Penny, Benjamin, and a lot of Matthew 6

Do you remember Penny?
 
 We originally wanted to adopt her, but were beat to the punch :-)

Over at the blog A Perfect Lily, there is a little fundraiser to help Penny's family bring her home.
 They've got this great thing going complete with an iPad giveaway. We are so happy to see Penny's family so close to being fully funded! You should stop by, read their story, and maybe give a little bit through the Reece's Rainbow family sponsorship page.




There is another family who also needs help. They were in the process of adopting their son Jonathan and found out 5 weeks before they were going to bring him home that he had died. Their hearts were broken at the death of their son, but they made the decision to adopt another child from his orphanage. Things have been moving pretty fast for them, but because of the way their travel dates fell with their schedule and the holidays in the country that they are adopting their son Benjamin from, they ended up needing more travel money than they raised funds for. They need around $3000 to be fully funded for the extra travel that they will have to make.
Would you please consider going to their Reece's Rainbow family sponsorship page and giving just a little bit, maybe $5? Their travel is coming up very soon and every dollar will help to make this smoother for them. I don't have any iPads to give away so you are just going to have to do this without hope of an earthly reward ;-)

Even if you can't give, please pray for these families! They know that God is more powerful than money problems and I can guarantee you that they appreciate your fervent prayers for them and their children even more than money.

  “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. ³ But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.


¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.


Matthew 6:1-4, 19-21, 25-34