Last month I brought to you an exciting new thing that Focus on the Family’s Adventure in Odyssey is doing this summer called “Summer of Service A.C.T.S.”  We talked about how good it is for kids to serve in some way because our Lord and Savior came here on earth to serve.  You can read more about it in the link provided above.

This month they are having some more fun with a giveaway.  Woohoo!  🙂   But first Let’s talk about the imagination!

Unleashing Imagination

Children are spending more and more time in front of TVs, iPads, computers, and video games.  I am so grateful my Muppin is more into using her imagination that using electronics.  I pray that lasts a long time!  Spending so much time using today’s wonderful gadgets doesn’t leave much room for kids to dream up their own visual images—like the ones that fill their minds when they hear a great story! Rather than passively receiving images, kids actively engage in making images themselves when they hear a good story. Their imaginations are enriched and stimulated, and the material becomes more personal and memorable.  I know when I am reading and then see a movie of that book I am never satisfied with the look of the characters because my mind has “imagined” them completely different!

Adventures in Odyssey is all about great stories—and the power of the imagination. The beloved audio dramas are heard on over 700 radio stations, and AIO has recently expanded to books and devotionals—including The Imagination Station series, a fast-growing line of early chapter readers. You can check them out by downloading a FREE e-book of Imagination Station #1: Voyage with the Vikings!

This summer, Adventures in Odyssey encourages kids to write their OWN stories, as they join in ACTS: A Call to Serve! AIO is helping children use their imaginations to serve their family, community, and world this summer—maybe by sending a care package to a missionary or baking cookies for the local fire department or simply talking to the older person at the store who is often forgotten by most people in society today. Check out www.whitsend.org/acts  for details and a chance to win fabulous prizes, including a mission trip with a parent to Costa Rica!

More important than prizes are the stories your child will tell about the creative ways they served others, and how they grew as a result. And what they come up with really might change the world!

A Creative Story of Service

My Muppin has a sweet heart and she is always thinking of those around her who are hurting. She often wants to give to those standing on street corners with signs and sometimes we have it to give and sometimes we don’t, and when that happens her heart is saddened by it.  Not too long ago we were eating and we saw a woman sitting by herself eating.  She was an older woman and looked dreadfully alone and sad.  My daughter couldn’t stop looking at her though I continued to tell her to stop starring.  Finally I asked her why she was so intent on starring and she said, “Mommy, she is so alone, can’t we  pay for her food so it will make her smile just a little today?”  With my heart swelling with happiness I complied and as we left we did just that.  I don’t know what impact that had on her, but it was amazing for my daughter.  What can you do with your kids to spread the act of service around you?

Exciting Giveaway!

For the fun of it I am giving away a fun set of books!  The Imagination Station books #1-3!

To enter here are the rules!

1.  Please leave a post below with ways that their family are planning to serve this summer.

2.  Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and leave me the links to your posts here too so that I can give you credit for another entry.

3.  Lastly, if you don’t already follow my blog, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest page, please do so and you will receive an entry for each of those as well.

You will get an entry for each and every item you do!  What fun is that!!  The giveaway will end Saturday the 29th of June!  So get your entries in soon and have fun serving the world around you!