Good morning, Friends 😉

We’ve been on a little R&R break from social media, blogging, work, and pretty much just life in general this week. After such a Crazy season with all the moves, getting the Hubs through his surgery and recovery, and then the holidays and travels, this is exactly what we have needed.

When we planned our little getaway, I didn’t realize Giving Tuesday would be right in the middle of our trip. I think it’s great how today lands on the calendar. Take it back a few days, and this is the line up that gets us to today:

Thursday – We gathered for Thanksgiving

Friday – We hit all the Black Friday deals.

Saturday – Shopped local for Small Business Saturday.

Sunday – That’s the Lord’s day 🙌🏼

Monday – Caught a few more deals online with Cyber Monday.

And here we are – Giving Tuesday

It’s brilliant really. I’ve often joked that on Thursday we give thanks for all we’ve been given, and on Friday we pretend it’s the apocalypse and act like we’ve lost our minds 😂🙈 A little Black Friday humor…

It seems to have gotten better over the last couple of years. I don’t know if people have just calmed it down a bit or if we aren’t shopping as much, but hey… the death toll is down, so at least some of our humanity is shining through.

Enough about Black Friday and it’s shenanigans though.

It’s Giving Tuesday, and I think the timing is perfect. The last few days, shoppers have been preparing for Christmas gifting season, maybe snagging a few things for themselves, but most shopping for others. And that’s really cool. Some of y’all are so on the ball, you’ve already finished your Christmas shopping! High five to you!

In this season of giving and showing gratitude, I love that this is kind of the last scheduled day on the docket. It’s an opportunity to give just a little bit more as the season changes into a new festive time.

I love Giving Tuesday because the best parts of humanity come out and shine through. Charities and non-profits from all over the world begin to flood our Facebook accounts, and we not only get to see all the good in the world, we get a chance to be a part of it. Personally, if I could travel country to country feeding children and teaching youth about Jesus for the rest of my life, I would sell everything and go. No reservations or hesitations, if that was something God asked me to do, I would have gone yesterday. But…. that’s not my calling. He asked me to be here… in a world with plenty, where the majority is doing just fine, and it’s not as easy as opening your front door to see where the needs in your community lie.

Since that’s the case, I LOVE today, because it’s like opening your home page on Facebook and BOOM, you’ve got a million ways to give. A million charities posting about how you can make a difference in the life of someone who is homeless or has cancer or can’t go to school and receive an education.

Today is a really beautiful day because it’s people, average people, with enough stuff to get by and usually more… it’s people like this advocating for people who don’t have enough to get by. It’s girls like my best friend, Amanda Sowards, who has been campaigning for over a month to raise enough money to keep the doors open on 3 schools in Nicaragua where underprivileged children get their lives changed every single day. It’s people being willing to say, hey, I need your help. We need your help. We’re all in this together.

If y’all have been on our social media prior to the R&R break and Thanksgiving, you likely know about the #ChangeLivesChallenge, the WMO Campaign, my awkward failed attempt at doing a Facebook LIVE and the real unfortunate possibility that an organization near and very dear to our hearts might be closing its doors. Last night, we had a moment of truth. We felt the discouraging vibes of giving up, as they pushed into our little minds and tried to make us give up hope on this mission and campaign. We pushed back just a little harder, just one more time, have faith we whispered, and this morning, miracles happened.

I won’t tell you what the miracle was, but click here to see how multiplication works, and miracles still happen in this place. Remember… just a few days ago, our Facebook campaign said $135 raised out of $20,000.

We have prayed and prayed and prayed so much for this campaign. It hass changed the lives of children all over Nicaragua. The money from this fundraiser helps to feed 15,000 kids every single day and provide education in 3 schools for around 300 kids each year. We are so grateful that Giving Tuesday has given WMO the option to keep the doors open. If you have a little extra to give this season, we would so appreciate any donation to the #ChangeLivesChallenge!