Valentine's for widows

I am so proud of my Acteens! 

At our January meeting, I asked them to come up with our next monthly project.  They decided to make something for Valentine's Day for the elderly in our church.  From there, it was narrowed down to the widowed ladies in our church family. 

So at our February meeting, we got together and they made the cutest cards and goody bags for 10 widowed ladies in our church.

The bags were filled with decorative tissue packs, hand lotion, hand sanitizer, nail files, and candy.

The cards were decorated with Bible verses about love, ribbons, and cute little bows :)

They handed out most of the bags the Sunday before Valentine's Day at church.

Others were delivered to the homes of those not in attendance.

Their thoughtful gifts were very much appreciated and put smiles on the faces of those sweet ladies.

Never underestimate how the simplest of ideas can have such a HUGE impact on someone's life.

every penny counts

Baby Bottle Boomerang

The Hazel Chapman WMU group at FBC Rochelle will once again be sponsoring a “Baby Bottle Boomerang” fundraiser to benefit the Pregnancy Care Center of Tifton, Ga.  Bottles will be available on Sunday, January 20^th after church.  Every family is encouraged to take a baby bottle and fill it with loose change, bills, or checks and return it to the church by Sunday, February 17th.  All donations are greatly appreciated as they will help the center provide the much needed resources and services to women in the surrounding communities.  May God bless you for giving to such a worthy cause.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” Jeremiah 1:5

Acteens thankful for teachers

I have the privilege of leading our Acteens group at FBC Rochelle.  This mission organization is made up of teenage girls, 7th - 12th grades. 

I shared with you earlier about our first project during the month of October, Care vs. Cardboard.  In November, we decided to show our appreciation and thanks to their school teachers.

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, we met at the church and baked some delicious cookies for their grade teachers.  I found a picture of some apple cookies online (so perfect for teachers, no?) and recruited the help of our friend, Toria Brown to create these sweet treats :)

Toria has her own baking business and shares her talents by baking sweet treats for many of our church occasions.  We couldn't have completed this task without her!

rolling out the dough

Thankfully, we have two of everything in our kitchen at the church, so it was easy and convenient for the girls to spread out.

They were so easy to cut out!



apple cookie cutters

Having fun in the flour!

Toria made these cute little mice and acorns for the girls to enjoy. 

She also made cake balls on sticks!  I brought what we needed to make our own cappuccinos for them to enjoy in their spare time while waiting on the cookies to finish baking.



Lots of laughs :)

mixing up the icing

Now the detailed work begins!

Aren't they adorable?!

We packaged them up in clear bags so the cookies could be the main decoration.  I made cute little tags for each one that said: "Thanks to you, I feel like one smart cookie"

Cute....even if I do say so myself!

I'm looking forward to other fun projects with this special group of young ladies :)

"Be a Blessing" campaign

Who can YOU bless today?

...more on this soon...

Care vs. Cardboard

Care vs. Cardboard is a project inspired by a young lady attending college at Georgia State University.  She is a friend of my son, Dillan, and an inspiration to me...although I've never met her. 

As students, they see countless numbers of homeless people on their way to class.  There is a park in the nearby area that they pass when they walk down a certain street.  Because this park is public property, the homeless people in the area are allowed to stay, but they do not have shelter of any kind to protect them from the elements.  This young lady has been moved by God to do something about this.  Knowing that winter is not far away, she is collecting blankets, sheets, pillows, and other such items to give to these people in such great need. 

I was so moved by her compassion to help people she doesn't even know that I wanted to do my part to help with such a worthy cause. 

This is a great project for Acteens!

I was excited to be asked to lead the Acteens group at our church this year.  This group consists of young ladies from 7th - 12th grades. 

If you're not familiar with Acteens, it's a missions organization designed to teach young ladies about missions and how they can minister to others - not only in their communities, but in their country and around the world. 

This year's theme is: G3: The Power of a Girl to Change the World

I thought the Care vs. Cardboard project would be a great way to share how they can help with missions in their own state.  From now until this Sunday, October 28th, we have a collection box at First Baptist Church in Rochelle.  If you'd like to donate items for this worthwhile cause, please drop them by the church.  I would also be glad to pick up items if you are not able to deliver them. 

I ask that you remember these students  involved in this project...that God would use them in great ways to show Himself to those in need.  It doesn't matter what your age, young or old, God uses those who are willing.