Socks for the Season- Year 3!

SOCKS FOR THE SEASON!!!

It is that time of year again! The time of year where we kick off our sock campaign and we couldn't be more excited! In case you have forgotten, or you are new to this adventure... let me give you the run down of how it works.

The sock campaign is our primary way of raising funds for the pit latrine and 10 stall toilet house at the school we built last year. The current bathroom situation is a bad one. The school currently has no bathroom. They have 34 students, along with teachers and staff. They are sharing a bathroom with the church across the road. That bathroom is failing. It is a VERY old pit latrine that's walls are caving in. The outside structure is also unstable and infested with bees. And there is only one stall for the church and the school. We would be digging a pit latrine that would provide enough capacity for 10 separate stalls and a much more (non-bee infested) structure. After talking with the people there in Chemurgui, this is the most immediate need they have. This project has a price tag of $5,000.

We have partnered with an AMAZING organization called We Help Two. We sell these super fun socks in packs of three for $15. You get your pack of three pair of fun funky socks, and we get $9 toward the toilet project AND a pair of warm thermal socks to give to the homeless right here in our area! You read that right... we get $$$ toward our project AND thermal socks for the homeless while you get your fun socks!!! It's a win-win-win!

This year we have NEW STYLES and NEW DESIGNS! We still have tall fun stripes, but we also have ankle socks, sports socks, tons of patterns (some new and some old) and my favorite... socks for littles! They have a whole new size (children's 8-12) for all the little people in your life! They are called First Funky and they are adorable!

So how do you purchase?

 We have 2 ways...

Local people- I have lots of  new styles on hand to purchase! First Funky, Pastel Pop, Yukon Strips, Whitehorse Stripes, Funky Zebra, Ankle Sport, and Performance Ankle! Simply contact me through messenger or email (cdkriete@yahoo.com) and I will get them to you! This is ZERO shipping, and first come first served!

Everyone- ORDER ONLINE!  It is sooo easy! Just go HERE to the Sock Store and choose whatever pattern and style you want (new and old)! Add it to your cart, and make sure you put "KRIETE" in the organization you want to receive credit (step 3) and then it gets shipped directly to you!

It is that easy! So BUY SOCKS! By socks for you, your sport's team, your youth group, your friends, your sister, your brother, your Aunt Sally, and your Grandma... everybody needs socks! And share, share, share... so your circle of people can buy socks!

Just to recap...
You buy fun funky socks.
We get $9 AND
A pair of warm socks for the homeless!

Happy shopping!

Christmas in Kenya- How to Help

"Every great journey begins with a small step."

I read this phrase last night and was very touched by it. It made me think about the Chemurgui village and how 5 years ago when we started with a HUGE dream of providing clean drinking water to this place we knew nothing about... and now. Now there have been so many changes to this little village and we have fallen in love with the people there. Over the last 5 years we have dug a fresh water well, provided them with a solar pump for the water to farm the land, provided beds and mattresses for the agriculture school there, lots of chickens and goats, cows, and last year we built 2 classrooms for the Kriete School and filled them with desks for the young children in that area to learn and grow!  What an AMAZING journey that started with just one small step! The step was to say "yes". All we had to do is say yes when the Lord nudged our heart in that direction. We said yes, and he provided through YOU!

We are so aware that there is NO WAY that our little family could ever do this on our own. But with much prayer and a whole lot of amazing generous people, the Lord has provided!

This year our contact at Christian Relief Fund traveled to the Chemurgui village in August. She took a ton of pictures and spent a lot of time with me on the phone answering every question I had and sharing so much about what things are like there. After many conversations (and pictures that just stole our hearts) we decided our number one priority this year was to get the children sponsored that will be attending the school we just built. These two classrooms are pre-K and kindergarten, so most of the children needing sponsored are ages 3-5.

