A Family Challenge!

There is this new thing out there that I am so excited about!  It is called FORGO (click on it and check it out!).  It is an easy app to download on your phone or you can access it on your computer.  FORGO is a nonprofit that helps raise money for nonprofits.  This month all the money is going to Our Family in Africa!!!  OFA is the wonderful nonprofit that helped us to adopt Chad and Ian and are continuing to do awesome work in the DRC for orphans.  This money is helping with startup costs of a wonderful new orphanage that we will be supporting!  And at this time all money is being matched!!!!!  My dear friend Carrie Wood does an excellent job explaining Forgo and sharing info and pics of this new orphanage.  Click HERE to read her blog post.

FORGO makes it so very easy for us.  It helps us realize that every decision, every purchase we make or NOT make can make an impact on others. With Forgo YOU can decide to skip desert and donate the cost of that desert.   YOU can decide to skip or make your own coffee and skip the Starbucks.  YOU can decide to make your own pizza instead of ordering from a restaurant.  YOU can decide to make a birthday cake instead of purchasing one.  The list goes on and on!

WE have decided as a family that for the rest of the month we will be having beans and rice for supper and Forgoing the normal cost of our supper.  I am so proud of my kiddos, especially the older two, for agreeing to do this.  We ate beans and rice for almost a month before we were able to bring Chad and Ian home.  This helped us think about how blessed we were to be able to eat.  And it helped us save money for all the formula we took to the Congo!   Beans and rice became a little old.  OK, maybe REALLY old!  We started adding anything that we could from our garden and of course the dollop of sour cream to add a little more variety!  You can click HERE to read about it.  But giving up our preferred dinner for children like these is an easy decision to make.

I am guessing we only have maybe $2 cost of beans and rice for supper each night for our family of seven!  I am averaging (maybe high average, but it is for the Congolese Orphans, right? ) we normally spend $30 on supper each night.  So, we are able to FORGO $196 this week!  And that $196 just got matched and turned in to $392!!!   AWESOME right?

 

So, I challenge you to do the same!  Replace your supper with beans and rice.  Try a night or two.  Or challenge your family and see if you can go the rest of June!

AND there are even more positives! On a more selfish note…this is a break from trying to decide what’s for dinner. It’s a break from cooking.  I can make a big pot of each and heat up individual servings every night.  And most importantly, it gives us a daily reminder of how blessed we are to be able to eat rice and beans while so many go to bed with hungry stomachs.  This is also a reminder of how important our daily decisions affect others. 


It also takes me back to the very anxious time period of our wait to hold Chad and Ian.  Knowing this little small supper was more than my children were eating daily was so hard. This was our prayer then and it will be this week too.

A cup of rice, a cup of wheat

For every hungry child to eat

And more we ask you, Lord above,

For every child, a home of love.

What will YOU Forgo?