We had a great week at ChristmasChange last week. If you missed any of the posts, make sure you take the time to catch up. Heather kicked off a series of incredible blog posts written by Lora Lynn, Katdish, Holley Gerth, and Jo. The week also gave us a few surprise, off-site posts such as this one by Glenn Young, and this one by Corinne. These are great posts and certainly worthwhile reads. Thanks Glenn and Corinne!
Make sure you keep checking in this week, as our guest posters will include Danielle Smith, Ann Voskamp, and Billy Coffey, among others. And while you are here, and in the spirit, sign up to be a part of ChristmasChange and join our community. We’d love to know who you are and where you make your home.
Finally, and as a practical matter, have you decided which charity you intend to support this Christmas? Have you purposed to live incarnationally by diverting a portion of your personal Christmas budget so that you can give to those in need? If you haven’t yet chosen your ChristmasChange charity, let me make a suggestion: Compassion International. Adopting a child from Compassion can bring rescue and redemption into the lives of those in desperate need.
And that brings us to our Sunday community project. If you have adopted a child through Compassion International, share your experience with us in the comments. How has it changed your life? How has it changed the lives of those children you have adopted? What are the names of your Compassion children and what is there story? Let’s highlight the stories of those who have no voice, and in doing so, let’s encourage others to take part in this worthwhile charity.
Thanks for your participation, and LET’S KEEP SHARING!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for this challenging site and its call to action. It made me think hard about Christmas and my own struggle with the season in a way I haven’t in a long time. It shifted a weight of false expectations off in a profound way. Thank you. The details of my discovery are here. http://thegypsymama.com/2009/11/28/the-weight-of-expectations/
Lisa-Jo
We support a 5 year old Ethiopian girl named Yebsira. She writes us periodically, sharing with us the opportunities she has been given with our monthly donation. It has blessed us to know that she is receiving education, food, and clothing. We are somewhat new to Compassion, so our story is evolving. I can’t wait to see what unfolds.
Who else?
This year, we’re giving Military BibleSticks
https://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=50
In years past, it was always the food pantry but this year, we’re feeding hearts.
Thank you for the mention, what you all are doing is incredibly contagious! Can’t wait to see more posts pop up spreading the word. Each post that has been written on here is inspiring, and I look forward to seeing a new post pop up in my reader.
We have not chosen our charity… adding up the money, but have yet to contribute. I’ll be sure to check out Compassion International… thank you for the suggestion.
I have become a Compassion supporter just this past summer. My child lives in Thailand. She is 16 years old and her name is Cheewapohn, but her friends call her Mine. Isn’t that great! Everyday I pray for Mine. She has written me a couple of times and my heart beats wildly to see her letters. She is in an unbelieving family and so I often encourage her strength to stand alone. She loves what she learns from Compassion and is developing a heart for God. It is the best investment I have made in a long time.
We let each of our children who are over the age of three have a Compassion child to write. So each of our boys has a “friend” somewhere else in the world. They pray for them each night and draw them pictures to send in the mail. They recognize the name of their friend’s country and always get excited if it gets mentioned. We chose friends who are close to our children in age so they enjoy swapping pictures and letters with someone their age.
For me, it’s a lesson in responsibility. We have other children, not in our home, that we have a responsibility to. It’s a challenge to write them letters that effectively communicate the love we feel for a child we’ve never met. We keep their pictures on our fridge so we can talk about them to other people and remember them every time we fill our cups with water. We keep their drawings up next to our own children’s drawings, because they are a part of our family.
For our younger children, we support one of Compassion’s early start programs in Haiti. I love snuggling my own babies and looking at the pictures of other babies who get to be snuggled and well-fed because of the care they get at these centers.
I love this blog. Such great ideas. We are long time Compassion Sponsors and are excited to see all the interest in the blogosphere for this very worthy program. Our little boy in India is now a big kid. We have enjoyed getting to know him through the years.
I’m inspired to think of new ways to give this Christmas thanks to your efforts here. I’ll be embedding your video on my blog some time this week.
Love all these ideas and the blog! We are trying to make change as well. We too are Compassion sponsors and have been SO very blessed by it. We are also giving to The Brighton Kennedy Foundation (http://www.brightonkennedy.org/about/) and Charity: Water.