so i have this family....

kayla and ben are my cousins, but they might as well be my brother and sister. we basically grew up together. vacationing, christmasing, we even lived in the same house for a short bit in topeka, kansas.

i feel incredible greatful for the amount of time we are still able to spend together. this year we will all be together on christmas day. can't wait.

normal protocol when we happen to gather together around the tree is for all of us to get each other a stocking stuffer. something small, you know, hand lotion, magazines, starbucks cards...stuff like that. it's fun and good and we laugh and feel loved and all that jazz.

but this year it's going to look a bit different.

this year my aunt sharon (ashton gets her beautiful hair from her) stepped out on a limb and challenged us all to forgo the last minute drivethru line at starbucks for a different kind of stocking stuffer.

we are pulling our money together and donating a big chunk of change to The Coal Project. i believe we are going to be able to give 12 families a new stove for christmas.

and i've got one coal box all ready for us on christmas day. that one coal box is going to represent those 12 families that we get to impact by giving up our 5 dollar starbucks cards.

we're going to put that little piece of coal in the middle of us and we are going to pray for them. we will pray for the moms and the sisters and the fathers and the daughters who will cook on these stoves. we will pray that these stoves would speak to them of the love and of the joy that comes from the One who gave us the very first Christmas gift. and that through the simple gift of this stove, they would find the Bread of Life.

let hope in haiti rise.