Heaven Sent

My daughter belongs to K-Life which is a ministry group focused on mentoring and coaching today's teenagers. The group further breaks into smaller groups of 5-6 people so that the teens can get together easily at someone's home or to go to the movies, etc.
A couple of weeks before Christmas, my daughter's small group, led by a delightful. energetic young woman named Kelsey, got together for their usual meeting, but this time they made a point of inviting the parents back a little early to pick up their daughters...."for a surprise" they told us.
When we arrived, the girls took us to a nearby field where they opened large paper lanterns.
They held the large lanterns while lighting a small piece of paraffin-covered cardboard which was secured in the center at the bottom of each one.

 One by One, as the heat filled the lanterns, they lifted weightlessly......

 disappearing into the dusky sky.

 They floated  farther and farther away.....

 until they were so high you could see only a speck in the sky....then nothing.

 It was an amazing evening filled with awe and dreams for the future.....for each daughter had written their favorite scripture, New Year's resolution or a note about someone/something they were thankful for on the outside of their lantern so that it could be lifted closer to God in thankfulness.

Elegant Fundraiser Project for Kids

My daughters' school has a fundraiser every other spring and each class is required to donate one item.   A few parents come up with ideas, then we let the kids choose the one they want to create.  I suggested that we let the students make a chandelier from glass beads, and this was the project that they chose to make.

Surprisingly, the chandelier was easy as pie to make!  First, we bought a vintage-style chandelier on eBay for $60 plus shipping.  Then we purchased large glass seed beads in shades of greens, yellows, golds and clear, and clear crystals in various larger sizes from a local bead shop.   
In preparation, we had pre-cut the desired lengths of 28-gauge wire for the kids to string the beads on in no certain order or pattern....just randomly as each child pleased.  This took the class about two hours to do, and we completed 56 long wire "strings" for the top and 56 short wire "strings" for the bottom.
The rest of the project was completed by the parents.  It involved removing the original plastic "crystals" from the chandelier, and then drilling supplemental holes in its frame so that we could get the amount of wire "strings" that we wanted to fill in the chandelier's shape.  We also added crystal-shaped beaded wires to drop from each lamp's cradle.
I think they did a wonderful job on it and, lucky for me,.....my husband won the auction, and it is now hanging over my kitchen table!