Christmas Shopping

The past few years, I have had a harder and harder time with gift giving at Christmas. Most of us in North America already have so much and it’s hard to justify spending money on more “stuff” when there are so many around the world who don’t have the basic necessities of life. We have cut back drastically on our overall Christmas spending and have also changed what we spend on! There are two main ways we now choose our Christmas gifts.

We buy gifts such as a goat for a family in a developing country to give to my mom or mosquito nets for a family in an area where Malaria is an issue for a friend or give a donation to an organization benefitting impoverished children in the name of a loved one. If you would like to consider giving such a gift, here are some websites to check out:

One Child

Compassion (for Canadians)

Compassion (for Americans)

Vulnerable Children

We buy gifts that support adoptive families in their efforts to fundraise to bring children who need a family home.  Not only does supporting these efforts help children get a forever family, it encourages the families.  If you’d like to join me in supporting adoption in a practical way, please check out these links:

Africa Sleeps Sleep caps – 5% goes towards Vulnerable Children Society and the rest towards raising funds for this family’s adoption from Lesotho (they have already adopted 2 daughters from Ethiopia).  Dancing Queen is getting 2 of these in her stocking (shhh, don’t tell her)!

Hope t-shirts and Etsy creations This amazing family has such a beautiful story!  They adopted a son from Uganda and are going back to adopt his 2 best friends.

Wild Prairie Farms Selling everything from soaps to t-shirts to coffee and more, this family’s fundraiser will not only help them bring 2 more children home from Ethiopia (they already have 3 Ethiopian born children), it will help them relocate to Ethiopia all together to serve there.

Reece’s Rainbow Angel Tree This wonderful organization allows people to donate directly to the adoption funds of special needs orphans around the world.

Happy Christmas shopping everyone!