Go!

I want to share the story of a very good friend of mine. Her name is Chris and many of you that are local know her. She is the awesome photographer who took my profile picture.

She is a very special woman in my life.

Well, she is going on a mission trip for 11 months! I'm happy for her and her family because they have been praying for a long time that God give them an opportunity like this. As a matter of fact, their story is quite amazing. It's a story of patience through tough things in life, trusting an almighty God, listening to His spirit and moving when he calls you.

She has a new blog, Through Open Doors, where you can read all about her and her family's new adventure in moving to the Dominican Republic.  Her call to Go!

They are selling pretty much everything they have to make this happen.     If you feel so inclined there is a place you can donate to their trip.   Most importantly, please just pray for them.  We love them very much and know that they are ultra-excited for this to happen and to be a part of growing God's kingdom in the Dominican Republic.   Selfishly, I also want them to be safe.


Through Open Doors - the story of one family's call to GO to the Dominican Republic.

Sacrificial Giving

This story of a unemployed Portland man giving $20,000 to the effort in Haiti blows me away. To give so much when he has so little is truly an example of living from his heart.

I have to admit that I was a little moved by Bragelina giving $1 Million to Doctors Without Borders. That's a lot of money to give.  They've given more than many huge corporations.   I heard today that Madonna is giving $250,000.  My first thought was how nice that was and then I hate to admit it was... Really? Do you think $250,000 is actually sacrificial in the bank account of Madonna?  

I know, I know - I'm judging.   I am - I admit it.    Not good and certainly not where I want my heart to be.  

So, I'm just going celebrate a man who gave sacrificially.  A man who gave beyond his means.  A lesson to me to do the same.  I loved what he had to say, 

“Tragedy does happen to other people you know," Wilson said, "and it may happen to me but you know I believe you try to do the best you can and things work out in life you know? I just try to be a good person, that's all."

Hope For Haiti Fundraiser Event

***Local Readers***
If you are planning to dine out this weekend, make tomorrow night the night!     Plan a night out and help the earthquake victims of Haiti.  See below. 

Hope For Haiti Fundraiser Event
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The Oxford Gastropub, Downtown Raleigh
(located on Fayetteville St, next to ABC11, across from Courthouse)
3:00pm – until close…

Live Music featuring Hope Community Church's favorite band: Band of Brothers!! Josh Long and his trio will be playing a set in between!

$5 suggested donation at the door

Silent Auction + Raffle all day and night!

Auction Items so far:

• o Hurricanes Stanley Cup Hockey Puck
• o Piece of the Cameron Indoor Stadium original floor
• o Angus Bar: $500 4 Person All inclusive dinner at the Captain’s Table
• o $150 Gift Card to The Mint
• o Primp Salonbar: 3 Tinis + Toes packages ($200 value), $50 gift bag of product
• o Gold’s Gym: Two year-long memberships with personal trainer($750 value for each)
• o Hurricane’s Hockey Game private suite for up to 6 people at the RBC Center
• o Flowers & More Valentine’s Arrangement
• o One Night stay in Renaissance Hotel in North Hills, with breakfast
• o $100 Saks 5th Ave gift card
• o Melting Pot dinner for 6! ($300 value)
• o Fuhgeddaboutit Super Bowl Party Package
• o $150 Sono gift card
• o Sono Special 8 course meal for two "coupon", valid for a meal personally cooked, prepared, and served by owner/chef Mike Lee
• o Jill's Beach Tanning & Salon: Tanning Session Packages
• o Yamaha Guitar ($800 value)
• o 2000 Mondavi magnum (courtesy Mutual Distributing)
• o 2004 Twomey Merlot (courtesy Mutual Distributing)
• o 2005 Tolosa Pinot Noir magnum (courtesy Mutual Distributing)
• o 2006 Graffigna Malbec magnum (courtesy Mutual Distributing)
• o Artwork from Adrienne Taylor
• o Glo Di Vie - $100 Gift Card
• o Bonefish Grill - Two 25$ gift certificates
• o DJ Mixing Station (value $200)

**Hope For Haiti Foundation is so thankful for the support of the local community. The Triangle is a wonderful place and we appreciate the support of the businesses and people that are so willing to support the Haitian people.

