#thatwemay

It also is a time to reflect and give back.  I LOVE that local churches are involved in the community year round, but there is something special about the projects they do during the holidays.  For example, we had a project which is called "Christmas Smile."  The goal is to provide a new book for every Atlanta Public School student from PreK-5th grade!  Guys...that's close to 30,000 books...it's bananas!

Even though I'm not in the school system anymore, I still have a passion and a heart for the schools.  Especially the inner city schools.  There is such a need in this city for something positive to occur in so many of these students' lives, even if it's as small as a brand new book.  This could be the only gift some of these kids get this year, and for many it's probably one of the only new things they have gotten in a really, really long time.  I saw some of the need first hand when I was teaching, but I also mentor in one of the inner city schools and it's even more apparently in a city like Atlanta.  My heart breaks for these kids.  So anything I can do to put a smile on their faces, I'm 100% going to be there.

Well, tonight, I was fortunate enough to be part of the team to box up the books based on grade and school so they can be delivered this week!  This task, however, is after they have had encouraging stickers placed inside each one.  So, yes, to answer you're unspoken question...these books have been touched at least 4-5 different times.  They were taken out of their boxes to have the stickers put in, then they were put back in their boxes, then we un-boxed them so we could put them in stacks of 25, then we put the appropriate number in another box based on grade and school.  Oh, and we had to assemble the second box and put a polka dotted duct tape "ribbon" on it.  They will then be loaded in a truck and taken to each school, where more hands will deliver them to the classrooms and individual students. 

Lots of hands have touched these books.

But the coolest part is that in addition to all the hands that have touched the books, the same amount of prayer has been spoken over these books and the child who will be receiving it this week.  That's a lot of prayer for a city that is incredibly parched.  It seriously gives me chills to think about the amount of prayer that has been involved in this project.