the paquettes

Matthew 20:28a  even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.

Don’t we serve our kids all day everyday?  How can we begin to show our (especially young) children to serve others?  Our missional community group (made up of three families) at church has been thinking on that and one simple idea we had was to pass out bags to the homeless in Austin filled with food, soap, and other goods (James printed out a list of shelters, education centers, rehab facilities, etc. to go in each bag too.)

We gathered at our house last Saturday morning and James is reading to them Matthew 25:31-46

Then we had all the kids make cards to put in each bag (each family made 5 bags to pass out.)

I had to take pictures of some of these cards because they were just precious.

Levi’s card:

From Levi to a homeless person   🙂  Jesus loves you!

inside Levi’s card:  I love you!  Jesus has your heart!

Cole’s card was more thought provoking to the person who reads it:

You can’t see from the picture but it reads, “Jesus loves me?”  🙂

Rilyn’s card (she found and chose this verse herself in the Bible):

Rilyn wrote Psalm 5:3  “Lord, every morning you hear my voice. Every morning,  I tell you what I need, and I wait for your answer.” I love this verse for this occasion!  The Holy Spirit guided her to the perfect verse!

After we made all the cards, we had the kids go around our table and fill the bags.

Ella and Anna filling bags

Then we all drove off in different parts of town as families and gave out the bags.

Was this a particularly impactful service project for the city?  Probably not.  Unless we went out every weekend and started to form relationships with the same homeless folks.  However, our goal was to show our kids ways to serve.

That even as children, they can serve.  1 Timothy 4:12  “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

We prayed this over Rilyn this morning before school.  For her to have a servant’s heart.  Ephesians 6:7  “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.”

Finally Asher gets a turn to ride on some carnival rides!
Do you see the only heads popping up from the ferris wheel in the center of the picture? That is James holding up Asher. And yes, the carny told him to put him down and no, James did not listen.

It makes for a good picture though.

Was I a little fearful that Asher was going to fall out?  Yes, yes, I was.

love these brother/sister moments

high flyin’ fun

Rilyn in the front row, Asher in the 4th row.  Daddy taught him to hold his hands in the air and yell.

gotta love the wobbly bridges!

Next up at the rodeo was watching the “Cattle Dog Trials.”  Basically a dog chasing cattle into a pen about 10 different times to see if the dog would get a qualifying time for the Cattle Dog main event(?)  It’s a whole different life at the rodeo.  We were intrigued for about 10 minutes.

ella

We walked around “Old MacDonald’s Farm” in which Asher was content because all the animals were behind bars.

Rilyn showing us her “horns down” sign in front of a longhorn

Then we went to the Swifty Swine pig races.  That was pretty cute.  Little pigs racing for an oreo cookie!  That is what the girl’s remembered the most from the last time we went to this part of the rodeo (2 years ago) and they couldn’t wait to cheer on their favorite pigs!  They even had a Big 12 race and an A&M pig who raced!   Sadly, Texas Tech won, but as Rilyn said, “At least Texas A&M came in second and beat the longhorns!”  Sadly, none of my pictures of the pig races turned out.

The Austin rodeo-where weird meets western.

After I saw this picture, it bugged me that Rilyn is wearing her cowboy hat while  the cut out is holding a cowboy hat.  I’m into the details people!

Next up? The carnival, where the kids spent the best part of their day!

asher, rilyn, and ella

From the pony rides we move onto the petting zoo.  We knew Asher wasn’t going to like going in, but his fear is a little ridiculous, and well, you know us.  It was interesting to see the three kids personalities shine through in the petting zoo.  Rilyn was nervous and worried, Ella was in charge and confidant, and Asher was a cry baby (we’re hoping to work on this!).

both Rilyn and Asher show some nerves

you can’t escape, sorry buddy

I like how James is practically dragging him around.

future nightmares for Asher?!?  I like how James is just smiling.

The only way Asher would calm down is if the goats were not making eye contact with him and then James could take Asher’s hand and pet them.  But as soon as that goat looked at him, he would break out the drama.

the goat made eye contact

Ella would swat animals away if she didn’t like how pushy they were being, and would pick and choose who she was going to feed.

I don’t think so Mr. Deer, I’ve got my eyes on another.

I can feed with both hands.

Rilyn got nervous and her cup of animal food got eaten  up in the first 30 seconds she got in. A goat grabbed her cup and she let go!

Yesterday we went to the Austin rodeo.  I took 250 pictures.  I kept 50 of them.  Why so many?  Poor Asher had a rough first time at the rodeo, and it was easy to snap away because he gave me so much good blog material!  😉  Today’s post will be about the pony ride.

First thing we did when we got there was the pony ride, and if you know Asher, you know “animal lover” is not how you would describe him!  I was surprised at how he got on the horse without crying.

You can tell he is hesitant, but no tears yet!

all three riding

Then something happened. A realization that he was riding an ANIMAL.

Here comes the look…I’m about to cry

Get me off

GET ME OFF!!!!!!!!!

Daddy to the rescue who got Asher off mid-ride

Rilyn riding

Ella is a natural

Ella

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Ella, Asher, and Rilyn wearing their green!

If you have no clue what is going on behind the kids, click here.