------
OTHER PROMOTIONS @ THE OXFORD, MURA, AND SONO RESTAURANTS:

GIFT CARD PROMOTION
Running Friday, Saturday, Sunday
$50 Donation = $10 gift card
$100 Donation = $25 gift card
$200 Donation = $75 gift card

PERCENTAGE OF SALES PROMOTION
10% of sales from all three restaurants on Sunday, January 17 will go to Hope For Haiti Foundation

The Oxford is located at 319 Fayetteville St, Raleigh NC
Sono is located at 319 Fayetteville St, Raleigh NC
Mura is located at 4121 Main at North Hills, Raleigh NC

Let the Temperature Rise!

So, this is not an official diagnosis.

I haven't seen a doctor about it but I'm pretty sure the cold weather is bad for my emotional health.   I pretty much hibernate.  I watch a lot of TV, lay around a lot more and pine away for a warm spring breeze.

I try to keep my house clean - it helps. I keep plenty of birdfood in the feeders to see the bright colors of the Cardinals and woodpeckers. I listen to music that I love. I pray and read my bible. I still get sad, though. It's almost as if I have to force myself to get things done.

But once the mercury starts to rise, so does my mood.   Just being outside today made me want to start gardening. Of course, I know it's too early to do that but I was able to do some clean up around the yard.  I  trimmed back bushes, picked up doggie-doo from the yard, took the lights out of the bushes (they've been off for two weeks - just not removed) and swept out the garage.  I even cleaned out my van. Wow.  Basically, a winter of trash and the kids belongings came out of my vehicle today.  


But oh it feels so good!

So, I say let the temperature rise!   Enough Winter.   Too much to ask on January 14?

Also, I need to state here on the blog that I officially love my 12 year old Kenmore washer.  Why?  Because it's working now!  It was broken early in the week.  I did dream just a little bit about a new one but really was relieved when the serviceman came out and fixed it all for $60! 


I'm happy to see the weekend come even though with the kids tracked out, it seems like we've been on one long 4-week weekend.     No big plans except to hopefully go to a fundraiser at the Oxford Restaurant for the earthquake in Haiti.

Our Worship Director and some of our band have another band called the Band of Brothers.  They play classic rock - and they play it well.   Some of the best covers you will ever hear.  The $5 cover goes straight to the Hope for Haiti Foundation and 10% of the sales from the Oxford, Sona and Mura restaurants on Sunday will go to the foundation as well.    So, if you eat out this weekend, make it on Sunday and go to one of these restaurants to help this good cause. 

Check out the link here.
Maybe I'll see you there!

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing.

~ Edmund Burke

Help Haiti

By now you are aware of the devastation in Haiti.  As a world watches an already deeply impoverished country try to dig through what is now rubble, the call for help is loud.  And it should be clear.  We all need to help in some way.  But how?  Where?

For the next 24 hours it is said to be crucial that they find any remaining survivors.   I know that I will be praying that the search and rescue find as many survivors as possible.   Pray for more survivors.  Pray they stay strong and they are found soon.  Pray for the search and rescue workers.

My very own church dedicates much of our mission focus to Haiti.  Our Global Hope Director is from Haiti and has founded the Hope For Haiti Foundation.   We have a team that was getting ready to depart to Haiti for medical and construction in hospital we just purchased.  When they will be able to depart for Haiti is unclear now.  

We will be donating to the rescue and relief effort through our church and Compassion International since we sponsor a child through them. 

You can provide relief through Compassion International right now - Just go RIGHT HERE.  
Other places to donate are your own local church, the Red Cross or World Vision.    

