The next month at our house will be an onslaught of complete and total overwhelming piles of toys and such being bestowed upon my children.
December 19th is Noah’s Birthday…Then Christmas…and then January 8th is Ali’s Birthday.
They will get more stuff than they possibly need for the year – and they won’t realize it, but I’ll put up about half of it for months down the road.
In all of the “getting”, I don’t want them to miss out on two very important things: the true gift of Jesus, and the joy of giving to others.
(Well, Ali anyway. Noah doesn’t so much get any of that yet.)
As you may have read, Build-A-Bear has given me the privilege of working with them on two recent projects to give back to others. One of our gifts ended up with a cancer patient who, unbeknownst to us at the time, loved and collected teddy bears. The others went to tornado survivors as Christmas Gifts.
And this week, they gave me one more opportunity to give to others. But not just for us this time – they’ve offered to include some of you as well, so they have set aside $50 in gift cards for me to give to you to use to give to others.
We decided to make our bears to send to orphans in the Dominican Republic. Two of our Church’s missionaries are here for the holidays, and they said that they would be glad to take the bears back when they go.
Ali picked out the bears – she decided that one for a boy and one for a girl was what we needed to make.
She warmed their hearts in her hands while the bears went through the stuffing process,
And then thought long and hard about what their names should be.
And let me tell you, “Lovey Bear” and “Camo Bear” really appreciate all of that deep thinking she did for the sake of their oh-so-creative identities.
We’ll be delivering the bears to our missionaries to take back with them, and hopefully there will be a couple of very happy children in the DR in a few weeks.
If you would like to join us and Build-A-Bear in giving back to someone in your world that you know would be cheered up by a furry friend, leave a comment and tell me how you would bless someone else if you won. It can be anyone – just someone that you know a bear would put a smile on their face.
There will be two winners selected randomly – one will receive $20 and the other will receive $30 in gift cards to be used online or in-store.
This opportunity closes on Monday, December 19th, and the winners will be announced on my giveaway winner’s page on Tuesday, December 20th.
Good luck, and thank you for giving back this holiday season!
Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way to write this post. My opinions are always my own.
I would love to be a part of this!! Thanks for the opportunity!! :)
I was thinking of making this one of our advent projects next year (you know when I actually get around to creating a real advent calendar). I’ve been trying to think of things for it that have to do with doing things for others and not just getting a present for themselves. This would be a great one!
What a great idea! You are an inspiration; thank you!
I have the perfect idea! We have friends who just took in 3 foster children (the night of our jean party) and the children are young (6,5,2) and scared. The youngest is often teary-eyed and I think it would be awesome to make a “Lovey” Bear for her and maybe some “Cuddle” bears for the other two.
I’ll echo my mom on this one…. :)
I’d love to be entered! I have a particular family I know who are struggling with the husband/father having a very rare degenerative brain disease that looks to be terminal. They have 3 kiddos – two boys with a girl in the middle. I think they could use a little cheer! Thanks for this- it feels SO much better to give to others!
Such a great idea! I don’t really know anyone to give one to besides my own kids. LOL And I think Santa may be putting gift cards in their stockings already! :)
I would like to be entered! My mom works with a lady who has two small kids, both girls, ages 6 and 7. Earlier this week, their house burnt down and they lost everything. I can’t financially contribute much (we donated $50), but I would love to cheer the daughters up with a bear from Build a Bear!
What a beautiful thing this is, seriously. I thought and can’t believe it, but I’m not aware of any child in my life that is suffering in ways such as those mentioned by other commenters here. So, for that I give thanks, and I don’t want to compete with anybody who can bless a child in real need of encouragement. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be involved in this… such things get me very excited and happy, but this year I’ll pass.
Sign me up! I have a couple of ideas- some of my music students at Restoration Academy- I have 4-9 year olds, and I know some of them won’t have much of anything waiting under the tree for them. We also have a few families at church pursuing adoption- one getting a 2 yo boy from China in April. What a fun “Welcome Home!” present this would be!
I would love to give this to my 4-year old niece for Christmas. Her mommy and daddy have been struggling this season and have two children AND twins on the way! This little gift would be a perfect Auntie/Niece date where she would get so much specialized attention–and I’d get a chance to spoil her to pieces;)