Christmas Ideas!!

Hi all!!!

Hope you are enjoying your November so far! In just over a month, it will be Christmas Day :)

I know it is still early, but I know many people who are already asking for Christmas gift lists. So, here are some of the suggestions that we love here in the Boreland household:

We mentioned a few weeks ago about the Samaritan's Purse shoe boxes (Operation Christmas Child). The pick up week in Canada is November 21-27. If you go to the website www.samaritanspurse.ca, they have a lot of ideas on how to pack a shoe box and you can even find drop off locations for your shoe boxes.

What I love about the shoe boxes, is that our kids have so much fun with it! They pick items up from a store, pack the shoe boxes and get to take them to a drop off location. It's very involved for them and they love knowing that the shoe box will help a boy or girl during the Christmas season.

Another suggestion is the World Vision gift catalogue. Are you someone who has enough and often wonders what to tell people to get you for Christmas? Or, as a parent, do you want to limit how many gifts your child gets? Or, are you just wanting your family to do more than just give each other gifts? A gift catalogue from World Vision is an amazing idea!

There are items in the catalogue that you can pick which will change a life in many countries around the world. There are things like animals, to clothing to medicine and farming supplies. All of which will impact and change someone's life! You ask for the gift, it is bought from the catalogue and given to a family in need.

Why not think of picking a gift from the World Vision catalogue? Instead of getting another DVD, sweater or gift card from a store, why not ask for a gift from the catalogue, which will go to help someone in need.

For more info, you can go to www.worldvision.ca :)

Why not think of ways that you and your family can be generous this Christmas :)

Thanks and hope you have a wonderful rest of the month!!

Virginia

contactjoykids@aol.com

Samaritan's Purse

Hello all!

I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week-end! It was amazing weather in Southern and Central Ontario :) It was so warm and beautiful. Amazing how much things can change in a week. We went from it being humid to very cold (as in, needing gloves) within five days!

It shouldn't surprise me at all! This is Canada folks! We can enjoy four seasons within a day around here :D

Anyhow, the reason I am making this post is to remind you all about Operation Christmas Child. Towards the middle of November, Samaritan's Purse collects shoe boxes, that you fill with toys, soap, socks, pencils, etc. which will then be shipped to children around the world in need (just in time for Christmas). You can head over to www.samaritanspurse.ca to get all the information about it, info on what to put into the shoe box, places you can go to drop them off once you fill a shoe box, etc. All the info is on the website.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your October :)

Virginia

contactjoykids@aol.com

Sept is here!

Hi again!

I am already missing summer :( !! Seriously, I miss the long days, the warm evenings, the fact that I have family members who have pools (that we get to enjoy when we visit), my dad's cottage... I'm missing them already (and summer is not even over, technically).

Labour day is tomorrow, and then after that, it's back to school for the kids. Our daughter is homeschooled, so I'll be back into the crazy schedule of teaching, programs with other homeschooled kids and before I can even blink, it's Christmas... LOL.

So, like I said... I'm already missing summer!

That's not to say that I don't love the autumn. It's beautiful to see the colour of the leaves, how they look against a clear blue sky on a sunny day. I also love pumpkins and squash and apple cider and Thanksgiving. But, all that aside... I'm not ready for summer to end!

But, as with all things, time does move along. As it is September now, please remember to pray for the kids going back to school. Pray for the teachers, school staff and all the things that happen in the fall for those who don't attend a traditional school. It's always an adjustment to get back into the 'swing of things', back to making lunches everyday, getting the kids out the door for school (or, in my case, the many places we go to with homeschoolers, it's true... homeschoolers are rarely home!) and the start of evening programs.

Also, for many parents, it's an adjustment too, to get back into the routine of regular work hours, vacations ending etc. With all of that going on for so many (including Church workers and volunteers, who are getting their programs starting up again), much prayer is needed.

So, thanks to those of you who read the blog and who listen to Joykids radio (www.joy1250.ca). It is appreciated so very much! Thanks for your continued prayers, we are so very blessed by them! Thanks also for how you will lift up the school kids and families this next week :) So, even though summer is on it's way out, we do have MUCH to be thankful for!

Bless you and Happy Labour Day!

Virginia

contactjoykids@aol.com

Please pray

Just a quick note to ask you all to remember to pray for us over the next while. The joykids team has a busy August and Sept. We've got a few performances coming up and are always needing to be covered in prayer for the shows.

There's so many aspects to a performance... From going over each presentation again and again rehearsing, loading up our van, getting directions, check lists, set up, the performance itself with so many details during it, tear down, talking to all the boys and girls, getting home safely, unpacking all the gear... If one thing goes wrong, the entire show could have problems. We've had flat tires, gotten lost, been sick during our presentations, had back problems (that affect how we can lift gear), had power outages... So many different aspects.

