Water 4 Christmas and JUNK POSSE

Thank you Tracy!! Thank you Jill!! My Africa water drop necklace arrived late this afternoon and I love it!!! My kiddos all thought it was really cool too as they watched me open the package and put the necklace around my neck. If you are a first time reader, I explained this necklace in my WATER 4CHRISTMAS post a few days ago, and shared a photo of the necklace mentioned here.
Jill's drawing and Tracy's artistic gift have really blessed me, and that is not to forget or downplay that the whole purpose of the drawing and the necklace is to help inspire people to want to help donate funds for wells and clean water in Africa. My Sunday School class has invited the other classes at our church to a Christmas party next Wednesday evening and we are not doing a "White Elephant" or "grab bag" or "Ugly Santa" gift game to give gifts at all. We are going to bring donations to WATER 4CHRISTMAS and make ornaments to give to each other through a drawing of numbers game. Our church body is small, and we do not have a big Sunday School by any stretch but that does not matter. ALL of the children who will be at the party NEED NOTHING, maybe don't even really want anything serious for Christmas. I want our focus to be on giving, sharing, and being aware of caring for others, and totally taking the focus off of our own selves. We'll have snacks, we'll sing Christmas songs and hear the Christmas story , but the party atmosphere that I am aiming for is that of joyful giving and sharing because God sent His very best gift, JESUS His Son: for each of us.
I love the line from the old hymn " Victory in Jesus" that says , "He loved me 'ere (before, ) I knew Him and ALL MY LOVE IS DUE HIM......"
Before I knew Him He loved me, not after I fell in love with Him, not after I recognized Him as my needed Lord and Savior, not after I asked Him to forgive my sins and BE my Lord. No. HE LOVED ME 'ere (BEFORE) I KNEW HIM.
That is pure Romans 5: 8 Gospel..."But God commends His love toward us , in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." I know me. I am not a loveable person a lot of the time. God loved me sight unseen, promised to never give up on me no matter what. I John 4:7-11 tells us that this love, God's love , is how He wants us to love one another :
"7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. "

This is the love, and the lesson I hope our children are getting from us as parents ,and me in particular as a mom of many and as a Sunday School teacher of young children: LOVE that gives itself away................freely and easily, without hanging on and counting pennies. I want to be known as one who gives of what she has and one who teaches by example and not only by a book Or the Book. Hoping for a loving outpouring by our children toward meeting the needs of others! That is a Christmas party I want to want to remember!