40-40-40 ... Days 35 & 36
Randy and I (with the help of our granddaughter who is in town visiting and has been a godsend!) have been busy savoring each moment with the kids in our last week at Sonshine. We took the girls out to dinner Wednesday (which is a memory we will NEVER forget!) and we're taking the boys out shopping today. Followed by Randy's famous caramel popcorn and a movie (The Star). We've given lots of hugs and so far held back most of the tears. All of this focus on the kids this past week has made me want to seek out other organizations who are loving on all of God's children, to help support them to continue their work. These are two that I believe in.
40-40-40 ... Day 35: Right to Play
I learned about Right to Play when it was advertised during the Winter Olympics this year. The mission behind Right to Play is:
LEARN more about Right to Play, where they are located, and the athletes who are involved in this initiative.
DONATE to support a child's Right to Play. (To donate, you have to first select the country nearest you, so that the money can be filtered through that office.)
40-40-40 ... Day 36: World Vision
Just like Compassion International, I learned about World Vision from a book I borrowed from my brother and sister-in-law in Portland before coming to Mexico. And just like Compassion International, through World Vision you can sponsor a child.
What made the book about World Vision even more impacting to me than the other one, however, is that the current president, Richard Stearns, came to World Vision in a unique way. While the president of Compassion International, Wess Stafford, was a missionary child who grew up in Africa and saw firsthand the need for such an organization, Richard Stearns was a corporate CEO, working for both Parker Brothers and Lenox before God changed his life's direction.
It reminds me of the story of the rich young ruler (who we discussed before this whole 40-40-40 adventure began), who was asked to give up everything -- the title, the lucrative salary, the comfort of dealing with people in business suits rather than children with lice living in their eyelashes -- in order to follow Him. The rich young ruler couldn't do it, and went away sad. But Richard Stearns showed us a different ending to the same story. He has successfully led this organization for 20 years, and I'm guessing that he wouldn't have stayed that long if he hadn't grown to know and love God more with each and every year.
I immediately made a donation to World Vision after reading "The Hole in Our Gospel," and I'm happy to do so again this month!
READ "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns.
SPONSOR a child, RUN for clean drinking water, LEARN more about World Vision.
DONATE to support the continued work of this organization.
40-40-40 ... Day 35: Right to Play
I learned about Right to Play when it was advertised during the Winter Olympics this year. The mission behind Right to Play is:
We use the power of play to educate and empower children to overcome the effects of poverty, conflict and disease in disadvantaged communities.The website goes on to say that, while food, water, and shelter are essential needs, so is a child's right to play. Having spent the last year-and-a-half with "disadvantaged" kids, I firmly believe in this. When people ask me what they can do to help, I can give them a list of our "needs": toilet paper, diapers and baby wipes, pancake mix, laundry soap. But I always tell them that it's just as needed for people to come sit on the floor to play matchbox cars or kick around a soccer ball in the backyard or paint fingernails or swing babies. As Right to Play attests, playing allows kids to learn healthy behaviors and attitudes, lessons about themselves and how to interact with others, and peacemaking skills (not to mention it is just plain fun!).
ACTION STEPS
PLAY with your kids.LEARN more about Right to Play, where they are located, and the athletes who are involved in this initiative.
DONATE to support a child's Right to Play. (To donate, you have to first select the country nearest you, so that the money can be filtered through that office.)
***
40-40-40 ... Day 36: World Vision
Just like Compassion International, I learned about World Vision from a book I borrowed from my brother and sister-in-law in Portland before coming to Mexico. And just like Compassion International, through World Vision you can sponsor a child.
What made the book about World Vision even more impacting to me than the other one, however, is that the current president, Richard Stearns, came to World Vision in a unique way. While the president of Compassion International, Wess Stafford, was a missionary child who grew up in Africa and saw firsthand the need for such an organization, Richard Stearns was a corporate CEO, working for both Parker Brothers and Lenox before God changed his life's direction.
It reminds me of the story of the rich young ruler (who we discussed before this whole 40-40-40 adventure began), who was asked to give up everything -- the title, the lucrative salary, the comfort of dealing with people in business suits rather than children with lice living in their eyelashes -- in order to follow Him. The rich young ruler couldn't do it, and went away sad. But Richard Stearns showed us a different ending to the same story. He has successfully led this organization for 20 years, and I'm guessing that he wouldn't have stayed that long if he hadn't grown to know and love God more with each and every year.
I immediately made a donation to World Vision after reading "The Hole in Our Gospel," and I'm happy to do so again this month!
ACTION STEPS
READ "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns.
SPONSOR a child, RUN for clean drinking water, LEARN more about World Vision.
DONATE to support the continued work of this organization.
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