This is my world. Where I strive to do the best
I can to live for Jesus in every way.
You'll see where I fail, fall short and fall flat on my face. Then you'll see Jesus pick me up and keep going.
The countdown is 3 days until we celebrate our Lord's birth. It's not too late to order a gift in someone's name from EFM or Compassion; donate food to your local Salvation Army, rescue mission or women's shelter if you haven't yet or carol someone's home.
Our home is ready - for the next 3 days, we will spend time together focusing on Jesus, not Santa. I am so excited!!!
What do you do for the people in your life who have everything? I love them, want to show that love and so at Christmas I buy them something. Usually something they don't really need (or honestly want). Most of my family and friends have everything they need and want! Here is one way I can show them how much they truly mean to me.. giving a gift in their name. Compassion makes it easy. From the warmth of our own homes, we can sit at our computers and shop Gifts of Compassion.
I'd like to encourage you to think outside the box - or gift bag.
Do you have any idea how far $100 goes in other countries? That's the amount I need to put my new pictures in matching frames from Costco! My parents saw first hand how far $100 goes while on their mission trip to Peru and Bolivia. $50 actually buys something big! For all of the people we spend around $20 on? $16 buys a chicken. Due to their own health conditions and diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, many new mothers are unable or are advised not to breastfeed their newborns. Sadly, other mothers trapped in poverty do not survive in childbirth and leave behind an orphaned infant. $20 provides one of these precious babies with formula for a month!
Your $10 gift list... A lifesaving mosquito net!! Malaria, which kills nearly 1 million people every year, is transmitted exclusively by mosquitos. This $10 gift will help give children and their families countless nights of mosquito-free sleep with an insecticide-treated bed net. They will also receive education about ways to prevent the breeding areas where mosquitos thrive.
Here's a question for you... How many Bibles do you own personally? How many Bibles are in your home? How many are in English? In America, we don’t often think about the joy that comes from holding a new Bible that is in our own language. But for Compassion-assisted children in 26 countries around the world, a brand-new Bible that they are able to read is a treasure. $5 will provide a child or caregiver with their very own, new Bible in their native language. In the past, I have given $5 gift cards to a coffee shop where the recipient gets one drink with some change left. One drink. Barely a gallon of gas, certainley not 2 gallons. Or $5 for their very own Bible, brand new Bible in their native language!!
Please, take a moment and look at the people you still need to buy for and consider a Gift of Compassion instead.
I told you about my Great Grandma Elda's December 1934 a long time ago and was brought back to her journal today. I wondered what she had done on December 3rd...
Dec 3-4-5-6: I worked on my fancy work for Christmas.
There you have it. In 1935, that is what my Great Grammy did.
Here's what she received as gifts in 1935:
From Leroy and Marie (daughter): "Radio Stool & their wedding picture."
Vena (daughter) & Allie got her a "pretty pink slip."
Lout & Gladys (daughter) - "cap"
Kenneth (son) & Margaret (my grands) - "Baby's picture" (Waylen)
Hazel (daughter-in-law) got her a "pretty plate and hankerchief."
Leroy (grandson) got her a "broom holder and doorstop."
She got a "perserve dish" at their Christmas meeting at Bowdles.
She doesn't say exatly what she was making with her "handy work," but that is what she gave as gifts and they were completed on December 13th.
We went to the Footloose re-make last night... maybe I would like it if I hadn't ever seen the original?
While I liked that the re-make didn't have Ren smoking or drinking hard alcohol (beer was used), the clothes were very skimpy, it felt more sexually charged than the original and I just can't wait to watch the original with my girls BEFORE they see this one.
