Plans for Lent: Helping, Giving & Kitties

Over the weekend we took the Piwi’s to visit their Kitty friends at Friends for life.  Miss K would love to volunteer at a shelter but is too young (even if I was there, there are legal/safety issues preventing it). For now the Piwis and I just go to adoption events once or twice a month and hang out and play with the cats. Just before Christmas the kids had asked to buy some toys & treats for the shelter. They were so proud to make their ‘donation’ and wanted to do it again.

Perry gets a kiss from Mini Piwi

Their chance came when Mr Perry had decided not to eat the wet food Piwi Daddy had purchased for him -it was case of 24. I was going to take it down to the local Petco and donate it. Miss K had a better idea  and ultimately made a ‘Valentines day gift basket’. 

Here she is ready to take it in to the cats….

They know many of the long term Cat residents by name and their toy preferences. The volunteers there were so kind and made a big fuss about how nice the gift basket looked and how much the cats would like it. Miss K was beaming! We always ask after any of the kitties that aren’t there and this week we found out that two of them were recently adopted into their fur- ever homes.  It was a very good visit!

Most of the cats were out playing but some decided to nap in their 'condos'

It was also a great start to our Lenten focus: Giving and helping others. Usually during Lent, I have given something up, but this year we wanted to try something more positive as a Family. Our inspiration was some amazing work being done on Missions by equally amazing relatives.

I was wondering where to start with incorporating the theme into our lessons when I came across The Giving Book: Open the Door to a Lifetime of Giving by Erin Sapin. The book itself is great with parts to fill in and lots of ideas. Even better though is that there is a Christian teachers guide at  www.watercanpress.com which includes lesson plans to use with the book from a Christian perspective . We plan to do these lessons along with our easter catechism lessons. 

Another great book (by Mark Kimball Moulton, Josh Chalmers, and Karen Good) is one I reviewed recently.  Change the World before Bedtime uses cute illustrations and rhyming prose to explain how a little boy can become a ‘super hero’ and change the world by bedtime. It offers simple ways and ideas for service projects that even the littlest volunteers can help out with. Mini Piwi especially liked this book with it's busy pictures full of little details for her to point out.

We are really looking forward to this project and are positive it will be something we can take beyond Lent 2013 as a family.

I was sent Change the world before bedtime in exchange for an honest review. to be submitted to Schiffer Publishing Ltd, via Netgalley. I will not receive any monetary compensation from the publisher or Netgalley. The links to Amazon do contain affiliate links where I do receive a small commission for any purchases made through these link.