Somewhere to Give

I think that everyone probably knows someone who knows someone who is going through a rough time this year.  Maybe?  Jobs are being cut left and right in all industries (including health care...which was supposed to be recession resistant) and parents are having a harder time putting toys under the tree.

Christmas giving, to me, isn't just about the ones who are living in crazy poverty year round, even though they hurt my heart so much.  To me, Christmas giving can be for the families whose parents sacrifice their needs daily if it means meeting their kids' small wants, who are just making it- living paycheck to paycheck- but making it, but they just can't do Christmas presents this year.  I love to give to them, too.

There is an organization called My Two Front Teeth who provides kids with a gift on their list- list meaning they probably only want one or two things.  Most gifts are under $25 and it's super convenient- you can pay for it online and they'll get the gift, wrap it, and deliver it.  It's sort of like the Salvation Army Angel Tree, but they do all of the work for you.

A little more about the Salvation Army Angel Tree.  This is the tree you see in the mall with the angel ornaments on it.  You pick an age, a girl or boy, and you get to go shop for the items listed (usually something like Barbie, clothes size 6x, books), then you bring your things back to the table at that tree and they deliver the gifts to the kiddos.  My family has always done this, and Devin and I adopted the tradition as our own too.  It makes for a fun date- pick your angel in the morning, go shop for them together, deliver your toys, get some coffee, drive around and look at Christmas lights, and talk about how full your hearts are.  Just an suggesh.

If you are more the type of person (does that make sense?) who likes to be right in the middle of the giving- doing the work, buying the needed items, and delivering them, and even if you want to be sure of where your items are going, the KSBJ Giving Tree is for you.  This is for Houston/College Station residents for the most part I think.  The way the tree works- people can nominate someone they know who is having a rough time and needs some help this Christmas.  Then, people (like you) can browse through the needs and find one that fits.  The person who nominated the family will coordinate everything and if you want, you can deliver your items to the family with the coordinator.  

You will find everything from needs like this:

My best friend was recently let go of her duties in the army. So at this point she is struggling to provide a beautiful Christmas for her two precious boys.It would be greatly appreciated if you could help this family and her youngest celebrate his first Christmas.

To this:

She is a single mom of 4 that works full time and goes to school full time. she works very hard and is still struggling.

To this:

Shes a 83 year old woman that helps 3 homeless men and is a really nice person.  Her daughter that lives with her has cancer and she takes care of her 10 year old grand daughter.  

Check out the KSBJ giving tree and find someone that really hits your heart where it hurts.  

Hoping everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!
 

Somewhere to give

My favorite piece of mail comes in a cream colored envelope with blue print that shouts:

A LETTER FROM YOUR CHILD!

Yep.  This is my favorite kind of mail.  It is filled with colorful pictures our kiddo drew, ideas and questions from them, and most importantly, it lets us know that they are still around.

Devin and I sponsor 4 beebs through Compassion International.

From left to right is Lisa (6), Navina (11), Nepal (8), and Budra (7).  Nepal is a writer to the max.  We get more letters from him than any of them and he is a master flower artist.  The girls love when I send them sheets of stickers.  Budra is the sweetest face you will ever set your eyes on.  This morning, when Devin took this picture, I made him kiss them all before he left for work.  

We love them.  I hope to meet all 4 of them someday.

Although they don't all live in the same villages, they are all from India where poverty, hunger, and disease run rampant.  All 4 of their fathers only get to work sometimes and most of their mothers do not work.  They live on about $1.50 a day.

My straight black coffee costs more than that.

You can choose your child, or choose a country and Compassion will select one for you.  You get to write them letters, send small gifts, send them Christmas and Birthday gifts through the organization, and Compassion makes it all super convenient.

You can go here to see how your money will be put to use.

When we got married, we decided that this would be a way we would use some of the money God gives us every month.  I don't know if it is for everyone, but I think if children and culture and communication speak to your heart, sponsoring a child might be for you. 