Update on the Mina

I wanted to update you on the Mina project that we did last week.   Hubby, myself and my mom started with $30. We had our little gold party and the gold procurer paid us a percentage of the total sales in cash. We made $493!!! We were able to help a family pay a water bill, another one buy coats, shoes and clothes for, donate $100 gift card to a family that desperately needed money to purchase coats and help a couple other families with Christmas gifts for their kids.  I feel like it was a successful mina project and thoroughly enjoyed serving these families.  Go Here to read about the Mina Project if you don't know what I am talking about.

I can't wait to hear how our church did as a whole. I am hearing stories from my friends who multiplied their money by 10 or 15 times! Yay! It's awesome because of how many families in our community are in need this Christmas. Maybe just a few can feel some peace because of this project.

Gold, Mina, Giving Back

What do gold and the bible story of Mina have to do with each other?  Well, a lot more than just both being money.   Let me tell you all about it!    

Gold
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I went to Gold Party and sold some of my old junky gold. When I say junky, I'm talkin' broken, missing pieces, completely out of style gold jewelry that was sitting in a small snack-size baggie in a drawer.  I sold it for $341.00.   My sister in law recently sold hers for almost $500.00!  I immediately took my "earnings" and bought some Christmas presents with it.   I also mentioned in that post that I would be having a gold party myself.

Mina
What I have not told you about is this year's Mina Project at my church.  Here is a little history of why we do it, what it is and how it's impacted our community.   I've talked about it in past years HERE and HERE. 

What is the Mina Project?

In simplest terms, it is Hope Community Church's radical gesture of generosity to our local community and beyond. It is built on the precept of Jesus’ parable of the minas (pronounced my-na), calling us to multiply and invest in God’s kingdom.

How did it get its name?
In ancient Greece and Asia, a mina was a varying weight or value of money. In Biblical times, five minas were worth about three months wages. We have named this annual undertaking the Mina Project based on Jesus’ parable of the minas as told in Luke 19:11-27, particularly verse 13 as the nobleman charges his servants, “…’Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.” The servants were given the money to invest and work with to see by how much they could increase the amount given to them. Since each was given a relatively small sum, the nobleman’s purpose was not to increase his own worth, but to see which of his servants would be worthy of greater responsibility in his kingdom when he returned. We, of course, understand that Jesus is the nobleman inferred by the parable and we are the servants to whom much has been entrusted on his behalf.  It is the work of God’s kingdom that we are to invest in.

How does Hope’s 2009 Mina Project work?
During the weekend services of October 31/November 1, each adult Hope attendee—at both the Raleigh and Holly Springs campuses--received an envelope bearing various amounts of cash ranging in increments of $10-$100. In total, $60,000 was distributed throughout all four services. With eight weeks leading up to Christmas, the congregation is encouraged to be as creative and innovative as possible and use the money to invest in a project or work to raise additional funds. This will allow them to multiply their “minas” to provide aid to someone in need. Then, before Christmas day, they are asked to take their profits and use them to help someone in the community less fortunate then themselves--a family, a single parent, a widow, a non-profit organization, etc.

Mina Project 2008

In August 2008, $50,000 was distributed throughout Hope’s congregation. They were also asked to increase the amount they had been given and then return the donations by October 26, 2008 to benefit a pre-selected list of charitable organizations. From the $50,000 given out, over $400,000 was returned by our congregation for disbursement among the following non-profit organizations: Wake InterFaith Hospitality Network, Raleigh Rescue Mission, Healing Place of Wake County, Alliance of AIDS Services (Carolina), House of Hope, With Love from Jesus, M25 Organization, Urban Hope, Ship of Zion, and the Hope4Haiti Foundation.

Mina Project 2007

2007 was the first year of Hope’s Mina Project. $35,000 was distributed and that year, congregants were simply asked to give the money away to someone in need. They were encouraged to find ways to multiply the money received before distributing it. Based on the stories and feedback we received, we are confident that over $200,000 was provided to local agencies, ministries, individuals and families in need.

What does one have to do with the other?  

