FIAR ... The Rag Coat

This past week our FIAR group rowed through The Rag Coat.  We really enjoyed this lovely book about a young girl living in a coal mining town in Appalachia.  With all the hardships her family is going through, there is no money to provide a coat for the young girl.  Without a coat, she is unable to attend school.  The sewing circle mothers make her a lovely coat out of rags.  She treasures the coat, because it allows her to go to school and because the sewing circle moms tell her all the stories of each rag.

I am not sure why this came out all fuzzy, but alas it did.

We supplemented our FIAR book with Material World, In Coal Country, and Miracle in a Shoe Box.   I decided that for our group day we would combine our studies of The Rag Coat with making Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes.  Unfortunately, the stomach virus has hit our area hard and only one family could come.  We were barely recovered from the virus ourselves. Blahhhh!  I did not get any pictures of the making of shoe boxes.  The wrapping paper was flying, I tell ya!

Anyway, we started the event by going through some pages in The Material World book.  If you have the opportunity to look at this book, it is a real eye opener.  I think all of us tend to forget how difficult it is to just survive in so many parts of the world.  We then looked through The Miracle in the Shoe Box which is a great Operation Christmas Child story about two children in war-torn Bosnia.  After we made our shoe boxes, we put tracking numbers on them from the website.  Last year they sent us an email telling us where each of our boxes ended up, and we were able to look up their location on the map.  It was really neat to know who we were helping.

This little lady won the most charitable heart award this year in my family.  (We don't really give out an award, mom just notices.) Se did not bat an eyelash at seeing two brand new stuffed ponies going out the door.  This is great growth for this child who loves horses and often struggles with thinking of others first.  So good for this mommy's heart to see.

Blessings,

Dawn