But if it seems a bit too long term for you, and you still want to help, Compassion has plenty of options for you:

-You can donate as little as $10 to help their pig income project in Rwanda

- You can help improve classrooms in Bolivia

- You can help to build a kitchen in India

- You can help to build proper bathrooms for Kenya

- And another one that gets me.  You can donate to give a woman proper prenatal care and counseling, a safe birth (most of these women give birth in unsafe places resulting in multiple baby deaths), and care for children up to 3 years of age.

If you decide Compassion is right for you and have any questions, please please please email me (link on the left sidebar).  I would love to hear about it.

I'll admit one thing to you right this second.  It's not even Thanksgiving and I have stressed more about Christmas presents in the last few weeks than I have in the entire history of my existence.  I have this God-given people pleasing gift giving sort of thing in me that makes me think the gift to death.  I don't like to give just anything- I like to pick it out for them.  I like for it to mean something.  I like for it to reflect thought and effort and fantastic taste (what?).  And so then I think about it so hard that it's not even exciting anymore and all of the sudden I hate gift giving and everyone I am buying gifts for.  Or something less harsh.

I was sitting in church on Sunday fully engaged, as usual, by our pastor's speakin'.  We are so blessed to have him.  He does good, relevant preachin'.  And in his wise message, he put it better than I ever could.  It went something like...

Christmas, with the presents, is really kind of dumb.  You call your brother and you're like 'What do you want?' and he's like, 'A blue long sleeve shirt' and you're like 'cool' and he's like 'What do you want?' and you're like 'A black long sleeve shirt' and he's like 'cool' and so you both go out to the same store and you buy the other person the shirt he could afford to get for himself and he buys you the shirt you could get for yourself and basically we're buying things for people who have the money to buy it themselves but we do it just to wrap it up and give them a gift.

I think I'm off on a word or 2.  If you want the real deal, click here.

But oh how right he is.

May I be one million and eleventy hundred percent honest right now?

Sometimes I get caught up in it.  Like, I really seriously need those boots; like it is a need for my feet because in all seriousness if I do not have those boots for Christmas, I will be straight up nastyfeet because my feet will be bare because I own no other shoes and do not have one penny to get them myself and why would I spend my penny anyway because, oh look!  It's Christmas!  Someone else can get them for me.

For real, sometimes I think that way.  I convince myself that my wants really are needs.  My wants are never needs.  I cannot even come anywhere close to having any clue what it is to actually seriously need something.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, God, for that.


And in that minute of Gregg's speech about how ridiculous our petty gift giving is, I remembered what it is that I love so much about Christmas.  It's what I have loved since I can remember.  It's what makes Devin laugh at me as I tearfully pull his wallet from his pocket.  It's what gives me burning joy in the core of my soul, and it is what makes my heart burst with worship to God.  I. love. to. give...to those who know what it is like to seriously. seriously. need something.  To those who work to the ends of the earth to provide for their family.  And even to those who I just feel for.

I love to work for them.
I love to open my wallet for them.
I love to sit with them.
I love the needy,however God decides to define it for me on a given day, more than anyone else on the planet.

There is no gift- no clothes, no shoes (or boots), no trips, no thing that satisfies and quenches my heart more than helping someone else.

Last year I wrote blog posts about gift ideas.  This year, I want to introduce (or reintroduce) you to some of my favorite groups of people who depend on me and depend on you and depend on the people who will selflessly and faithfully give them a dollar so their needs can be met.  Needs like clean water.  Like safety.  Like shelter.  Like food.  Like education.  Like shoes for their little toddler feet.  Like Christmas gifts for their kids.  Like fixing a leaky roof.  Like a scoop of gravy on their mashed potatoes on Christmas Day.

Maybe a group will speak to your heart.  Maybe you will help.  Maybe you will be hooked.  Maybe God will speak to you through giving.  Maybe you will worship God through giving.  Maybe you will be changed.
 

Get em some socks

MetroLIVE is back and we are LOVING it

This year they’re helping Charasia again.

Remember last year?

Charasia is an organization in India who helps little girls.