I'm glad you asked.   I'm having a gold party and just like any in-home party, the hostess gets a certain percentage of the sales of that party.  At a gold party, that comes in the form of cash.  So, I am donating whatever my party makes to my Mina Project.   The best part of it is that the people coming to my gold party do not have to donate a penny of their earnings from their own gold.   Unless, of course, they want to.

So, I invite everyone I know to a Christmas Open House, they sell their old gold and make cash to buy Christmas gifts, give to their own charities or mina projects and I raise money for my own mina project which will be given to a family in great need right here in my community.   In this city of abundance in which  I live, also live more than a few families that are without homes, food and bare necessities to just survive.  I hope to help one of those families with my Mina money.

How Do You Get In On This? 

If you are local the the Raleigh/Durham area and would like to come to my party - email me at norose@dandeliondayz.com and I will send you directions.  It is not at my home.  It is a very central location in Apex and I would love to for you to come, have some treats, make some money and help this very important cause.

By the way, if you want to have your own gold party, my very good friend is the procurer and helps you host these parties.  I'd love to pass her name along to you.  

Hope to see you there! 

I Learned This Week that We All CAN Make a Difference

I meant to post this last week but my computer was acting all wonky and I just did not have the patience to deal with it that day. But it still works for this week!

What I learned last week is that we...as in you and me...we CAN make a difference in our communities.


I am pretty much an optimist. I see the glass half-full, give people the benefit of the doubt, see a job where there is no job, money where there doesn't seem to be any coming in, hope in the face of darkness. To me, there is almost always a ray of light to bring someone through a tough time.

I know that not everyone has this hope. I have seen first hand, many people that are beaten down by the experiences in their life. Some even in my own family. As a matter of fact, it is a miracle that I didn't follow that path.

This weekend I saw a community that most likely has a few people in it like that. They simply have lost hope.

People seemingly at the end of their rope and just taking each day to survive.

This community was about 10 miles from my house. The crazy thing is that tucked in between the McMansion subdivisions on the way are a half dozen or so of these communities. My neighbors.

Each month at my church we have what we call Bumper Crop and each month a different set of volunteers handles the job. It is a big job. This month it was my small group.

Okay, so what is a small group? It's just a group of people that come together to do life with one another, study the bible and eat food. Lots of eating. We've been together for a little over 2 years right now and they are a great group of people to be with. Here they are. Don't we look so lovely in those vests?

Anyway, back to the job of Bumper Crop. First of all, let me say - the privilege of Bumper Crop.

First thing we do is collect a little over 1,800 paper bags from our local grocery stores - EACH MONTH.

We attach a flyer telling what Bumper Crop is and then place these bags with the flyer on all of the cars in our parking lots at church for all 4 services.

The flyer asks each person to take that bag home or to the grocery store and fill it with food, paper products, toiletries and essentials. Then bring the food back the following weekend and place it at the bumper of their car, hence the name.

We then collect the food and take it to a different community in need EACH MONTH.

This month we collected over 400 bags of food. Just look at this photo my friend, Chris took. You can check her photo blog out at Dreams Are Free. She takes some great pictures. She took all of these photos actually! Be sure to click over there to read her take on the whole experience.

So, we delivered this food to our neighbors. We worked together with them in a fire line to unload the food into an empty trailer to be distributed later to those that need it. Then we all held hands - neighbors - and prayed together.

Y'all, I am telling you, I had to choke back tears. I'm not telling you this to brag or to show how righteous I am. (I'm not) It's just that I can't really even describe to you what I felt. It was both compassion and love and thankfulness and inspiration all churning inside my heart and soul. I think the tears were the combination of all of this wanting to explode right out of me.

My neighbors. Your neighbors. We each CAN make a difference by giving a little bit of hope and and just Loving One Another.

For more lessons learned this week head over to Musings of a Housewife.

Are you In?

Starbucks and helping my community? I'm in!
More info at Starbucks Pledge 5

Charity: Water

Donate Here.