To sponsor a child is a $35 a month commitment. This provides them with medical, food, schooling, and Bible teaching every month! This will be LIFE CHANGING for this community! It keeps kids off the streets during the day, it provides them with much needed food they are not getting at home, and it helps pay the teachers that are working there to stimulate the environment and provide safe and appropriate employment. When we started a month ago, we had 34 children in that area that needed sponsors. We are now down to 15! That is so amazing and we are so thankful for those who have chosen sponsorship, but we aren't done yet! We currently have been granted a private page to try to get these children sponsored. We have until Thanksgiving, and then they will go into the mass system of all waiting children in all countries that Christian Relief works in.  We would LOVE to get each of these children a sponsor BEFORE Thanksgiving, as to not get lost in the shuffle of all waiting children.

If you are interested in sponsoring you can visit our private page HERE. If sponsorship is not for you right now, please take the time to go read some of these children's stories and choose someone to pray for until they find sponsorship!

The other two goals for the year are to dig a pit latrine and build a stable a secure 10 stall bathroom for the school and to buy 25 goats.

The current bathroom situation is horrible. There is no bathroom at the school. The school must share with the church across the road. This bathroom is a very old, one stall situation. Currently the pit is caving in and the rickety structure surrounding it is infested with bees. When talking about all of our options for physical needs, this was ranked as the most immediate need!

We also would like to purchase 25 goats. This provides soooo many things for this community. Employment of tending to goats, milk for the children at the school, milk to sell at the market, and many more possibilities. The goal is to have a herd of 150, but we would like the people there to be invested in raising this herd to its potential. With a herd of 25 they felt they could get to 150 in 2-3 years.

HOW TO HELP

We have several ways you can help!

1. PRAY- this is so important! We strongly believe that prayer should be the first line of action, not a last resort! So please, please pray for this to be a successful effort!

2. Hire our kids! This sounds bad, but our kids are willing to do the work! If you have a job that needs to be done, they are willing to try to do it!

3. Sponsor a child- We have 15 more children desperately needing sponsorship. You can go HERE to read their stories and choose someone to sponsor.

 

 4. Purchase Socks!- I will have an entire post dedicated to socks early next week, but here it is in a nutshell.. We have partnered with this amazing organization called WeHelpTwo. You get to purchase fun funky socks (3 pairs for $15). Every time you purchase a package of socks, we get $9 toward our goal AND we get a warm pair of thermal socks to donate to the homeless in our area! It is helping both globally and locally- win, win! We have heard your requests, and they have TONS of new styles and designs this year.  Tall socks, ankle socks, stripes, polka-dots, athletic socks... and in a size for EVERYONE! They even created "funky first" for the toddlers in your life (and they are super cute).
If you are local- I have all of the new styles and designs on hand and you can purchase them NOW! it is first come first serve on what I have in stock. Just send me a message and I will hook you up! If you are not local- you can still purchase socks. Go HERE to the sock store and you can purchase any pair of socks you desire and have them shipped directly to you! Just make sure you put "Kriete" in the organization you would like to support (step 3) so we get the credit for the socks you order!

5. Make a donation/sponsor a goat- if purchasing socks is not your cup of tea, and you don't live close to have the kids work for you, but would like to contribute... you can send a donation through PayPal. Goats are $50 each, and we would love for you to sponsor a goat! Just send money to krietechristmas2018@gmail.com through PayPal and we will be happy to get you covered!

6. SPREAD THE WORD!  We know not everyone can contribute financially right now, but you might have people in your circle that can! Please share our story and our mission! We want as many people praying for this goal as possible, and that requires you!


These BIG goals have a $6,250 price tag! That is a lot of work to do before Christmas! But as I said in the beginning, every great journey begins with a small step. Take your small step today!

Thanks for joining us on the journey!

Spending Month Purpose and Guidelines

So...  Last week I had this really long blog post wrapping up Me month. It was very "standing on my soapbox-ish". I usually give myself 24 hours of praying and then a re-read before I post something kind of preachy... and I'm glad I did. Beth Moore Bible study saved me on Sunday morning, so ya'll will get the less preachy/soapbox-ish version  of the conclusion to Me month later today. But for now...