Not just any little girls- little girls that are super young (I’m talking 5, 6, 7…) who have been raped by the men who come to the brothels to visit their mothers in the red light district.  Some of these little girls “satisfy” 15 clients a day who have full blown AIDS.  When they aren’t “working”, they are laying in their mother’s room while she’s with a client.

It’s sickening, really.

Charasia works with the mothers of the children and convinces them to let their baby girls come live at Charasia.

Do you have a little girl?  Do you dare think about her when she was/is seven being in the situation these sweet girls are in?

At Charasia, they get shoes and food, baths and love, education and clothing, lifelong friends and Jesus.

Charasia depends on donations to provide for their little girls.

This year, MetroLIVE set up a Target registry for them.  You can go to it right

HERE

and have whatever you want to buy shipped to the organization.

It does not get easier.  Or cheaper.  The toothpaste they need is $.97

You have $.97.

Devin and I are thinking we’d like to go work with Charasia a little bit someday.  I am dying to hug on some of those munchkins.

Happy Friday everyone!

Water

I got my Coffee Cozy from Water4Christmas this weekend

It’s cute and I love it and it works perfectly.

The coffee shop lady got mad at me for having it- not sure why she took it personally that I was not using one of their sleeves.

Whatevskis.

I also love that the $6 I spent on it went toward giving people in Africa some clean water to drink.

I love the quote on their etsy page:

There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.

–Denis Waitley

I don’t love how I couldn’t get the shine off of the table, but ‘tis the nature of an iPhone photo.

Check out Water4Christmas’ etsy shop and get some stocking stuffers.

I think I may snag me one of those water drop ornaments.

Happy Monday!

No excuses, play like a champion

We got a letter from the Houston Food Bank yesterday, and though I do not expect you to give to every organization I post, I can gladly say that you now have absolutely zero excuses for not giving to an organization this season.  This is some frugal giving, y’all.

Devin knows I would literally give money to every organization (I think it worries him) that contacted me if I believed in the cause.  For example, one that didn’t work was some letter with a picture of a fox that said something about his quality of life.  I don’t know any foxes personally, therefore, the letter’s persuasion did not swoon me. 

Instead of giving money, Devin and I are doing some work at The Houston Food Bank this Saturday, but they need your donations as well.  Get this: They are asking for anything, and I mean anything.  A mere $3 will feed a person 3 meals through their organization.  Try to tell me you don’t have $3 and I’ll tell you to put down the coffee /slice of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake that is costing you 1,079 calories (believe it) /pretzel from the corner that tastes like a taxi ran over it. 

If you don’t have $3, please email me.

They need volunteers all the time, and it is super easy to sign up on their website. 

If you don’t live in Houston, look for your local food bank or mission.  You can donate food, money, or time, and I promise you will be blessed by it.  We are really looking forward to working with HFB on Saturday morning.

When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me."

Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, "When did we give you something to eat or drink?  When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?"

The king will answer, "Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me."

Matthew 25:35-40

Leave a comment with your favorite organization to donate to or volunteer with.

PERFECT PRESENT #2

Like I said earlier this week, Christmas is fast approaching and we all need ideas for what to get our families and friends.  And so…

THE PERFECT PRESENT #2

The Rope of Hope

It’s not a great picture, but it’s all I have to work with. 

The thing is, this gift is less about the necklace and more about the initiative.

Rahab’s Rope is an organization that fights human trafficking, particularly focused on women, in India.  If you have been reading for a while, you know I have a heart for the less fortunate (Christmas is coming!  The season of giving!  Get your wallets out!), but also for women in this exact situation.  Devin and I sponsor 4 kids from India through Compassion International, and to think of one of my sweet girls that sends me drawings of flowers and bumble bees ending up where these women are…it just breaks my heart.  Melissa Fitzpatrick says it well in describing her time in India with Compassion:

The theology of human worth and dignity that is so essential to the Christian message is so desperately needed in a country like India that is primarily Hindu.  [We need] to instill a sense of meaning and purpose that is so crucial for these women

So, Rahab’s Rope serves that very purpose: to give hope and opportunity to women and girls that have been forced into the commercial sex trade of India by providing a safe and loving environment that will enable them to grow and develop both physically and spiritually.

