love missing out on activities that happen during this time...but when I get in there and get in the mode of talking with kids about art...I LOVE every second of it. So I want to talk about the gifts of art that I appreciate...
1. Seeing kids create! I love seeing their ideas. I love leading them but NEVER boxing them into a certain kind of art and knowing that what comes out of them is always better and more authentic then forcing them to conform to something and ending up with carbon copies of the same idea over and over
2. I love the art of a Christmas Tree. I love seeing how people decorate. I love bows, I love feathers, I love garland....I love colored lights, I love no lights and I love white lights..... I just love seeing each families personalities are found in their trees.
3. I love splatters of paints across a canvas. I don't care if its professional Jackson Pollack or a kids version of making a mess... I love colors. I love modern art and I love impressions and drops and abstract ideas! I just adore art in general and I love to appreciate some one else's creativity!
Some art work from my parties:

 One of my favorite trees:

Saw this amazing painting in real life in New York Metropolitan Art Museum:

3 Gifts from My Saviour

Well...I am not going to make all my December gifts a blog post, but I thought I should set my mind and heart on this one especially on my blog! I was thinking how wonderful it is to see the whole world at least acknowledging the gifts of the Saviour around this time of year, even if we aren't allowed to blatantly say His Name or even tell His story outright in some places! But the songs sure do, and the spirit sure does, so we are all blessed to have this time of year to just feel and hear about Love, Joy and Giving.

I just drove home and one of the houses I drove past had a HUGE "J-0-Y" sign right on their lawn in front of their bushes! I hope my eyes will always be drawn to see and notice this for the season that they have this there! Isn't it lovely!

1. My first gift: Assurance. I have to say that this month I am definitely aware of the assurance of knowing and being known by Jesus. I definitely need this. I don't always FEEL it, but at the end of the day I do trust that this life I have been given is mine, that things are happening for a reason and purpose, and that even in the darkness or even in the light that I am loved by Jesus.
2. Second gift: Love! I feel so thankful for my true love! I can't believe I have finally found him! I hear that Enrique song all the time, you know...."FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY found you"....and it always makes me think of me and Dan! He is even starting to say its OUR song too! HAHAH But I am so thankful that I have such a good, kind, HANDSOME!, sweet, loving and amazing best friend! I thank God for the gift of friendship and companionship and love that I find in Danny.
3. Third gift: My sister bought me an EggNog Latte from Starbucks. I was having a pretty discouraging work week, and just actually went to file some things in a government office....and spending those moments with my sister and her kids (and a surprise 5 minute hangout with our little bro) was such a pick me up! Plus its the first time I ever tasted this kind of drink! I probably wouldn't have ordered it, but I realllllly liked it!

(And I DO want to shout out to my sweet friend Marissa...but I know her as Missy (From http://becomingkindred.com/) As she is one of my favorite blogs to read! I love her series on the Advent, I love her stance on things like Christmas lights---read about it here, I love her cooking and crafting ideas (Gluten free and Living Naturally), and I think her three baby girls are some of the cutest in the world!!! Thanks for reading me, when I get around to blogging, Missy!!!

December Gifts

I haven't blogged here for awhile, but since I daily check many blogs I thought I may as well find an outlet for all the rambly thoughts I think about and I know for sure Kristin and Kristi will enjoy reading them!! I am looking forward to doing this in my own little gratitude journal, but I may find a way to incorporate it here as well. But today I want to start with writing a little shout out to those two girls in particular.

Kristi: (from http://ahappylittlemama.blogspot.ca/):
There is really no other human besides Danny that gets me so perfectly and easily....even when it annoys me to death that both of you "Get" me and "Get eachother" hahah! I just know that without you in my life I'd feel even more discouraged and down and less happy and less excited about the little things! This time in my life has been some of the happiest for me because of your little family and even when I feel so discouraged about work and money....a quick visit to your house does wonders for my heart and soul! You are raising the sweetest boys I have ever met...they love Jesus...they worship and pray and dance and I can see Jesus in them! You and Jason are my best friends and I love spending time with you...and I am so thankful that we live so close! Thanks and keep bloggin! I love reading your posts!

Kristin: (from http://thismamasheartthoughts.blogspot.ca/):
One of my longest friendships, and DEFINITELY the one friend that keeps the BEST contact with me out of any friend I've ever had or known! I am so excited that she has finally taken her writing talents to the blogging world! I love seeing what you will write about each day and I can relate to so much of what you say, and I am inspired by the things I can't yet relate to (motherhood) or don't really WANT to relate to (SQUATS!!! HAHAHA)! Anyways, I just got done a sweet little text conversation and you gave me such good advice and perspective! Its ALWAYS good to have perspective! Thank you for sharing your heart and life with me and I hope to always be as close to you as I am now! It just keeps getting better!

3 gifts silver: 
*my silver ipod that is inscribed to me from my best friend
*the silver tip of my favorite color pens, the inky-gel kind! 
*the silver top of my favorite Body Shop vanilla perfume