50,000 in 50 Days Update

We are in the last few days to still donate to the 50,000 shoes in 50 days Challenge. I hope you will join in to this very worthy cause. Just $5!

Food (or Water) for Thought

Just call me Robin's copy cat this week! But this is one of the reason I follow her blog - she posts cool stuff!

I actually did see this video last week on a site called the Mother Letter Project -which you should check out - um 'cause it is about the most romantic thing ever!

So, Robin at Pensieve asked this question regarding this video.
How does this resonate with you?






THEN this Sunday at church we kicked off a our Christmas Giving to build some wells in the Central African Republic with ICDI. Our church raised enough money to build 29 last year!

So, seeing it twice, raising money to dig wells...yeah, something told me I needed to share it with you.

Food (or water) for thought, huh?

Letters

I just wanted to share this post from the Compassion blog with photos of the kids reading letters from their sponsors.

It is really touching.

I know that when we get a letter from our sponsored child, we get very excited and huddle around to read it and look at his latest drawings. I save each of his letters in a scrapbook.

I hadn't really imagined what it was like for him to receive ours.

His to us comes amidst so many other pieces of mail.

I wonder how much mail he gets? What a joy it must be for him to see our photos, the kids drawings and hear about our prayers for him and his family. Just look at those children and all the letters they save as prized possessions.

It just inspires me to write more.

Warm Cozy Slippers

Something on my feet right now. Got me to thinking about this...



Have you donated, yet?
$5 = 2 pairs of shoes.
Go. Now.
please.

I See The Future

The future of the next week or so.

Well, it's only 8 am here and I just finished putting Batman "tattoos" all over Bubby's arms. He seems pretty inspired to get to school now and show his friends his new ink. It's really such a simple thing but makes him very happy.

Speaking of simple, let us talk about something not so simple. Mr. Linky and FeedFlare. For me anyway.

For some of you, this may be simple. I am just technically challenged and learn best by trial and error, so I have been playing around a bit with them. Of course, this all happens in between putting tats on my kids and feeding them. Basically, I cannot read or understand all this computer code stuff in my templates and am terrified I will mess it all up somehow.

I do have some fun new things to introduce this next week, though (if I can figure out Mr. Linky). Jo-Lynne made me some new buttons so I can host some carnivals! Oh, they are soooooo completely cute.

So, I'm excited about that aaannnnddd, she just might be (okay she is) decorating my blog for Christmas. Yay! So, I am kind of already decorating for Christmas - just not my actual house. I can't bring myself to do that until Thanksgiving is over. Even if it is late this year.

I've got a couple reviews coming up also on some great kids books: a series for the younger ones and one for older girsls/tweens that B just finished.

Speaking of B, she is turning 8 on Monday.

Her birthday list is just a little huge including both a Nintendo DS, an iPod and new bike. No, she is absolutely not getting all of those things.

But we are not having a big party this year. $100 can buy a party or go toward the DS. Doing both is not really a good choice right now. Especially with Christmas right around the corner. You should see her Christmas list and no she is not getting everything on that either.

Anyway, this is the first in her young 8 years of life that we are not having an actual birthday party. We will still have a family celebration this weekend, though!


Oh, have you donated to the 50,000 shoes in 50 days, yet? Just $5 will buy TWO people shoes. People without even one pair of shoes for what you probably forgot is stuffed in the pocket of your jeans. Anyway, it's a great cause and easy to do. I plan on donating each week. Go here to join me! And yes, I will be talking about this until the goal is reached. :)

Virtual Shoe Shopping

"It's time to give poverty a swift kick with 50,000 pairs of shoes!"

Yep, that's right. That's the big secret! A group of bloggers are teaming up with Soles4Souls to give away 50,000 pairs of shoes in 50 days! You can be a part of this, too!



50, 000 pairs of shoes in 50 days to people who have never had a pair of shoes or do not have shoes now!

