CLEAN WATER 4 CHRISTMAS ..the party

We had our Sunday School party Wednesday night and it was so much fun!! The link is below for my Snapfish photos.I hope it works. Fun, fellowship,food and the option of clean water or not...
Our church is not any bigger than VERY SMALL, but we have HEART, Jesus' heart!
When I announced that our Sunday School Christmas party would be about giving to build a well for other people to have clean water, and as a way for them to alos hear the Gospel of Jesus, wo is Living Water, I was met with much enthusiasm and support. We partnered with my friend Jill's 15 year old daughter Lexi's CLEAN WATER project to help her reach her Christmas goals since we knew we could not reach a 1 or 2 thousand dollar goal by ourselves.
Our party tonight which was short several families who were out of town,but to which I invited another family of close friends so we had Smith kids,K- kids, my older very Special Student, and a baby. Several people had given me some donation money at church to help, but our total tonight was $154.00~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I know that there were several other people who were interested in being part of our project too so I am hoping that we reach at least $200 when all is tallied!!
Considering that the oldest child at our party was 15, not counting my Special Student, and most were 8-13, I am so proud of those children!!!! They were excited to be a real part of something so important. I had put out jugs of clean water and jugs of water form our pond on Sunday to make the point of how we just don't think about clean water very often , but that 80% of the world does not have that luxury, but more often than not has something akin to our back pasture non-fresh water fed lagoon, full of algea and gunk and they struggle to clean that nasty water up to feed their children, cook and wash clothing in. We talked about that tonight too in context of Jesus' birth and His being Living Water. It was a very special night for us all. The kids made ornaments for which we drew numbers and then exchanged. LOTS OF FUN!!!!! The creativity of each of the children made for an incredible craft project, and a great lesson in how they did their creative best .....only to give that hard work AWAY. Nobody complained that they did a "Cool ornament" and got a "baby one" but all laughed and joked about who might get whose ornament. Two of our Liberian friends sang "I FLY AWAY" (not to be mixed with "I'LL Fly away) but a song they sang at the orphanage before they came home last summer. They were shy for quite a while but when they opened up, it was great! They are 6 and 8.
Can you believe what the kids wanted to do when we had finished up all the "official business"? PLAY CHURCH!!! They were clamoring over each other over who would preach and who would sing, and they took turns telling bible verses to each other. This was NOT my idea and they all loved it! It got a little too animated in its exuberance and we decided that the other Sunday School teacher should close the service with prayer, but yes!! They were not running and playing ball, or tustling, this group which is higher percentage ALL BOY -- boys, wanted to play church.
How much cooler than cool is that!!! The verse my Sunday Scool class has been learning this month is from Phillipians 2:5,7... " in your livesyou must think and act like Christ Jesus. He gave up His place with God and made Himself to be nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant."
I am thinking these wonderful children are on the right track in living up to Pauls' words! How I praise God for each one of them!
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3018858009/a=48792119_48792119/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/