Ganna - Christmas Blog Post Swap #4

Merry Christmas!!

This week, Shelley, Hannah, Rachel, and I are posting our final post to our Christmas series on our own blogs.  

This week, I researched what an Ethiopian Christmas is like.

In Ethiopia, the people use the Julian calendar.  That means they celebrate Christmas on January 7.  Christmas is called "Ganna" in Ethiopia.  The major religion in Ethiopia is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.  Almost everyone celebrates Christmas.

On Christmas Eve (January 6), many people fast.  Then at dawn, they get ready for mass.  They dress in "shamma," a long, thin white toga with bright colored strips across the end.  Mass starts at 4 in the morning.  They enter the church and walk around the church three times with lit candles.  Then the men and boys stand separately from the women and girls, as the traditional Ethiopian Orthodox churches have no seats.  Mass usually lasts three hours.

After mass, the men and boys will play a game of "ganna," similar to hockey.  The game is intense with rivalry.  

The people in Ethiopia will break their fast with a Christmas meal.  This is often is "wat" on "injera."  Wat is a thick, spicy stew of meat (chicken) and vegetables.  Injera is flat bread, used to scoop up the wat.

People do not exchange gifts on Christmas.  Sometimes the children will receive a gift of clothes from their family.  Mostly, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birth by going to church, eating good food, and playing games.

Twelve days later, they traditionally celebrate the baptism of Jesus.  This is called "timkat."  It lasts three days.  They usually attend a church procession during timkat.  The priests will wear red and white robes.  The adults wear the shamma.  The youth wear gowns from their church youth group.  During the procession, musical instruments are played.  

After the long church service, men play a game called "yeferas guks."  This sounds like a rather dangerous game, as the men throw lances at each other!

Christmas in Ethiopia is a time of celebration, remembering the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world.  While the festivities are different than those in the USA, the origin of the holiday remains the same.  

This Christmas, I remember my kiddos all over the world and think of the different ways they may have celebrated.  And I look forward to sending Abdisa a special letter on Ganna.

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read my posts from this Christmas series about Christmas celebrations in other countries -

Because of Shamim: Christmas Series (Indonesia)

Free and Holy: Christmas Blog Swap II (Haiti)

Christmas Blog Swap: Love is an Action | Unforced Rhythms of Grace (Mexico)

Christmas Love - Christmas Blog Post Swap #3

It's Tuesday again, which means it's time for Christmas Blog Post Swap #3!!

I am honored and excited to have Shelley posting over here today!  Shelley is a Bible college student and Compassion sponsor!  She shares about her adventures on her blog Unforced Rhythms of Grace

I find Christmas pretty strange in some ways, especially now that I'm 'growing up'. Even though I've been a Christian since the age of 13, a lot of my teenage mind was still wrapped up in the idea of presents, good food and more presents. Now I'm a 'grown up' at 21, and as Christmas is literally just around the corner, I can honestly say that the presents aren't that much of a big deal. 

We celebrate Christmas day at church - my family, along with another family that we are very close friends with, cook Christmas dinner for 20-25 people - those in the church who would otherwise be on their own on this special day - and we eat together, the children open presents, we all watch a movie and then we have tea and go home. And it has been through doing this, and spending the holiday with those who often get overlooked, that I've started to realise that there really is so much more to Christmas, and I've learned firsthand a lot more about loving those who society writes off. 

The older I get, the more I'm learning about love, and this year has taught me an especially powerful lesson. Recently, I was listening to the radio and "Drunk" by Ed Sheeran came on. One of the lines in the song says "I'll be drunk again, to feel a little love".

As I get older, I've learned firsthand that I don't need to do anything or be anything to 'get' God's love, because love was born into a stable in a little rundown town over 2,000 years ago.

Shelley

You can read my post (Christmas Blog Swap: Love is an Action | Unforced Rhythms of Grace) over on Shelley's blog - Unforced Rhythms of Grace  Make sure to check out her blog as she's got so many great posts!

A Stop at Bethlehem - Christmas Blog Post Swap #2

It's time for post two of the Christmas blog post swap!  (uh-oh, you know that means Christmas is just 2 weeks away!)

I am thrilled to finally have my sister posting over here!  Rachel is a senior in high school, an intern at on our church's media team, a blogger, a sister, a friend, a pianist, an artist, and most importantly a follower of Jesus!  She blogs at Free and Holy.  Without further adieu, my sis's amazing post -  

"And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Matthew 2:5-7

One line, that's all that it get. One phrase -- "there was no place for them in the inn." Do you ever wonder about the innkeeper that night? The man, who was lucky enough to be making a fortune during the Roman census. Everyone was traveling to their birth town, and many needed a place to stay. The innkeeper's business was booming. That evening inside the inn was bright with a cheery hearth and friendly laughter. Childhood friends reunite around the table. For a moment, the people forget about their troubles, the worries that follow them on their journey. And the innkeeper's life, and pocket, is full.

