February's Good Intention: YOU are LOVED

The GIFA women had a wonderful time executing our February intention. This month, we were moved by the sadness many children experienced as a result of schools being closed for in person instruction. We were flooded with fun memories of Valentine's day in the classroom. The excitement of decorating your Valentine's day bag. Waiting to see who sent you one and what candy it had. And don't forget the awesome parties that got you out of class early! Cupcakes with lush frosting, conversation hearts with the perfect message, the smile on your friend's face when they got the candygram you sent. And the smile on your face when you got the candygram your special someone sent you :) Valentine's Day was always an awesome school "holiday" no matter what your age. Fast forward to 2020 -2021 and there have been NO classroom parties, no candygrams. No football games, no robotics club, no band rehearsals. It's been a difficult year for our children. So we wanted to show them that they matter, and they are loved.

So we set out on an ambitious endeavor this month to create a Valentine "special delivery" program in our local neighborhood. The goal was, as it is with each intention, to show people God's love with simple, heartfelt endeavors. We created a sign up that was shared online and via social media for parents and friends who wanted to send a special something to a kindergarten - 12th grader. We were overjoyed to have 65+ students registered so cupid's helpers got busy trying to make this Valentine's Day as special as possible. As a small group, we could only do so much, and we hoped it would be enough. As always, we prayed about how we could make this special and divided up the work. A week or two later, we all got together with our pieces and set about pre-assembly trusting in God it would all work out.

Early on the morning of Feb. 14th, the GIFA women set out in 4 teams across the neighborhoods to leave yard signs of love and a fun candy treat bag for each student that was signed up. There was plenty of snow and ice but it was no match for the excitement in our hearts as we set out with coffee in hand and a car full of candy, hooks, and signs.

Parents were e-mailed that all the signs had been delivered by 11AM and asked to have their children look out the window to see the special gifts. We greatly enjoyed working on this project and were happy God could use us to "spread the love". Here is some of the feedback we received. Thank you for those who participated and may God continue to bless you and your families!

"Thank you soooo much for spreading some love to our kiddos!!"

"This was such a wonderful thing to do for my senior. Thank you for putting this together to remind them, they do matter and people do love and care for you!"

"This was such a sweet thing to do! My son was surprised and filled with joy! Thank you! We will definitely leave it up to spread joy!"

"I Don't know who left these treats of love to our boys, but we cannot thank you enough. The bible verse attached to it is perfect..."