Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Our little family was huddled up alone in our house today watching the snowflakes fall.  Although Vivian was coughing like crazy and my sinuses were blocked, we still had a great time resting and being together. I hope you all had a blessed day as well.

As I enjoyed our lovely rib roast tonight, I thought about the children at Ranch on Jesus and our final 12 Days of Christmas gift: a COW!  Oh how I'd love those little ones to eat lots of meat this year.  We've had so many wonderful folks give toward our goal of stocking the pantry at Ranch.  So much has been accomplished, but I'd still love to see us raise another $1,000 or more for food before the year ends.  The 12 Days of Christmas Catalog can be viewed HERE.

Once our health gets back on track I hope to be back to blogging.  Stay warm and blessed today remembering the gift of God made flesh!

What We've Been Up To

I haven't blogged this week mostly due to the fact that Scott and I are still sharing a laptop.  Hopefully by Christmas we'll be back up to two.  I'm grateful that we've been able to share so effectively, but certain weeks (such as this one) I've been computer free most of the day.

I've also been recovering from last weekend's special vacation.  Guess where we went?

Yep.  DISNEY WORLD!  My dad has been dreaming of taking Vivian since she was born.  It was a crazy, wonderful weekend.

Vivian...I mean Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl especially had fun when she got to dance with Buzz Lightyear in his "spanish mode."  

And as if this wasn't enough fun for one month, Scott and I also had reason to celebrate this weekend.  Yesterday was our 5th wedding anniversary.  So my guy took me out for sushi and to see a musical.  He knows the way to my heart! :)

December has been slammed with work, but it has also been crammed with fun!  And next week is Christmas!  Hope everyone else is having a wonderful December too!

12 Days of Christmas for Ranch on Jesus!

It's time!  If you've been stopping by my blog for a while you might remember a special fundraiser we launched last year called the 12 Days of Christmas.  We attempt to stock the pantry at Ranch on Jesus with 12 special and frequently used food items.  The countdown starts with 12 Bags of Rice and ends with A Cow in a Grassy Field!

We're asking others to consider sponsoring items as a gift for the children.  Ten dollars will buy a chicken.  Fifty dollars will buy a bag of beans.

Christmas is a time of great celebration and feasting here in the USA.  As we enjoy the special foods on our tables this year, how wonderful would it be to give the gift of fullness to these little ones in Uganda!  I know for a fact that the pantry at Ranch on Jesus is near empty.  Each little gift can quickly add up to fill the shelves and fill the children's bellies!

To view our online 12 Days catalog or our printable 12 Days gift card visit www.pearlministries.org.  Or visit our 12 Days Fundraising page on Facebook Causes.

Price of Cheap: Coffee...an Easy Change

I'm keeping today's Price of Cheap sort and sweet.  Why?  Because we're getting ready to leave for family vacation.  Yes, you heard me right.  VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sorry for screaming.  I'm just really excited.  Our family rarely enjoys any kind of getaway/holiday/fun trip.

Leaving town in December is a little brash for us.  This is a BUSY season for our non-profit as well as for our for-profit business, KANZI.  We'll probably never opt to leave town in a holiday season again, but through an unusual series of events we're getting away for four days this year.  Our family sorely needs time together.  I'm thrilled.

Today I wanted to talk about coffee.  I realize not all folks out there are coffee drinkers, but around our house, coffee is a good friend.  We like coffee and we like GOOD coffee.  But coffee beans, just like cocoa beans, are predominantly harvested in Africa.  And just like cocoa beans, there are issues of child and slave labor involved in the harvesting of these beans.

Coffee has gotten a lot of press in the last couple of years, so I don't feel the need to harp on it so much.  I just want to offer a simple reminder.

One of the reasons fair trade coffee has become so prominent is consumer demand.  As fair trade beans became more available customers preferred to buy them.  This put pressure on traditional companies to step up their standards.  Starbucks now has an entire section of their website titled "responsibility" and are taking steps to expand their fair trade line dramatically.

