Another Great Chance to Change a Life

Well, my "tomorrow" turned into several days. But I have a very good excuse. MICHELLE came to visit me! We had so much fun! She flew in on Friday morning and we hit the ground running. We went all over the city, criss-crossing back and forth until we fell into bed that night. I won't bore you with the details, but it was anything but boring. I am not sure if Michelle's husband will ever let her come back because I took her shopping to a couple of irresistible stores.

As I promised on Thursday of last week, I have a really great gift idea for you this year. It's only $85 and it's a chance to really change someone's life.

For me, sometimes the numbers of orphans, numbers of people suffering from hunger, numbers of people without clean water, etc. can be very overwhelming. Sometimes I feel like a drop of rain in the ocean and like the things I am doing amount to absolutely nothing and that there is no progress or headway being made. But then I found out about the blood:water mission campaign for Christmas to give biosand filters to families in Africa. Check out this video:

Biosand Filter Video from Blood:Water Mission on Vimeo.

The thought I have when I see this video is that even though I am a drop of rain in the ocean, for ONE family I can TOTALLY change their life for $85. That's not that much money in my world. Can you imagine being THAT family who is given the gift of clean water.... water in your home? Can you imagine not being able to feed your baby because you don't have CLEAN water to mix your bottles with? Can you imagine not having the option to nurse your baby because you are HIV+ and you can't feed your baby formula because the water is contaminated and so you have to hear your baby's cries of hunger? Have you ever been woken at night by your infant, who just wants to be fed? If so, can you imagine just laying there listening to your baby cry because you have no options for meeting their needs? You can alleviate this reality for one family! Seriously, you can totally change a person's future, a family's experience, a life! You have it within your power to completely change life for someone. And imagine how pervasive clean water can be in someone's life. Imagine the things that change when something as basic as water becomes a non-issue? Imagine the hope, the good-will, the joy, the empowerment that comes from being given the gift of water.

So, watch the video and please consider giving the gift of water for someone this year. If you have someone on your list who has everything, then give this gift to someone who has very little. I got this for my birthday from Brian's sister (Brian got it too) and I guarantee that this gift will last longer than any other gift I get for my birthday this year. (The filters are supposed to last up to 20 years.)