Spending Month.

I took 2 weeks off this time (I'll explain more in Me month post), and that has put me in a different position than I wanted to be for spending month. It will go through the week of Thanksgiving (and Black Friday!!!), so let me outline the purpose, guideline, and fears.

Purpose: To know where all of our money is going and making sure it has a purpose and is not being wasted. To be a good steward of what the Lord has provided.

Guidelines: I will only spend money at 8(ish) locations. I will not purchase any non-essential items for myself this month.

Here are my locations:
1. Bill Pay- this is all the major (and not major) bills that MUST be paid every month. Things like house payment, electric bill, propane, phone, etc.... these all get lumped into one category.
2. Gas- I do a lot of running kids where they need to go, so I did not pick just one gas station. I can purchase gas anywhere, but only gas.  Gas stations will not be used for snacks or food, gas only.
3. Aldi- food purchases... though I don't get everything there, and it is not conveniently located to me, so I had to pick another one too.
4. Food Lion- I did not really want this to be my grocery store option... it's not my favorite. But I needed something that had long hours and was closer than a 25 minute drive. So here I am, stuck with Food Lion.
5. Local farmers/Amish- this is for food purchase also. Since food month and waste month I have really come to rely on some staples from these places and visit them often. I also think it is important to support local, so they get a spot.
6. School/Activities- I hate this takes a spot... but with 4 children in the public school system and extracurricular activities, there is always something that comes up that needs money from school, music or sports... so school/activities get spot number 6.
7. Doctor/pharmacy/dentist/orthodontist- these are necessary evils. I have three kids that see the orthodontist and if I didn't put these on here there would be a major medical emergency. I also didn't want "breaking the fasting rules" to come into play when trying to decide to take someone to the doctor or dentist.
8. Target- this is my "in case" store. I am going to try very hard not to use this store this month, but sometimes there are school projects or certain item that need to be purchased for an activity that you can't find at your local farmer/grocery store.

So... I tried to do a little prep for this month by purchasing or paying for things that I would need to during the month on the list. Landen's birthday party- pre-paid. Canvases/prints for the house- Groupon purchased. Holiday cards- already paid.  I tried to think of things I knew that would need to be done that are not fasting friendly... but I'm sure I will discover things I forgot along the way.

I also had a little girl date with my girls on Saturday. We went out to eat and did a little shopping for the baby so I could try to get a little of the impulse buy of adorable baby girl things out of my system. It was a fun little date and the girls LOVED shopping for their new little sister!

We also splurged and ate out a couple of times this weekend, knowing that we are entering a month of no eating out (again!). Side note: A lot of these fasts have required us to not eat out. I should probably take a closer look at to how that aspect of our life runs into so many different things...hmmm...

Couple of fears/anxiety:
Fear 1- Eating out. We don't do it a ton, and I'm aware it is a luxury not necessity, but I struggle with the convenience of it when I am exhausted, Eric is traveling, and there are a million evening activities. That probably means there are some pretty good lessons to learn there. Ugh. It also limits quick date options with my hubs during the day while kids are at school (on the rare occasion he is home) and meeting up for something quick with friends.

Fear 2- Christmas shopping. I've done ZERO! Black Friday falls during this fast and that is just the pits! I know this will keep me from buying a LOT of things I do not need... but again, ugh! It is also craft fair season... so many craft fairs!

Fear 3- Thanksgiving meal. I hate that I don't have the option of a better grocery store to pick up what I need to prepare how I want to prepare... but alas... Food lion and Aldi will have to do.

I guess I should also define "spending". This is money that we spend on our family's needs/wants. I do not consider money that is allocated for missionaries, sponsored children, tithing or any other donations that we make regularly (or that the Lord places on our hearts to make this month) to be considered spending. That is giving.

This month the kids and I will participate all month. Eric will participate when he is in town, it is impossible while he is traveling.

I'm excited and nervous to see what the Lord has in store for the month! Thanks for joining me on the journey!