If you've gotta have Starbucks, try their fair trade line.  But might I also suggest branching out and trying coffee sold by smaller providers.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

All you have to do is google "fair trade coffee" and you will be overwhelmed by the offerings.  But not all fair trade is created equal.   I would feel comfortable saying that there is greater fair trade accountability within smaller companies.  Large bureaucracies can get overwhelmed trying to keep tabs on all their growers and suppliers.  As much as Starbucks might try to ensure the fair nature of their coffee beans the truth is it is very difficult to keep a close eye on the whole detailed process.  The bigger your operation the more chances there are for cheating to be overlooked. Take an extra step to look for more obscure coffee companies that work more closely with their international farmers.

Also opt for companies devoted to environmental cleanliness and charitable practice.  Many non profits and missions groups have started selling coffee beans as a means of raising funds for their projects.  So when you buy a bag of beans, a portion of the profits will go back into helping others.

Good coffee is expensive.  But the price difference between fair trade beans and conventional beans is minimal.  So before you grab that cheap bag of grounds off of the supermarket shelf, consider the men and women standing in the hot fields of Africa picking those beans for your enjoyment.  Do unto them as you would want done for yourself and buy a pricier bag of Joe that ensures they are being treated with dignity and respect.

The Price of Cheap: What's in Your Chocolate?

Christmas is three weeks away!  Store shelves these days are filled with all sorts of goodies, the most prominent and perhaps most coveted?  CHOCOLATE.

Now I will tell you frankly that I don't have a sweet tooth.  Give me a burger over a Milky Way any day.  But I happen to know that the majority of folks, especially women, have a weakness for chocolate like no other.

So I have to warn you...today's post might be hard to hear.

I'll cut to the chase.  How is chocolate made?  From cocoa beans.  Where do cocoa beans come from?  Well, the majority of them are grown and harvested in West Africa.  Who is harvesting those cocoa beans?  Unfortunately it is not uncommon for child laborers and slaves to be employed by cocoa farms.

Americans love to eat chocolate.  We like it a lot so we want it to be cheap so that we can buy more of it.  But one of the reasons chocolate is so cheap is because companies can acquire it cheaply because the people (or children) who harvest it are treated cheaply.

It is a complicated truth, and instead of trying to spell out all the details I thought it would be more informative and engaging to direct you toward a BBC exposition piece titled "Chocolate: the Bitter Truth."  You can watch this highly interesting story HERE on YouTube in 4 parts.  It will take you an hour to view it, but I highly recommend devoting 60 minutes to this significant news rather than to reruns of sitcoms.

After you watch feel free to leave your thoughts and comments.  As the documentary shows, there is no simple or easy solution.  But by refusing to buy "status quo" chocolate, we will start to show powerful cooperations that who harvests our cocoa beans matters.

I hope that as Christians we'd all be willing to buy slightly more expensive fair trade chocolate so that exploited children are kept out of the labor chain.

World AIDS Day!

Today is the first day of December which means this is World AIDS Day!  Here are some hard to swallow facts:

Over 33 million people in the world are living with HIV/AIDS.

Two thirds of those individuals live in Africa.

In Africa the rate of new HIV infections is out pacing the ability to treat the disease.

3.2 million Ugandan children have already lost both of their parents to AIDS.

Another 1.8 million have lost one parent.

These numbers do not reflect the number of children living with parents currently dying due to HIV/AIDS.

African adults are continuing to steadily pass away.

There are not enough sustainable treatment options for the continent.

Countless children live day to day without parents present to raise them and provide for them.

What will happen to them?

THIS is why Pearl Ministries exists.  To intervene and advocate for the generation of Ugandan children being orphaned and neglected due to poverty and disease.  The most damaging disease is AIDS.  AIDS has devastated individuals, families, communities, nations and now a continent.  If steps are not taken children will not only lose their family members, they will also become infected and pass away.  AIDS in Africa is an emergency.

Penny's mother and brother are both infected.

A gift of $5/day will totally provide for the needs of one child living at Ranch on Jesus in Uganda.  A gift of $15 can pay for a month of school fees for a vulnerable child attending the Ranch on Jesus Primary School.

We can ALL make a difference ONE child at a time.  It takes so little to do so much.  My challenge to us all today in honor of World AIDS Day is to skip a coffee, skip a lunch, skip something we would do for ourselves and give toward the needs of those suffering because AIDS. 

I know that Ranch on Jesus is hurting for funding right now.  Please consider loving and protecting these little ones who have lost so much!