Welcome Baskets

Each month I host a Bible journaling class in our home.  Each lady pays a $50 fee and I teach a 3 hour class on how I Bible journal along with all my tips and techniques.  It’s easily one of the top highlights of each month for me.  I cannot even begin to explain how much I enjoy teaching the class and meeting all the ladies.  It’s a joy.

The money collected from the class goes towards doing some kind of good.  The money collected for April’s class went towards purchasing all the items needed to create welcome baskets for new ladies entering the Magdalene homes.  “Magdalene is a residential program for women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction and life on the streets.”  When I asked about a need at Thistle Farms they said they always need welcome baskets for ladies entering the program.  I did some emailing and got an amazing list and we added a few things here and there.

We did all our shopping this past weekend.  It was really important to us that our kiddos go with us. All 5!  We talked previously about this opportunity, but before going in to shop we talked again about what we were doing and why.  We want them to understand love and kindness and generosity and totally believe one of the greatest ways for them to know these things is to actually do them.

Whenever we purchase items to give away we make sure they are items we would want to receive or use ourselves.  Same goes for even our used donated items, if they are already trashed we don’t donate them, we throw them away.  We want to give items with care and love…we want to give our best.

Before we went on our big shopping trip all together, I did the prep work.  I wrote out our list and then priced each item in the store.  Josh Kelley and I talked about the number of baskets we wanted to do with the $700 collected and ended up settling on 7 baskets fully stocked with good, quality items averaging around $100 per basket.  Trust me, I like a good deal and am not a big spender and I did my foot work, but I also wanted these baskets to feel special and created with love and great care.  I imagined actually giving them to the ladies ourselves and how I would want them to feel upon receiving them.

Then we shopped.  Everyone loved helping.  Each kiddo did their part and Amon used Target’s bathroom approximately 4 times 🙂  Harper had the most fun because she’s just her and older and visual…her favorite part was picking out the towels and washcloths.  I wanted to just squeeze her as she picked towels and then matched them up with color coordinating wash cloths.  Be still my OCD, color loving heart.

When we got home all the boys headed outside to play baseball, but Harper could not wait to assemble the baskets.  She laid them all out in a row and assembly began.

One by one, she and I added each item and when we finished we were bummed it was over.

Here was our final list: sturdy laundry basket, new pillow, chocolate bar (duh!), healthy snack, bath towel, wash cloth, stationary, stamps, toothbrush, $20 Target gift card, soap, pack of razors, deodorant, shave gel, toothpaste, bath sponge, face wipes, lotion, shampoo and conditioner.

This was fun!  This was easy!  This is something we can do with family and friends to make a difference in our community and in the lives of those around us.

I wanted to thank all the ladies who came to April’s class and gave their money to help make these awesome baskets happen.  You amaze me!  Thank you for being willing to give and for giving generously.  I cannot wait to see what God has in store for May’s class.

Happy Tuesday!