a good day.....

helped make Kayla's Kits for Foster Kids today with a group at church.  the morning team made 250 kits and our team made the final 250 kits for a grand total of 500 kits.  Kayla became a foster kid the last day of 4th grade.  She got off her school bus to see four police cars......a lot of chaos and confusion going on.  She was put into a DFS car and taken away from everyone and everything she knew.

she was in several different foster programs growing up, then eventually she was able to go live with her grandparents.  she started Kayla's Kits in 2009.........the five hundred kits will go to foster kids from birth to late teens for the whole district.  this covers several counties. 

the creating of these kits is very organized.......today they laid out twenty products per kit.......and we filled them out assembly style.  the youngest person donating of their time was a 3 year old toddler, the oldest person was in her early 90's......it takes a village to help others.......it truly does.

they had the items preorganized for each age and gender group in advance......we prayed before we got to work and the work went very quickly......many hands make light work.  the assembled kits were then moved into the church sanctuary........they filled the front to overflowing.......then the ladies strung the many receipts along the wall, on most of the receipts there was a pink notation, this symbolized the savings per expenditure.  due to thrifty and smart shopping they saved over $1800 which was put directly into creating more kits.

the bags cames from hobby lobby, a lot of the items came from the dollar store and dollar general.  people are encouraged to donate however they can, whether it's money, products or their time to reach a bigger goal each year.  we got to hear a really wonderful note from foster parents of a 4 year old girl.......it brought tears to our eyes hearing their gratitude........faced with only minutes before the 4 year old arrived......it was really special to share this bag of items from helping hands and hearts to these families, to each foster child.......

there were homemade throws & pillow cases.....(soooo cute & soft!).....colors, coloring books, reading books, toiletries ranging from hair brushes to deodorant to toothbrushes.......pencils, toys, stuffed animals.........the array was wonderful, carefully selected in care of each age group......pacifiers, baby bottles, frisbies, toy army men, elmo rattles.......the list goes on and on.  someone baked cookies and brought in chips and drinks to fortify the two teams during the breaks .......it was a goooood day.

i splurged on the way home and got mexican food......enchiladas, rice and beans.......yum.  long time since i had good mexican food!  delicious!  my body is broken but my spirit is content.  stopped to feed steve the cat on my way out, didn't see him, but i know he dove into that food the second my sorry butt got outta his house!!!!!!!

goodnight........hugs!