Nashville, TN -- November 7, 2008 -- Soles4Souls, the international
charity dedicated to providing free footwear to those in desperate need, has
announced plans to launch a new fundraising website, www.50000shoes.com. The charity is challenging bloggers and social media users to raise funds for 50,000 pairs of new shoes in 50 days.

A few months ago, my daughter came home with a school project. It was to find a closet full of shoes, separate them into groups, count them and graph them. She chose our coat closet that had a basket full of shoes we run around in outside.
Black shoes alone = 8 pairs.
Tennis shoes = 6.
Flip Flops =7.
There was more, but I will spare you the details. Just right there in one basket were over 25 pairs of shoes and didn't even include our own personal closets.
I remember thinking at the time, "we have so much."



Fast forward another month to our local Clothing Swap and I stood over the most massive amount of shoes I have ever seen in one place. People were just giving away shoes to others in our community. Hundreds and hundreds of shoes.
I said to a friend, "Nobody on this earth should be without shoes. We have enough shoes just here to outfit a small country."

"It is estimated that Americans have 1.5 billion pairs of unworn shoes
lying in their closets while over 300 million children around the world have
never owned a pair of shoes. This is an opportunity to "Step Up" and to help
Soles4Souls with their mission of "Changing the World, One Pair at a Time"
with "One Click at A Time."

Then about a week and a half ago, our Compassion child, Fabrizzo sent a new photo. A photo of himself with his new tennis shoes on that he bought with the birthday money we sent him.

Finally, a call out on Anne Jackson's blog to join in something that would be HUGE. All I had to do to be a part of it was just say yes. I almost ignored the post, but something told me to say yes.

So, I said yes, she emailed me the information about the 50,000 shoe challenge and here we are. Sometimes a message just needs to come in various ways before I finally get the hint!

Finally, now my crazy shoe buying habit can actually be a good thing!

So, how can you help?
Oh, I am glad you asked.

Donating is easy and takes just a click and a couple of minutes. It requires no shipping, no wrapping and no trips to the post office.

The monetary donation is small with $5.00 buying two pairs of new shoes. Anyone can click and give, and all donations are tax-deductible.

THAT'S IT! $5.00 - TWO PAIRS OF NEW SHOES AND YOU HELP annnddd....

A TRIP: After 50,000 pairs have been donated, one person (with a guest of their choosing) will be selected at random to deliver the shoes they purchased to someone in need on one of Soles4Souls' trips to Mexico! Oh, viva la Mexico!

"Can you imagine what it would be like to personally give
someone their very first pair of shoes?! We look forward to connecting the
tangibility of handing someone a pair of shoes with the virtual world of the
Internet," said Soles4Souls Founder and CEO, Wayne Elsey

Okay, folks. That is the big secret. You can help. I have already donated my $5 for two pairs of shoes. Won't you join me? It's just $5 to us, but it could mean the world to someone else.

Also, please help to get the word out. Blog about it, Join the Facebook group and talk about it on your Facebook and MySpace pages, Twitter it and email it to your friends.

Go to here to 50,000Shoes and donate now.

Please.

Compassion Bloggers in the Dominican Republic

Are you following the Compassion Bloggers in the Dominican Republic right now? Are you aware of the bloggers in the Dominican Republic right now?

Compassion International has a team of bloggers there just like they did in Uganda last year.

Here is a list of bloggers (you know some of them!) and some of their most recent posts at the Trip Blog .

This story impacted me today: Read Melanie's story of meeting her sponsored child HERE on her blog Big Mama and HERE on Brian Seay's blog.

What a great reminder of how our letters to our Compassion children give them HOPE! That we can actually be a link to dreams of a better life just by our encouragement and love. We write our child often - we need to write him more. We rejoice to receive his pictures and drawings. He is growing up and I would not want to miss it! This link to his picture is old. The latest photo he sent has him in his new tennis shoes that he bought with the extra money we sent him for his birthday! He is smiling! Oh, the joy! I will post that later this week.

