The S Marie Collection

Happy Friday my lovelies!

Well today has been very good. We have a Christmas Concert at church tonight that the Youth are hosting!

So exciting!

I got together with some of the youth committee last night and we went and decorated... somehow I think that it will take a little less to take it down, than the 4 hours it took us to put it up. :o) It really is pretty... I will have to take some pictures with my phone so I can upload them... (my camera is broken.. *tear). Here is the picture I promised! It didnt turn out as good as I wanted it too... the trees have lights on and it really looks beautiful.. the presents in the corner (well the big one) I hollowed out so we could use it for puppets! Its so cool. :o) anyway you get the idea eh?

Well I was reading a fellow sisters blog today... Cylinda and she asked the question What does Christmas joy mean to you.... soooo I automatically was hit by a wave of emotional memories of faces of the Children at the UPCI headquarters in Narobi, Kenya that I was able to send Christmas gift bags to the year I came back from visiting.
I remember I had sooooo much fun going and picking out and fixing up the bags for girls and boys! I took them with me along with some more Bibles for them to give out, to General Conference that year and gave them to Bro. and Sis. Droke (who were the missionaries at the time) and they were going to take them back with them, along with some things that they bought for the adults.
I didnt think anymore of it until Christmas came along and I received an email from Sis. Droke and she told me of how the children loved their bags and how that they held the trinkets and toys like they were little treasures... (gee my eyes are filling up with happy tears right now.) I made sure to include sparkly hair clips in the girls bags because they all loved playing with our hair while we were there and they specifically asked for them, and of course matchbox cars for the boys. I know that those kids could not imagine who I was or anything BUT Im so glad that I was able to help in putting a smile on their precious faces! Of course I could imagine how that when they got the bubbles out and started blowing them toward the heavens that sweet Jesus was enjoying their smiling faces too! (Oh how I love to make my Jesus happy) Of course Im not writing this to receive any glory or anything... it still thrills my heart at the thought of those children the Lord allowed me to help for Christmas that year.

So and then... My best friend Melissa went to Ghana that same year... actually she left the day after I did, but she stayed longer than I was able to. She went to be with a family she had met through college, and well she brought back some gifts for everyone.. and I was one of the blessed ones to receive my first gift from Ghana. I still have it, It was a bracelet that she had made by these kids that were selling them on the side of the road, they were woven with thread (hand woven) that she said took them no time to make. Anyway Im telling all of this because I really felt so important .... not really sure why other than Im just a crazy kind of girl who has been faulted for finding happiness in a paper bag! .... think of all the cool things you can do with one! :) anyway back to my story.... ahem so she brought this back and gave it to me for Christmas... It was one of the best Christmas gifts I ever got (next to the barbie closet my dad made me when I was little out of my mothers breadbox... that I totally didnt know thats what happened to moms breadbox until just a couple years ago) *awww precious giving and loving parents* ( I need a hug right now) so anyway when Mel brought me this precious little gift I didnt expect it to have anything on it... but they had woven my name into it! I felt like a million bucks... you know how you imagine you would feel if someone actually named a star after you??? yeah thats how I felt! I could just imagine these precious children not knowing who they were making it for... putting their time into it... working and doing something so small but yet so great that it touched me... in America! How I still pray for those hands that made that precious bookmark for me! And soooo for me... Christmas joy is all of this and more! :) And of course my favorite song echos in my head as I write this... How He Loves Us.