At most shows we've done, we've had audience members who have heard nothing about Jesus, so it's important that we get to the destination safely and have no sound problems or health problems! God has been so good to help us carry on!! We don't mention that list above to be negative, or for you to think that we're rolling our eyes. It's simply so that our readers and listeners know what goes on before and then during and after a show. There's more to it than an hour long presentation. Again, God is so very good!! The opportunities we've had during these years to share about Jesus is exciting!

We're so appreciative of the Joykids listeners who pray for us regularly. We don't ever want to forget how many people continually pray for the radio show, Joy1250 and the Joykids team. It's what has kept us going!! So, THANK YOU!!!

Virginia

contactjoykids@aol.com

Sunsets and more

I'm sitting here in front of the computer, watching the beautiful sunset and thinking about how much God has blessed us. We don't have a huge house (we live in a tiny apartment) and shop at second hand stores, but we are still blessed!

God continues to provide for us again and again. In fact, when I think of our family, I can't help but be amazed. Our son Lazarus, who turned three in June is in fact a miracle.

I have talked about this a few times before and have shared the story on the Joykids radio show (heard each Saturday morning on Joy 1250, www.joy1250.ca). I was told that he may not survive when I was pregnant with him and in fact, a couple of times Doctor's suggested that I terminate the pregnancy. It was a tough pregnancy, I ended with complete bedrest for over 4 months and had to make several trips to the ER... BUT, God provided us with a healthy baby! Lazarus is full of life, full of energy (seriously) and is a joy to our lives. With his life, with how God has blessed us with an incredible daughter Shanarah who makes us smile each and every day, I can't ever say that we're not blessed.

So, remember to count your blessings! Think of the old hymn which reminds us to think of how God has given us so much. No one has a perfect life, there are many trials and sometimes, for some of you it may be hard to wake up in the morning... BUT, lean on God. He has promised to never leave or forsake us!

Remember, you can always get a hold of us through our e-mail, contactjoykids@aol.com

Yeah :)

Hi all!

Happy long week-end! That's right, it's almost August. It's the Civic Holiday week-end. It's hard to believe that summer is half over already :(

Seeing as we've not had a car for a couple of weeks, it has kind of not felt like a 'true' summer. Usually, we're driving to my dad's cottage, we're visiting family, having BBQ's and going to splash pads with friends. But, this year, it's been a little different. Not different in a bad way, but just not the 'norm'.

During all this, we've tried to continually thank God for what He provides for us. We had family and a couple of friends make sure we had groceries, drives to church, etc. Also, we are within walking distance of the library, a park, even a store to make sure we could get milk. We kept saying to each other 'this is more than a lot of people have'.

So, all that to say, it's awesome to know and appreciate how much God has given! Plus, the good news is that we have a van now :) We are enjoying having 'wheels' again. Also, it's got an air conditioner, we have not had an a/c unit in our car for over three years now and we are ENJOYING it! This is the first time we have a cd player in a car too... So, yeah! We're finally getting with the times (yeah, I know...People have cars with docking systems for their Ipods and phones and we're just getting a cd player... LOL).

So, we're truly thankful! God has provided for us again.

We just wanted to give you all an update, as people have been asking us about our car situation. Thank you to so many of you who have been praying for us. We meet people all the time who let us know that they pray for our family and the Joykids ministry. It's so humbling to know that people do that for us and we appreciate it so much!

Bless you and enjoy your week-end!

Virginia

contactjoykids@aol.com

P.S. - Please be in prayer for the Kingdom Bound festival just outside Buffalo at the Darien Lake's Theme park which is going on right now. There will be thousands of people there over the next few days. Please pray for safety with so many traveling, for the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers who help at the festival, for the artists and speakers who will be performing and for those who will choose to make a commitment to follow Jesus :)

Update!

Hi all!

We hope you are enjoying your summer so far! It has finally gotten 'hot', it seemed to take a while before we got our heat wave, but it's finally here :)

Dale, Shanarah, Lazarus and I have been enjoying the summer. We love the long days, being together and just enjoying the warmer weather.

Anyhow, this is the update part that I wanted to share with you all. We are in desperate need of prayer right now. Our car died last week, so we are without a vehicle. We can see God's hand in this, as we were able to safely pull the car over to the side of the road, call CAA and find a ride home from the mechanic (thanks to my wonderful Aunt who dropped everything and drove us home). But, the bad news... The car is not worth fixing.

So, to make a long story short, we really need a car (soon). Right now, we're able to walk to the store and hang out around home, BUT, we've got several performances coming up, places like the Dr's, family events we're supposed to get to (you get the idea, we have ALL become accustomed to driving in our society).

As this is becoming a novel, I'll try to quickly end the post. If you think of us, please be in prayer that we'll find a car soon, (that is not too expensive)!

We know God provides! He has never, never let us down. We are thankful that God has given us so much. We have a roof over our heads, food and our health. So, we're just praying that He again meets our need :)

Bless you all! Remember, you can e-mail us 24/7 at contactjoykids@aol.com.