Have you ever thought of sponsoring a Compassion child? You could help fill not only a child, but that child's entire family with a ray of hope. You are God's answer to hope in this world. You, me - all of us.

I encourage you to go Compassion International to learn more about sponsoring a child. You will be so blessed - I promise you!

Do you have any questions about Compassion? I would be happy to answer what I can based on my personal experience with this amazing organization.

Finally Friday

It's Finally Friday! This week I have been on this 5 Day Food Challenge that my church kicked off this past weekend.

Basically, it is part of a much bigger project that we have going on called the Mina Project.

"...'Put this money to work, 'he said, 'until I come back." -- Luke 19:13

We first did this back in November of 2007 with $35,000 and turned it into $200,000. This time our congregation was given $50,000 in cash and the hope is to bring back $400,000 this weekend so that we can give it to some local charities and build a hospital in Haiti.

You can read more about this awesome project HERE. It has been very cool to see how creative everyone has been with their money to make it grow.

The 5 Day Food Challenge was kind of the icing on the cake, so to speak, to finish the Mina.

Basically, the premise is that the American diet is so different than half of the world. Some living on less than $2 a day. That doesn't even cover my latte.

So, the challenge was to eat like those in a third world country might for 5 days! Then to give the money we saved back to the Mina Project. We were asked to pick one meal. Hubby and I actually tried to do 3 meals a day without any snacks. Even the kids joined in some days. For the most part we did a pretty good job. (It was hard!)

The meals consisted of:

Plain oatmeal or Cream of Wheat
Plain tortilla, rice and beans
Rice with bits of fish or chicken and a vegetable

So, Friday is the last day of this. I have never eaten so many beans in my life.

I learned some things this week.

1. I eat too much meat on a general basis and We really don't need as much as we think to be full. Basically, I eat too much!

2. I throw out way too many leftovers. We did not waste any food because I made rice and beans and some veges at the beginning of the week and have been eating from that all week.

3. I thought this would be easy. I have fasted and I thought it would be easier to at least have some type of food. What I found out is that I am spoiled and I want what I want when I want it. If I want a cheeseburger, I can have one within a short period of time. Chocolate - in the pantry. A fresh crisp apple - sitting on my counter. It was hard to deal with the fact that I didn't have more choices.

So, I'm learning to count my blessings as far as our food consumption goes. I hear a lot of talk about the price of food going up and to be sure - it has! My grocery bill is outrageous these days, but maybe I don't need as much as I buy. I was counting my blessings that within 5 minutes of my house there are 4 grocery stores that I can just walk into and buy whatever food I want. Blessed for sure.

It's Finally Friday, though and that means I will be finished with the food challenge. I am so glad I did it, though. I felt the heartbeat of another part of the world for the last 5 days by doing this.

Free Money

Anne from Flower Dust posted this today.

A super easy way for you to help some charities out...you just have to click! Visit this link, pick a charity and Squidoo will donate $2 to that charity - No catches!

She asks us, why not?

Yeah, why not?

Now go!

Clothing and Toy Swap

This is one of the coolest ministries we have at our church. It is a Clothing and Toy Swap.

For several weeks we have those PODS set up in our parking lot. People from our church clean out their attics and closets and bring any clothing and toys they are not using anymore. This year we filled 2 HUGE PODS and many many more donations came in the day we sorted through it all.

A large team of volunteers comes in Friday before the actual event and sorts through all the clothing and toys. Men's, Women's, children, teens, coats, shoes (holy moly - the shoes!), baby stuff and the books and toys.

We then open the doors at next morning at 8:30 am.

300 people were waiting by 8 am!

All in all 1252 people came through the doors to collect clothing and toys that they needed. For FREE! The photos above are of the event.

What is most unbelieveable to me is the amount of clothing that was donated.

In just this little corner of the world.

One church.

Tons of clothing and shoes for a community in need.

What could all of our communities do? Really, no one should be in need of clothing and shoes in this world. After this past weekend, I realized there was enough just in our church to supply shoes for a small town!