The Giving Tree

This year we started attending a new church. Well, the church isn't new, but it's new to us. We took a year off of church after leaving our old church for reasons unknown. Our previous church is extremely small as far as atendees go. There is no children's church, no Sunday School or Bible study. There was just nothing there for us or our family anymore. We just didn't have the motivation to start looking for a new place of worship.

In May of this year we really started thinking about it and knew it was time to get serious. Afterall, Logan was getting to the age where he really understood things and we didn't want him to miss out on learning about God. I know as parents it is ultimately our responsibility to make sure he does learn about God and creation but Sunday School definitely helps in the process. They think of things that we might not and the arts and crafts are fun!

We love our church. It's 100% amazing! It's big but not so big that you feel lost or overwhelmed. We already felt comfortable there after our first visit. And we quickly started to feel like family. Especially since we'd joined a Life Group (Sunday School/Bible Study).

This year we got to be part of the Giving Tree. You pick a less fortunate family off the tree at the church. There is an age and sex and list of things the child wants/needs/the parents would like for them to have. You purchase a gift(s) for the child. The church then delivers the gifts to the family before Christmas. Yesterday was distribution day at www.crosspointechurch.com. In our worship guide was a card to fill out if you wanted to help deliver. Well, God put it on my heart to fill the card out, select a bag of gifts to take, and then deliver it. I am in the Christmas spirit and wanted to help make someone's holiday a little brighter.

The bag we chose contained 2 gifts. It was going to a family with 2 little boys. I was pretty nervous because we'd never really done anything like this. I didn't want to screw it up or make a fool of myself. Turns out the family was GREAT! The mother lost her job about a year and a half ago. Her full time job has been looking for a job over this past year and a half. All the while raising 2 young boys and a 20 year old daughter. We talked and laughed with them for a little over an hour and a half. She even invited us to stay for dinner which we politely declined. We didn't want to impose on them. I feel like God put her and that family in our lives for a reason.

They were such nice people and she was willing to share her story with complete strangers. When we left we felt like we had known them forever! It was so nice visiting with them. My heart felt so much fuller and richer after we left. We had not started out the day with this planned at all. We were going to go home after church, take a long nap, and then hit the mall. We didn't make it to the mall until after 6:00 pm. I don't mind at all. Meeting this family was way more important and a much beter use of our time. I am so glad that we decided to help with the Giving Tree. It gave us a chance to really be be and show our Christianlike spirits, make someones day a little brighter, and also really experience the true meaning of Christmas.

I am so thankful for Crosspointe. Dr. Merritt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Merritt) is an amazing preacher and we are so glad we found this church. Yes, he has his own Wikipedia page. :) We know we will continue in our spiritual growth and become more and more involved in the church for years to come!