worthyoftheprize.com: {Hope for the Home}: Formula for Change

Hello, there!

My name is Jen Chase. I am a pursuer of Christ, seeking Him with my amazing husband and two little blessings. Our family is currently growing from 4 to 5 as we are in the middle of our adoption process to bring home our little man, Baby Bekele, from Ethiopia, Africa. In addition to mothering, I also work outside the home as an elementary school counselor; it is such an amazing blessing to be afforded an opportunity to teach and reinforce social skills and values to little ones for a living!

I am so thankful to be a part of this series and hope that I can instill some inspiration for all you busy mamas out there in blogland. I {ir}regularly blog at Team Chase 4 and Counting.

Without further ado, Worthy of the Prize's First {Hope for the Home} post....

Have you been recently thinking to yourself:

What should I do with all this

source

now that this

source

is not outside of every store?!

Well, I've got your solution!

How about taking this

and using it to fill this

source

for these

source

who live in orphanages here

Intrigued? We will be traveling to Africa TWICE in 2012 {once to go to court and declare our intent to adopt our baby and once for our appointment at the American Embassy} and we'd be more than happy to turn your loose change into infant formula for orphans in Ethiopia.

If you are interested, here's what you need to do:

1. Commit to collecting your change for formula through January.

2. Comment below to let me know that you're in or send me an E-mail at jnchase311 @ yahoo.com (I will keep track of who is participating and then contact you at the end of the month to remind you that the challenge has concluded).

3. Collect your household change through the month (I recommend setting out a bottle or some other symbol of your committment to remind your family of what you are doing).

4. At the end of the month, bring me your change or cash it in and send me a check.

5. We will give your money to a fund for Africa which will use every penny to purchase formula for babies at the House of Hope transition home in Ethiopia!!

This is such a fun service project to teach your children about caring for those who Christ referred to as "the least of these".

To introduce the project, I read Matthew 25:34-40 (from the NIV)

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

I then talked with the kids about what Jesus meant in this passage and told them about how we would be collecting change to give to their brother's orphanage to buy food for the babies. When Christ said "the least of these" He meant all those who need help.

I pray that this practical activity will instill a life-long spirit of giving in my children.

$10 = 1 can of formula in Africa

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF ORPHANS IN 2012!