But suddenly, he hears pounding at the door. It's clipped, urgent. Of course, who isn't trying to hurry out of the cold darkness? The innkeeper sends a servant to the door to tell the travelers the bad news. The inn is full. There is no more room. The innkeeper turns back to his guests, but it is only a moment before the servant pulls him away. He beckons him towards the door. Sighing, the innkeeper walks over.

Before he can turn the travelers away, he catches a glimpse of a woman, fear in her eyes, shivering in the cold. She's pregnant. The man at the door asks for a room. He looks scared. Desperate. But there's no room. There's nowhere for them to go.

The woman looks even more tired, more frightened. And the husband begs for a room. They're alone in a town far away from home. And the innkeeper feels bad. Sighing, he looks around. There really is no room. The rooms are packed beyond capacity. In fact, the animals in the stable have more room to sleep than the people... His mind doubles back. He's embarrassed to even mention it. Sleep in a stable? It would be shameful to offer that sort of accommodations. Yet, they won't be able to find a room in Bethlehem. Every bed and floor in the town is full. 

Reluctantly, the innkeeper offers his stable to the anxious couple. They quickly accept. And the innkeeper sheepishly leads them to it.

Everyone makes the innkeeper out as a sort of bad guy, you know? He's the guy who refused a room to the King of Kings. He's the man who didn't have room in his life for the Messiah. But, the truth is, this innkeeper did the best he could, with what he knew. All he knew was that a young couple needed a room. He didn't have one, but he made a way with what he had.

And what if he'd known that God Himself was about to be born in that stable? He would have cleared out that inn and served Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus hand and foot. But he didn't know. So he gave them a stable.

I know. I know Who was born that night. I know how He went and lived, and then died, and rose for me. The question is, do I turn my heart over to Him completely, or am I willing to only give Him a stable -- a tiny portion of my heart? The innkeeper didn't know. But I do. What will I do with what I know? 

I am guesting posting over at Free and Holy today.  Hop over and check it out, and then spend some time reading Rachel's posts too!

It's Here!

Compassion's Gift Catalog is here!  Yay!

I wanted to share some highlights from this year's catalog with you.

First, if you are like me, you may not be able to think of much you want to put on your Christmas wishlist.  And if you are even more like me, you love Compassion's ministry so much.  If that is you, then you will be very excited to know that the new gift catalog allows you to create a wishlist!

Now, here are some of my favorite gifts in the catalog:

1. Protect a Child from Parasites  For $4, you can protect a child from parasites!  It does not sound like much, but parasites steal nutrients and harm children.  Your gift will help a child thrive!

2. Christmas Gift for Mom and Baby  Perhaps this Christmas you would like to give a Christmas gift to a mom and baby in the Child Survival Program for just $20!  It may be the first gift that they have ever gotten.

3. Replace Items Lost to Disaster  Maybe as you think about all the natural disasters this year, you would like to donate to replace those necessities for Compassion children and their family.  Forty dollars could provide new toiletries, clothes, school supplies, or something else for a family in need.

4. Small Business Startup  If you would like to give a gift that keeps on giving, this is for you!  A parent or guardian of a Compassion-assisted child can be trained in a skill that will help provide for their family for $430.  You can share the gift with other like-minded people by donating $50.

via

5. Rescue a Child from a Dangerous Situation  Poverty steals hope.  Children in poverty fall victim to many evils - their rights are violated.  Rescuing a child from a dangerous situation does cost a lot, but it will be a turning point in that child's life - a point where despair turns to hope, where hate turns to love, where fear turns to safety.  You can share the gift for $100, or if you would like, you can rescue one child for $1045.

Please consider helping one of the funds in Compassion's Gift Catalog.  It will be the most meaningful gift you can give this Christmas.

What are some of your favorite gifts from the catalog?

Christmas Countdown - Christmas Blog Post Swap #1

For the weeks leading up to Christmas, Hannah, Rachel, Shelley, and I are doing a Christmas Blog Post Swap!

Today, I am excited to have Hannah guest posting!  Hannah is a wife, mom, Compassion sponsor, and Christ-follower.  She blogs at Because of Shamim

Christmas Traditions: Advent

I have many fond memories of Christmas traditions that my family had while I was a kid and thought that I'd share them over this Christmas series! Not only will this allow me to reminisce over my childhood, but it will help me to think through what I would like my kids to experience as traditions! The first tradition that I'd like to share is our tradition of celebrating Advent.

