giving

Last year for Christmas with my in-laws instead of picking names for our gift exchange, everyone gave Sara $22 to put towards buying a goat for a family in Africa (or somewhere). While I liked the idea of buying something for someone who really needs help, I felt like I didn't know anything about what I was giving my money for. I was just told to hand over a certain amount of money and someone else took care of the rest.

This year with my family, we decided to do something along the same lines but with a few twists. My mom made up a box with a slot on the top. We could then put any amount of cash in it, whether it was just $2 or $200. It was totally anonymous so we wouldn't feel bad if we only put in a little. It was cute how my niece and nephews had been trying to find any loose change around their house to put in the box! They all wanted to contribute. Then we counted all the donations in the box. Once we had a total, we all looked through several different catalogues/brochures that we had received from World Vision, Samaritain's Purse, EuroEvanglisim, etc. and each family picked out something they wanted to "buy" for a needy family. My sister and her family selected drinking water. My parents chose 3 pigs. We chose a goat and 10 chickens. We have been so blessed with everything we need and more. It was nice to not worry about buying gifts for each other and instead give some very needy people items that will help them live.