By Tina Tisdale

Growing up, my Nana was known in her small community as “The Cookie Lady”.  She absolutely loved to bake and she was good at it.  She always had cans and boxes of cookies stored up.  Why? Yes, she had a sweet tooth but that was her way of showing love to family, friends and people she interacted with in her community.  That was her passion.  When you visited her, you got a plate full of cookies to eat then and some to take home.  She made plates of cookies to bring to her doctors, nurses, bank tellers, butcher, grocery store clerks, and neighbors.  After she passed on, I told my husband, Steven, that I wanted to continue her legend as “The Cookie Lady”.

I have tried to continue her “Cookie Lady” tradition in addition to serving in our community as a family.  This is important to me because the Bible instructs us to “Love others”.  One of my top priority goals as a mom is to point my children to Christ.  One way we do that is by serving others in our community and around the world.  Here are some practical ways you can serve WITH your family:

Make homemade cards!  All you need is paper and crayons!  Encourage your kids to make a personal card that will put a smile on someone’s face.  We like to write “Jesus Loves You” on them to share that simple and important truth.  Then your kids can hand deliver them with some of the other projects below.

• Special Delivery – Make/buy goodies and deliver them to fire/police/sheriff/EMT stations, doctor’s office, day care, school, nursing home, hospice facility, church staff, new neighbors, a family that needs encouragement, etc.  Include some homemade cards with your delivery!  Ask your kids where they would like to bring the treats to get them involved.
• Visit the Elderly – Visit a nursing home or ask your church staff if there are any “shut-ins” in the congregation that could use a friendly visit.  Some of these folks rarely get visitors and it absolutely makes their day to see a smiling face and talk to someone, especially kids!  Bring along cards! Be sure to call before you go to find out the best visiting times.
• Operation Christmas Child – Create a shoebox gift with your family that will allow a child to experience God’s love and hear the life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ. Collection is the 3rd week of November each year. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
• Bags for the Homeless – This is an awesome project where you create bags to hand out to the homeless in your community.  We call these “Jesus bags” in our house.  The kids decorate the outside of the bags and include our homemade “Jesus Loves You” cards.  Then we sort through the items for the bags – water bottles, granola bars, cereal bars, PB crakers, chicken/tuna salad kits, snacks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc. and build the bags!  Keep some bags in the car to hand out.  Make it personal by asking the person their name when you give them a bag and later pray for them.
• Food and Clothing Collection – Work together to setup a collection for food banks, homeless shelters, school weekend food bags for kids in need, and crisis pregnancy care centers. The need is so great in our community and this is a great way to help out.  Collection ideas – canned goods, kid friendly snacks, diapers, wipes, blankets, jackets, clothing, toys.   Can also do a lemonade stand to raise money for these organizations.
• Hospital Waiting Rooms – Gather up snacks, water bottles, and lots of cards and head to the hospital to deliver them to folks in the waiting rooms.  Not only will your kids lift the spirits of people in the waiting rooms and take their mind off their circumstances for a few minutes, but you can use this as an opportunity to pray with people who need the Hope of Jesus Christ.
  I want to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and love others WITH your children by your side.  They will learn to have a servant;s hearts by your example.  Which one will you start with? 

Thank you Tina for the Godly example that you set for all Moms!  – The Momsanity Coaches