We loved lighting the advent candles in the wreath and that the candles represented different themes of Christmas. My family would set aside time each evening to sing Christmas carols and read a part of the Christmas story. Then we would take turns snuffing the candles. When I was in high-school, my sister and I created Christmas carol song books…one for each family member! I love the old carols…they have such beautiful poetry!

When we were younger, my mom had an advent calendar with pockets for small gifts. One year she put clay in each one and my siblings and I each took a turn opening the clay and making a nativity scene figure. I think I opened the donkey and Mary! Although my son is only 1.5 years old, I am hoping to start this tradition for him this year! My mom gave him a small nativity calendar with pockets and a cloth nativity figure in each pocket! I think I might also put a sticker in each pocket since he's big into stickers.

My family also enjoyed reading fun advent stories. Have you ever heard of the stories Jotham's Journey, Bartholomew's Passage, and Tabitha's Travels by Arnold Yteeide? These are fun family stories about children who have adventures and whose adventures lead to the child being present right after the birth of Christ. The first story is Jotham's Journey and Jotham turns out to be a distant relative of the Christ child. These stories are fun and exciting for school-age children!

I look forward to incorporating more and more advent themed activities with my children as they get older! And I enjoyed writing to my Compassion kids about our advent tradition of the wreath, singing songs and reading the Christmas story. I shared what each candle stood for and asked our Compassion kids if they had Christmas count-down traditions that helped them remember that Christmas was about Christ's birth!

Do you have any advent traditions?

Hop on over to  Because of Shamim to read my Christmas post (Because of Shamim: Christmas Series), and then spend some time checking out Hannah's blog :)

Christmas Ideas

Surprisingly, Christmas is less than a month away!  We are all rushing to buy gifts and trying to figure out what to give to the "tough" people on our lists.

Perhaps you are like me and would like to share about Compassion whenever it is possible.  Well, I have a great way you can do that this Christmas!

On my Etsy shop, I have 11 different and unique sets of bracelets.  The entire profit from each set will either go to a CSP in Africa or to continue sponsoring my Mabel in Bolivia.

The best part is is that through December 3 there is a 10% off sale in my shop!  Use the code CYBERMONDAY13 at checkout to get the discount.

madefromscratch4u on Etsy

2012 Christmas in Review

I hope you all had a great Christmas!  My Christmas was awesome!  Here are the highlights-

Things I received

I got a beautiful knitted scarf from my sister (picture to follow in days...or months),

awesome stickers to color for my Compassion family from my grandma,

an amazing mp3 player and warm fishing clothes from my parents,

crackle nail polish from my friend,

and a Canon SX260 HS camera!!

Things I Gave

I tatted earrings for my sister,

folded paper ornaments for my dad and mom,

and gave hope to a teen or guardian in Honduras through Compassion's gift catalog.

With all the excitement building up to Christmas, sometimes Christmas Day seems disappointing.  But when we remember why we are celebrating, Christmas is all the more special.

Luke 2:6-7, "While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,  and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them."

^{Matthew 2:7-11, "}Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.' After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."

Wise men still follow Him.  Our gifts are our lives.

How was your Christmas?

Change a life!

Lizzie :)

Five things to make Christmas memorable

Hello, friends!

I can hardly believe that Christmas is but two days away.  Because forgetting this Christmas would be unreasonable, here are five ways to make this Christmas stick with you forever-

1. Take Pictures of everything!  Photos of the gifts you get and the ones you give, family, decorations, and so many more things can help you capture the special day.
2. Start a tradition.  I love traditions!  Perhaps singing a song, reading the story of Jesus' birth, or waiting to open gifts until the night could start a tradition that you will remember for years to come.

Oops, I need your help!  I can't think of any more ways to make Christmas memorable.  Please share some ways to remember Christmas or some traditions you have.

#ItsAboutGiving

Lizzie :)

What does it mean to me?

Giving.

This month Compassion bloggers are blogging about giving because, after all, it's all about giving.  Christmas is all about gifts.  Not only the gifts we exchange with our friends and family, but the Gift, our Savior.

To me, giving means living a life for God.  

God is love.  When I love someone, I want to do everything I can for them.  I will give of myself and my time for them.

James even tells us that perfect religion is giving-

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  -James 1:27

By giving time, money, energy, food, etc., we can look after others.  James specifically says to look after orphans and widows, basically those who do not have the means to look after themselves.

Jesus says that whatever we do for others, we do for Him-

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. -Matthew 25:40

Consequently, whatever we do not do for others, we don't do for Him-

Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. -Matthew 25:45

How can you help the "least of these?"

You can join me and many others in raising $20,000 for children in poverty!

You know how you feel when you give the gift that you know the receiver has been waiting for?  When you give that gift, it is worth every second you have spent working on it and thinking about it.  That is how you will feel when you give the gift of life to families in poverty.

To do that, go HERE.

