Easiest Pumpkin Craft Ever

Easiest pumpkin craft ever! Seriously!

Small white artificial pumpkins at Walmart - 98 cents each. One orange permanent marker, maybe some other colors. Five minutes. No mess. Boom. Or if you want to get fancy, get some squeeze tubes of puffy paint and let your kids have a go at it.

Once a month my daughter Julia and her husband Alex organize an outreach dinner for folks who are homeless (camping in the woods) or living in transitional housing at a local motel. She just had her second baby last month, so she stayed home tonight, but I loved seeing my sweet son-in-law.

I often bring simple table decorations, and I usually don't come back home with them. Tonight, some of the kids there liked them so much, it was a joy to pass them along.

I was sort of in a hurry this afternoon since my priority was making a chicken casserole to bring, so I didn't get time to decorate them the way I wanted with some puffy paint. I literally grabbed my markers as I was running out the door and was relieved to find the bag of pumpkins still in the van. When we got to the motel where we do the dinner, I sat for about 10 minutes and wrote encouraging phrases that I thought would bless our friends at the outreach.

Fear is a big deal when you don't have proper housing.

We want our comfort to go beyond words, though. Dinner. Live music. Bags of toiletries. Shoes. Rain ponchos. Dollar store gift cards. Those speak love in tangible ways.

Kids love to serve ~~
my youngest daughter and her friend

And so does a little pumpkin sitting on your motel night stand.

Grace and peace,
Virginia Knowles

This post is part of my Autumn Grace 2015 series.

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P.P.S. Read more?

13 Ways to Help People Who Are Homeless

What Love Looks Like: Reaching Out to the Homeless

Homeless (Advocating for the Vulnerale)

A Note Wedged into the Window on My Van 

Food, Health, Jobs, and Family Crisis Assistance Resources in Central Florida

Homeless in the Suburbs