I have made it one year without Coke, coffee or chocolate!!! And because 32 generous people stuck with me and gave 4 dollars a month for 12 months, $1536 has been raised for Compassion's Unsponsored Children fund. Thanks so much to everyone for your prayers and encouragement!
This "year without" gave me and my husband a way to pay for sponsoring Ucaya Vivian in Uganda. Learning about her and her family's life has given us a very different perspective on our own life here in the US. This year has also given me a chance to see that a break from caffeine is not always a bad thing! Will I eat chocolate again? Heck yeah - but now I can appreciate that a dessert without chocolate can taste good, too. Will I drink coffee? Now and then - but now I think I can actually switch to tea and enjoy it. And what about my old pal Coca-Cola??? It will be a treat if I'm at a restaurant, but if you see 12-packs piled in my kitchen, please take them away! Coke won't be allowed in the house unless it's a special occasion...No Jenny, folding a load of laundry is NOT a special occasion!
So, with the exception of today's celebration (Coke Slurpee for breakfast, chocolate party for lunch, vanilla Coke from Steak n Shake for dinner!) I actually WANT to keep the brown goodness in moderation.
Thanks for reading, and if you would like to make a donation of any size to Compassion on behalf of my year without Coke, please follow this link:
https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/unsponsoredchildren.htm?referer=101678
I can't think of a better way to end this blog than with the words of Paul to the Ephesians: "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Welcome
Do you have a certain food that you "can't live without"? For me, it's Coca-Cola. And coffee. And chocolate. Caffeinated, brown goodness. Are you like me? If not, bet you know someone who is!
To make a long story short, for the sake of sponsoring needy children through the Christian charity Compassion International, I'm giving up all three for one year.
Here's why:
1. I'm asking people like YOU to pledge $1/week to Compassion International for each week I stick with it.
2. I’ll be able to use the cash normally spent on my fave 3 to sponsor a child.
3. I’ll be reminded daily to pray for those in poverty, and to ask God 'why have I received much?' [a dangerous question]
Join the $1/week pledge list by emailing me through the link at the left, and tell others who also might be interested to visit this blog. And on the days when I'm not curled up on the floor, crying for a cup of coffee, I'll write you something that's either informative or just funny. Thank you!!!
To make a long story short, for the sake of sponsoring needy children through the Christian charity Compassion International, I'm giving up all three for one year.
Here's why:
1. I'm asking people like YOU to pledge $1/week to Compassion International for each week I stick with it.
2. I’ll be able to use the cash normally spent on my fave 3 to sponsor a child.
3. I’ll be reminded daily to pray for those in poverty, and to ask God 'why have I received much?' [a dangerous question]
Join the $1/week pledge list by emailing me through the link at the left, and tell others who also might be interested to visit this blog. And on the days when I'm not curled up on the floor, crying for a cup of coffee, I'll write you something that's either informative or just funny. Thank you!!!
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How this began:
Few days have passed in the last 20 years where I haven't had Coke, coffee or chocolate (the first 10 were healthier - thanks Mom). On good days it was a can of Coke at dinner; on bad days there was a steady caffeine drip rushing through my veins. Why bother with Sprite, juice, or vanilla-flavored stuff when I could have my brown-caffeinated favorites?
My die-hard allegiance was challenged, however, when I heard a radio interview with Wes Stafford of Compassion International describing mothers in Haiti who, right now, are feeding their kids something else brown: dirt. I’ve been complaining the past 12 months about our rising grocery bill…but what if I had less than $1 a day for food AND everything else???
After the interview, little thoughts began sprouting in my mind: I gave up chocolate for Lent, but would I give it up for a year? How about coffee? For the “least of these”, would I spend a year without, big gulp, Coke? (yes, that was a pun.)
Then came the logistics: should I just wander around town with a shoebox each week? To sponsor 100 kids at $32 each divided by $4 per month donations equals 80 people, right? And Google Friend Connect is so fun and easy for anyone to use, isn't it???
Getting this idea to actually work has been, so far, a bit messy. Go ahead and look at the carnage in the earlier posts; I obviously didn't have a fine-tuned plan in the beginning. But, thanks to helpful friends and my close buddy Failure, I think I finally have a decent plan to make this work.
My die-hard allegiance was challenged, however, when I heard a radio interview with Wes Stafford of Compassion International describing mothers in Haiti who, right now, are feeding their kids something else brown: dirt. I’ve been complaining the past 12 months about our rising grocery bill…but what if I had less than $1 a day for food AND everything else???
After the interview, little thoughts began sprouting in my mind: I gave up chocolate for Lent, but would I give it up for a year? How about coffee? For the “least of these”, would I spend a year without, big gulp, Coke? (yes, that was a pun.)
Then came the logistics: should I just wander around town with a shoebox each week? To sponsor 100 kids at $32 each divided by $4 per month donations equals 80 people, right? And Google Friend Connect is so fun and easy for anyone to use, isn't it???
Getting this idea to actually work has been, so far, a bit messy. Go ahead and look at the carnage in the earlier posts; I obviously didn't have a fine-tuned plan in the beginning. But, thanks to helpful friends and my close buddy Failure, I think I finally have a decent plan to make this work.
1 comment:
Has it been a year already? It flew by for me. :-)
Congratulations!
I'm donating the full amount today.
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