Art For The Nations

As most of you know, I volunteer as a small group leader with high school freshmen girls.  It's exhausting and wonderful.  I've been with this same group of girls since they were in 6th grade and boy have they changed in four years.

They challenge me every Wednesday night.  They make me laugh hysterically.  They have more energy than I know what to do with.  They are desperate to learn more about God, life and...boys.  I love the strange questions they ask.  I love their creativity and growing maturity.  I love them!

It's an awesome experience to be a part of their lives.  Fo sho.

This last Wednesday we went downtown for a service project.  We went to Art For The Nations.  They provide free art supplies to groups of people going on outreach projects around the world.  These people help create fun art projects with children from the area they are serving.

What we did on Wednesday was create canvas bags to hold all the supplies.  The bags are usually given to children all around the world.  I put a postcard on my completed bag with my address on it.  I'm hoping the person who ends up with it will send me a little note so I know how far it travelled.

I'm opting not to include pictures of the girls.  Just in case I get in trouble.

We started with these blank bags.

Then each girl let her creative juices flow.  I tried to mess with my cameras settings, which is why all the photos look so different.  I'm learning.

We loaded each bag with a predetermined amount of craft supplies.

Finished bags filled with goodies!

There is something so rewarding about serving with kids.  They are desperate to help others, to make a difference.  They think they can change the world.

I think they're right.