Birthmom Buds Project

After having to reschedule multiple times, our little group of girls were FINALLY able to complete our birthmom buds service project! It was so AWESOME! For the activity we first sat around a big long table and talked about adoption and what it meant for someone to place their baby with another family. It felt like every word I was saying was really important and that I was actually teaching a really important idea to these beautiful little girls.


I don't know how you parents do it. There is so much to tell these little people about. So much they don't understand. What a HUGE responsibility you have on a daily basis!


After I stumbled through our little discussion we made thank you notes for the organizers of the Birthmom Buds program. Please note the tiny little purple-blanket-wrapped baby in the upper right-hand corner of the picture. It was REALLY adorable and I wish I'd got a better pic of it.






Then, we pulled out our needles and thread and sewed buttons on these bags that I'd already made. Lesson for everyone out there: if you are teaching 10 year olds to do anything with a tread and needle it is SO much easier to thread the needle and tie the knot in the end yourself. It's a bit beyond the capability of the average little girl.

Next up? fill all the bags with the donated goodies. The girls LOVED this part. I had them make a ton of piles of stuff all over the floor and they went from pile to pile adding things to their bags. Over and over I heard, "oh, this is fun like shopping" (girls after my own heart)

Jaidyn loved these packs of gum because they were REALLY thin. Whoever sent them, they were a HUGE hit! I even let her take a pack home with her because she was so over the moon.

Last, but not least, I introduced these girls to the beauty of the Polaroid camera. And, they LOVED it. As soon as the film spit out the front of the camera they ran over to me and said, "shake it, shake it" At which point I broke out into a little Outkast. But I'm pretty sure only my friend and adult group helper Lashelda go my reference.

Due to the unruly chaos during the actual activity I didn't have a chance to take a picture with all of the items displayed. Please disregard the ugly crappy carpet and the matching color wall backdrop.

Two of the items in the photo are of particular note because they were donated by awesome Etsy sellers. First, the awesome green floral picture frame on the far left hand side. 7 of these frames were sent to me by the kind Heather Egley. She's got some Crazy Adorable stuff in her shop, so check it out. Second, the black polka-dot notebook leaning against the bag just left of middle. These are the cutest hand-bound journals around and Leslie sells them and other creative papergoods in her etsy shop, BurgundyDistrict. Thanks both of you for your thoughtful and amazing donations!

Usually we have 7 little girls show up to our activity and only 4 came last night. At first it really bummed me out that 3 of them didn't get a chance to participate in this activity. Now I realize that I'm grateful that the 4 that came had a great time and genuinely learned to love serving others.

Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to participate in our activity. It made all the difference in the world, to me personally and to these girls. When I told them that strangers had sent me all this stuff to fill the bags they were shocked.

But, really, you aren't strangers. At least not to me.

Only friends would offer support like that. So, I guess what I'm saying is this: Thanks pal!