On Christmas, Rahab’s Rope is throwing a party and inviting all women of the community in for a full day of being cared for.  In making a donation and getting this necklace for a friend or family member, you are also giving a woman in India a meal, a new dress, various items she may need, and hope.  When you make a donation of at least $20, you are buying her hope.

Still not sold?  Check out the facts from the Rahab’s Rope website:

• Trafficking in human beings is now the third-largest moneymaking venture in the world, after illegal weapons and drugs.
• Each day in India nearly 200 girls and women are forced into the sex trade.  Every. Day.
• The birth of a girl is often a burden and she is not fed properly, loved or educated
• Mortality and suicide rates for Indian women are among the highest in the world.
• As many as 50,000 women and children from Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe are brought to the U.S. under false pretenses each year and forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants (Joel Brinkley NYT citing CIA report).
• Approximately 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors. (U.S. Department of State)
• The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion. (U.N.)
• Sex trafficking is an engine of the global AIDS epidemic. (U.S. Department of State)

This year, maybe we can make an effort to buy things of purpose instead of things we’ll be tired of by January.

THE ROPE OF HOPE PERFECT FOR:  Your sweet grandma, your kid’s favorite teacher, your babysitter, your neighbor, a Christmas party gift, a stocking stuffer, a friend, a stranger in India

We Must Go Live to Feed the Hungry, Stand Beside the Broken...

God has blessed Devin and myself immensely with jobs that provide more than enough for the two of us, and then some. It is so important to us, as the very small 2 person family that we are, to diligently return His money to Him so that He may do the work He needs to do with it. I have always had a heart for missions, for the struggling, the broken-hearted, the poor, the weak and exhausted, the loveless, the less fortunate, whether the people are next door or across the world. One night at what we believe is going to be our home church, Dr. Jerry Rankin spoke about how Christians are to have and show compassion. He spoke of the Great Commission, that God commands that we make disciples of all nations, and his emphasis was on 1 John 3:17,

"If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions".

I so desire to have and show compassion to His people, and so, as I read Melisa Moore Fitzpatrick's daily accounts on the Living Proof blog of her trip to India with Compassion (God has a funny way of using the same words to speak to us) International to meet her sponsor children, I was drawn with a desire that was so urgent to sponsor twenty children. God has blessed us, but twenty was probably out of our realm of giving, so I toned it down before I talked to Devin. After talking and praying and talking, we signed up to sponsor a child, and TODAY, we found out who our child is.

We have a little girl. She is 5. She loves dolls and playing house. We love her already, and I truly mean that we love her.

Her name is Lisa, and she. is. beautiful. Unfortunately, the Compassion website won't let me download her picture to post here, but as soon as we get one in the mail, I will scan and post it like a proud mother. We are so thrilled and hopeful that God will continue to bless us for years so we can watch her grow up and become the Godly woman she is called to be.

Lisa lives in Bolangir, Orissa in India with her mother and father.


Her mother is unemployed and her father is a laborer. If he gets work, he makes an average of $27 per month. Our donation, monthly, is. more. than. his. salary. on. a. good. month. And the money doesn't do small things- Compassion makes sure that it spreads a long way! The money will give our little girl food and clean water, education, medical care. She will learn life skills, hygiene, trades, and how to care for children. But the sweetest of it all- she will hear the wonderful stories of Jesus Christ. She will hear how much He loves her (something that, most likely, not even her parents tell her), how much He has planned for her, and she will hear it every single day. We are excited to be chosen as the vessel for Jesus to change her life and set her free.

That night at church, when the pastor spoke on the Great Commission, and the requirement that Christians show unconditional compassion, the congregation sang this song that drives me to tears of motivation every single time:

God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served

Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God

You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord

Now that I've told you of the need all over the world, and how far your dollar can go...
Now that you know, what will you do?