Compassion's Christmas Gift catalog has many different gifts to help children and their families in poverty.  As I always say, every dollar counts!  No matter if it is one dollar or fifty, it can and will change a life!

#ItsAboutGiving
Lizzie :)

Enough

Hello!

I have been thinking lately (with the holidays coming up) about how blessed I am.  Ever since I got involved with Compassion, I have realized more how much I have.  Sure, I don't have a phone or iPod or lots of channels on TV or lots of spending money or the newest clothes.  But, I have books to read, clothes to wear, a house to live in, a camera, a laptop, Netflix, and so much more.

I have enough.

I have more than enough.

I have been blessed.  It is my turn to bless others.  So many people don't have enough, much less more than enough.  They don't have much at all.  For some families, one meal a day is all they get.  They may not even have a change of clothes or books.

When people ask me what I want, I have a hard time saying I want this or that.  Yeah, there are some books I would like to read.  But, I really don't want anything.  I surely don't need anything.  So if you have asked me what I want for Christmas, you probably did not get much of an answer.  I am sorry.  I know you are just trying to be nice.

So this holiday season, will you join me in giving?

Change a life!
Lizzie :)

Give Hope This Christmas

Hello!

Compassion's Christmas Gift catalog is here!  It has so many great things in it this year.

Even though your gift through the Christmas Gift catalog will not go to your sponsored child, you can be sure that it will go to a family who needs it.  And of course, it will change their lives!

This year, you can do awesome things like...

• protect a child from parasites 
• give a Christmas gift to a mom and baby
• provide safe water for a family
• teach an impoverished mom to read and write
• and so much more!! :)

To see all the gifts you can give go HERE or click the picture below

Change a life!
Lizzie

What have I been doing?

Hello!

Do you see my title up there?  Well, it should actually say "What should I be doing?"

A couple days ago, I started the task of hand crafting twenty-five cards for some of the precious unsponsored kids with Compassion.  I did it last year, but I kind of forgot how time consuming it was.  It takes a lot of determination.  I will probably get them out just in time.  But, the thought of the smiles of their faces when they know someone loves them makes it all worth it.

So, I have this thought, idea, goal.  It is that every single unsponsored child will get a card this Christmas.  Wanna help me?  Since we can only give twenty-five each, everyone needs to come together to get this done.

Here is what to do-

• make or buy twenty-five (or less) Christmas cards with or without envelopes
• write a special note in each card telling the child that you love them and God loves them
• mail all the card to-  

                                  Attn: Suzane Hall
                                  Compassion International
                                  Colorado Springs, CO 80997

I wondered why only twenty-five cards.  This is what Shaina Moats said: "These cards are a completely manual process for our correspondence team- on top of the FLOOD of letters and cards we receive during the Christmas season. Because of this, we have to limit the number of cards to make the volume manageable for us."  (taken from HERE)

If you are thinking that if we all send twenty-five cards it will make the volume unmanageable, however I have great faith in what Compassion can do!  

So are you going to do it?  If we all do it, no child will go this Christmas without a card.  And to me, that is something to be proud of.

Change a life!
Lizzie :)

Christmas is coming!!

Hello!

Yesterday I took out a Christmas piano book, so that I could work on a song for Christmas.  I am thinking that I will do Silent Night.  That is not the point of my post however.

Onto more important things...

Operation Christmas Child- This is one of my favorite ministries.  I can remember ever since I was really little going to Dollar Tree.  I would pick out toys, wash clothes, gloves, notebooks, crayons, pens, and other stuff for a girl like me who did not have these things.  The hard part was putting it all in that small box!  I still struggle with that to this day!  Anyway, it is an awesome way to bless a child in poverty.  Pack a shoe box and bless a child.  You can learn more about it HERE.

Christmas cards for unsponsored children- I did this last year, and it was soo much fun.  Since I like to make cards, I made twenty five simple Christmas cards.  I wrote a couple lines telling the child that I loved them, that God loved them, merry Christmas, and other things like that.  Then I sent them to Compassion where they got them all ready to send to unsponsored children.  For more information on that, go HERE.

Last but not least, don't forget to get stuff ready to send to your sponsored child- Everything must be sent by October 31.  I will be sending cards, paper dolls, stickers, coloring sheets, bookmarks, and other fun stuff in abundance to my Compassion kids.  I love getting lots of things together to send out.  I also like to say in my letters to share the coloring sheets and stickers with their friends.  There is a great post on the Compassion blog about sending Christmas items to your sponsored children, which you can read HERE.

Just talking about Christmas makes me wish it was here!!

What other ways are there to spread love this Christmas with children in need?  I would love to hear about what you do to help others during Christmas time.

Have a merry Christmas I mean have a nice day ;)

Change a life!
Lizzie