Going Out With a Bang!

Let me start by saying that our God is SO good.  The more we seek to do His will, the more opportunity He gives us.

This year our family decided to do the Advent Calendar from Lifesong for Orphans; in fact, our entire church did!  The hubster and I put aside at least 10% of all income we receive.  It goes into a special savings account and it is there to use when the Lord provides opportunity.  It is SO much fun to have it right there when God makes a need known to us.  We could have just taken money out of our Giving Account to fund the Advent Calendar, but the hubster thought that having the whole family dig in their pockets every day was a better idea.

That man is brilliant.

Sometimes, the Cowboy would tell the Littles they didn't have to contribute because the day's activity didn't pertain to them: for instance, giving $1.00 for every computer in the house.  Only two of us have computers in this home - and neither of us is one of the Littles.  However, the young ones would get SO upset if they didn't "get" to participate.  Every penny, nickle, dime and everything else in that Pringles container (that we used to store our Advent Calendar funds) came out of a piggy bank, wallet, or pocket.  Not a bit of it came out of our set aside giving fund.

New Year's Eve morning I told the kids that we would go to the bank in town to deposit our Advent Calendar money so we could send a check to Lifesong for Orphans ...then, we would take some of our set aside money and go shopping for our kids in Zambia and Uganda.  Mesa looked distraught as she exclaimed, "but I only have three pennies left!"  The last task on our Advent Calendar had been to pray and give as we felt directed.  Every member of our family prayed for direction and then gave out of their own resources.  Kasen, Mesa and Sadie gave nearly all they had.

At the bank with our Pringles can of money from the Advent Calendar.

And I cannot tell you our joy at being able to send a check for nearly $250 to Lifesong for Orphans - after taking out $30 to jump start our fund to help pay for the schooling of a young man in Uganda whose mother recently converted to Christianity from Islam and is bringing a whole tribe of friends and family into the Kingdom with her!

{On a related side note, it turns out that I am now on a child sponsorship restriction.  For a little while...}

Next was the time of our lives.  Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, our shopping-for-our-sponsored-children budget was increased by 50% - so the kids and I had a wad of cash to blow on 2.5 sponsored children (we sponsor two children - and share the sponsorship of a 3rd with our daughter and her husband) and some of their families: 22 people in all!  It was educational to be able to point out to the children that our loved ones in Africa really don't need winter gloves and hats due to their proximity to the equator (the kids had that lesson on our globe, but now it had meaning)...and that we should buy them fun AND useful things.  The girls loved picking out the nail polish, and The Littlest Cowboy enjoyed picking out water bottles for the boys.  The local Christian book store got a big chunk of our change - but so did other local businesses.  A good time was had by all.

And just when we thought it couldn't get better, the party really started.  First, we met my son-in-law to receive his and our daughter's stash for their sponsored children and their houses!  I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to have a daughter and her husband walking so beautifully in the faith!

This is how we celebrated the New Year:

The stash!

 

Each gallon size bag had the picture of one of the children or one of the mamas on it - and we would decide, together, what goodies to put in each bag.

 

He picked this journal out special at the store and was anxious to decide which young man would get it in his bag!

Everyone took great care to decide who got what.

Today, all of us will traipse into the Post Office to send the first love offering to Zambia via Texas.  Later in the month, we will send a gift to our young men in Uganda with a friend who is headed that way on a mission trip.

Before I end, I wanted to say that our family is not wealthy.  I know some people look at what we are able to give and think that we must be pretty well off.  My husband's income puts us at or just below the poverty line in the United States.  What we have is not an abundance of wealth, but an abundance of grace from a God who pours out His blessings on us.  We have found the truth that God does not call you to a job without providing the resources for you to do it.  What is God laying on your heart to do?  Rest assured that He will provide you with what you need to make it happen if it is truly His will.

So, that is how The Farm School said "goodbye" to 2012 and "hello" to 2013!  Lord willing, I hope it will be a new family tradition!  I am so very grateful that God is allowing our family to participate in the lives of orphans and widows around the world and for my children to see, first hand, just how blessed we are!