The Family Room

I subscribe to a new online magazine called "The Family Room". You can find it here . (still can't figure out the linky thing) Anyway, very good ideas on teaching children about compassion this month- its first issue.

I would add to her ideas some things we do.

-Take young adolescent kids on a mission trip. I once heard a quote that said something like this "no one returns from a mission trip unchanged" I heartily agree. Seeing extreme poverty up close is life changing. As for the adolescent- she reminds me everyday that she wants to go back. I hope we have planted seeds, that God will grow later.

-After our trip and seeing such poverty, we now only buy fair trade coffee from the area we were at in Costa Rica. Coffee fields surround the area and are on every mountain side. cafe britt- tres Rios, www.cafebritt.com. It continues to tie us to the region and we know we are giving those farmers a fair price. (Starbucks sells a coffee from Tres Rios as well- more expensive for the name!)

- We take a bag of groceries to church each week for the food bank. When we were without a job a few years ago, I noticed some things we couldn't get help with buying: Cleaning products and toiletries. I now use coupons and sales to get these things, along with food of course, to send in. All purpose sprays, toothpaste and brushes, shampoo, feminine hygiene products etc. These things can be expensive and when all of your money (rightfully so) goes to feed your family, you are left with little extra for these items. I feel it helps keep your dignity, if you can have a clean house and kids too.

-Taking meals to those who need it. This is true even if we just have a couple extra servings of dinner left over. Elderly folks don't make big dinners anymore, its hard to cook for one or two. When working with our former church, we had Senior Lunches. We invited senior citizens in for lunch (I also took their Blood pressure). They loved the company and the food. We packaged the extras up for them to take home and delivered some of the extras to shut ins. They so appreciated it. I still get letters from some of them and it has been 8-10 years ago! Believe me, my friend(Cheryl) and I were blessed way more than the seniors!

- Being conscience of needs elsewhere and talking about it with your kids. I am the type that would rather bury my head than see the hurting all over the world. It hurts too much. Our pastor has really convicted me to take notice of these hurts. To care about the things God cares about, and teach our children about them. We sponsor a child through WorldVision.com and pray for her every night. We just got a picture of her yesterday and we all marveled at how big she has gotten, she is from Mali. We picked one that is Annie's age and her name is Ami- all easy for us to remember. Her picture hangs in our kitchen, a constant reminder to pray for her and of how good we have it here.

Long post, I know, I got on my soapbox.
I can't wait for next month-Joy. Good job Kristen!