I Am A Hummingbird

In this video the girls introduce themselves to my school back in Texas.

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The week of April 20-24 is book fair week at my school in Texas.  This year they are celebrating Earth Day (April 20) and World Malaria Day (April 25) as part of the event.  They asked us to join them as they learned more about caring for God's creation and preventing malaria.  Kids Caring for Kenya (KC4K) at Salem Lutheran School has raised thousands of dollars to help buy bed nets to be sent to Kenya.  Bed nets are a big help in preventing the spread of malaria.  

Since I am going to be gone most of this week, the girls and I participated in the devotions, lessons, art, and planting last week.  We looked up Bible verses on how to be good stewards of what God has given to us, discussed ways in which we can care for His creation, learned about Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, and learned facts about malaria-what it is, how it is spread, treatment, and prevention.

Using a story told by Wangari Maathai - how a little hummingbird attempts to put out a raging forest fire just one drop of water at a time and when questioned by animals bigger and stronger who could have helped, says she is doing the best she can one drop at a time - we made hummingbirds for art, colored hummingbirds and added drops of water for them to carry.  The water drops contained Bible verses and statements about things we can do to share Jesus with others, to do our part the best we can.  

We spent one morning planting around the baby house and in the shamba (garden) planting.  The girls also started seeds in milk bags for transplanting later.  Kate and Julia carry seedlings to the shamba.


Below - The girls pose in front of their hummingbird board.  

Above - Julia and Kate carry the seedlings to the shamba for planting.  These were for zucchini plants.

The rest of the pictures show the girls doing the planting in the shamba, planting hibiscus bushes behind the baby house, and starting the seeds in the milk bags.  



Mr. Troy is a vet and dad to three of my girls, Dakota, Kate, and Hope.  We really appreciate all the help he gave us in obtaining the plants and helping us to plant them correctly.  The girls enjoyed the day.  

 Josie, Julia's sister, and Moses, one of the children who lives at the baby house, came out and joined us for a little while.  They poked holes in the dirt and planted a few seeds too.

So go out and be a hummingbird - do the best you can, one step at a time - be willing to risk it all to spread the good news of Jesus!  This last video was shot while filling the milk bags with soil.

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