Teaching your kids to GIVE at Christmas

(I have taken 2 weeks off from my regularly scheduled posts due to holidays)

We have so much.  Even before Christmas... we have so much.  I kept wondering what we could do this Christmas to TEACH the girls experientially how to GIVE and not just GET at Christmas.

So one night the week before Christmas I started talking to them about kids in other countries that don't have a lot of food, and some of them can't even attend school b/c their family is so poor.  We watched some of the videos at World Vision to see how the gift of chickens, ducks, and other farm animals can actually become a huge year long blessing to that family.  They provide eggs that give the family immediate food, and then the extras can be sold to provide money for the family.

Now, instead of just deciding what we were going to do, getting out my debit card, and getting it "done"... I decided to get them INVOLVED.  I asked them what they wanted to do (they decided chickens or ducks)... and I told them to go gather THEIR money from their banks and that me and daddy would give some money too.  (Even though I knew we would be making the purchase with our debit card - this became a tangible lesson for them.)  We then counted our pooled money and decided what to do.  I was so proud of Macy.  She had $10 in her bank - and she said she had been saving it to help us go to Spain (sniff....), but that she wanted to give it ALL to help kids that didn't have anything.

We then put all of our pooled "cash" into an envelope to "deposit" at the bank and then used our debit card to complete the transaction.  Macy and Mia were so EXCITED that they were going to be helping making a difference in the life of a family this Christmas.
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Maybe you would like to encourage your kids to do the same on this week after Christmas....with blessings abounding all around your home in the post-Christmas haze...

I have an idea for you!!!!  One of our good friends we made in China (they adopted a little girl from Mia's orphanage at the same time we were there) - are taking a HUGE step and adopting a 13 year old girl from an orphanage in China.

If Piper is not adopted before she turns 14 she loses the chance to ever be adopted.  Our friends Josh and Teri have fallen in love with their new daughter and have completed all of the paperwork to bring her home.  However, they are still lacking the funds they need to get her here.

 If you would like get your kids involved in GIVING...  and help bring an orphaned teenager into a family - here's how!

Go to:  Teri's Blog.   Then click on the "chip in" button.  We were recently blessed by God and made a donation here.  I just set up a paypal account (it was really easy), and had made a donation in less than 10 minutes.  It automatically drafted like any other purchase on my debit card.

I for one know the JOY of bringing home a child that God has placed in your heart.  Will you help them bring Piper home?  If you have any other questions about this - please let me know!  I will do whatever I can to help!