Magnanimous Monday

In many parts of the world, the poverty conditions are so bad, that people are dying from lack of food or clean water. This is a hard reality to comprehend when we live in such an affluent place. This week, consider giving a gift to a family in Asia. This site offers many options for life-saving gifts ranging from $1 to $11,000.

For just $11 you could give chickens to a family in need. Their eggs would provide much needed nourishment, and as they reproduce, they can sell the chickens for additional income. That tiny bit of money can change the course of a families life!!

For $30 you can help supply a village with clean drinking water --one of those little things that we so easily take for granted. Or how about a blanket to keep someone warm through the winter for only $5??

What sort of guilty pleasure could you give up for a week or two (or a month or two!) that would give *life* to these people in Asia?

Gift-tastic Tuesday

Well, i'm a little late on my Magnanimous Monday, simply because I forgot. But i'm glad I did, because I found something WONDERFUL to post about today! I found a great blog/website called rethinkingchristmas.com . Their focus is on getting away from the materialism of Christmas, & getting back to the spirit of the holiday. Among other things, they suggested these great ideas:

Purchase a Christmas wreath from This Site, and you will provide vitamins for a Guatemalan child for 1 year.

or

give a T-shirt as a gift: If you buy one of These Shirts, Aklesia will donate a school uniform or piece of apparel to a child in need.
or buy one of These Shirts, and $1 of your payment will go toward thesoldproject.com , which is dedicated to fighting child prostitution.

if T-shirts aren't your thing, consider buying jewelry from NightLight, who's procedes go to help those who have been sexually enslaved or exploited.

I think these are amazing ways to make your gifts count for more than just Christmas. Not only are they something nice for the receiver, but they help to change lives. I plan to order from these sites as much as I'm able for the holidays, and I hope you will do the same.

Know of any other places to buy gifts that have a double purpose? let me know!

Magnanimous Monday #5

Today, in honor of Thanksgiving, leave some Thanksgiving flowers on the doorstep of a neighbor, to brighten their day. :)

My kids carved out a pumpkin & planted a small flower in it. We gave it to an elderly neighbor with a Thanksgiving note.

Madnanimous Monday follow-up

Thought you might enjoy seeing what we left for our mailman this week. The kids all had tons of fun making pictures and notes. Evelyn's was great. she's started doing this new thing where she scribble writes. So she covered a sheet of paper in her "writing" & then she read it to me & i wrote it so that an adult could read it. I regret not taking a picture of it. But here are the pics I *did* take. interestingly, the mailman took the notes, but left the balloons.

Magnanimous Monday #4

Leave a thank you note in your mailbox for the postman/woman (postperson? mail person? mailbeing?) For an extra special touch, stick a balloon in there, too. Better yet, write a note to your postal service person, and stick it in a balloon with confetti, so when they pop it, they'll have their own mini party. (be sure to label that the balloon is for them --and also, if you put the note in the balloon, you'll have to use a pump to blow it up, because if you do it yourself, all your hot air will condensate on the note & confetti, and that wouldn't be very magnanimous at all.)

Magnanimous Monday #3

In honor of Orphan Sunday which was yesterday, donate some money to help a child in need. It doesn't have to be a lot. It could be $1 or $1,000. But every penny can help.

some ideas for where to donate:
* a local church's children's ministry
* a local school
* a family who is adopting (if you don't know anyone, Showhope.org raises money to give to adoptive families)
* World Vision
* Make a wish foundation
* St. Jude
* Ronald McDonald House
* a local chidlren's hospital

these are the places that came to the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty more.

for 10 extra MM points, sign up with World Vision to sponsor a child long-term. If you already sponsor a child, send them a letter!

For 100 extra MM points, dress up like a clown & visit the children's ward of a hospital

For 1,000 extra MM points, take some time to volunteer at an orphanage.

For 1,000,000 extra MM points seriously consider adopting an orphan!

For endless extra MM points, DO IT!

Let me know what *you* decide to do. :)

Magnanimous Monday #2

oops. i accidently forgot to be nice last monday, because i was sick. :)

So your assignment today, for Magnanimous Monday #2: give genuine heart-felt compliments to at least 5 people this week. One of them must be a stranger. Have fun! And let me know how it goes. :)

and for tomorrow: Tagnanimous Tuesday tag everyone you see who's wearing red. Don't forget say, "Tag, you're it!" :)

Magnanimous Mondays

mag·nani·mous (mag nan′ə məs) adjective
noble in mind; high-souled; esp., generous in overlooking injury or insult; rising above pettiness or meanness; giving and kind; showing or suggesting nobility of feeling and generosity of mind

My friend Shelley, just started a blog with the focus of committing 3 random acts of kindness every week. I think this will be fun to follow, and i've decided to join her in her endeavor. I thought i'd write about it here, once a week. So, I picked mondays, because mondays are the days when people are the most gloomy, and in need of some extra kindness. I would love it if you would join me each week, in spreading a little extra kindness to the world around you. Let me know what *you* decide to do! :) If you don't want to think of your own ideas, you can follow my assignment each week.

This week: Your mission, should you chose to accept it: buy flowers and give them to a complete stranger.

I actually did this last week because i was too excited about the idea, & couldn't wait until Monday. :)

A couple days ago, when I went grocery shopping, I stopped at the floral section and picked out some pretty fall-looking flowers, and prayed that God would show me the perfect person to give them to. . As I checked out, I also donated a dollar to the store's current cause (thus earning an extra Magnanimous Monday point for me! ;) ) Because I had made this donation, they gave me a root beer float. As I was waiting for them to make it, I spied a lady sitting on a bench with her back to me. Being too shy to talk to a complete stranger myself, I sent Evelyn, my 3 1/2 year old, to give the flowers to her. My plan backfired, because, being a conscientious woman, she refused to take a bunch of flowers from a little girl who was unaccompanied by an adult. So Evelyn brought the woman to me, and I explained to her that we would like her to have the flowers, just because. She beamed & said how touched she was, because she had grandchildren. --I'm not really sure what that had to do with anything, but whatever the point, it made her happy. She left us with a smile on her face. Mission accomplished.

What's your Magnanimous Monday story?