I can prove to you that there is no such thing as “just a mom.”
I have photos.
Because “just a mom” absolutely and 100% does not join arms with other moms to raise $43,050 for orphans and vulnerable kids in South Africa!
If your day has felt ordinary so far. If you’ve wondered why you even bother to put Legos away anymore? If you’re knee deep in sharpening number two pencils and packing glue sticks for Back to School season and are already dreading the new year of making school lunches. If you’re behind on the laundry and tired of being tired. I have the BEST reminder that beneath those yoga pants lives a super hero – tattered cape and all.
Read on and then pass this on because there is no. such. thing. as. “just” a mom!
Laundry for Africa Update
Remember the “Laundry for Africa” day – when we all did virtual laundry together – and donated the cost of a box of soap or a couple loads of laundry? To build a water point and laundry facility for our sisters and their kids in South Africa?
Remember how we raised that $5,000 in less than 8 hours?
Remember what doing laundry in Maubane, South Africa used to look like?
And now because hundreds of “just moms” did virtual laundry together while making donations to a laundry center for the moms in Maubane, this is what progress looks:
In December…
In January…
In April…
And in May!!
WE BUILT A WATER POINT AND LAUNDRY FACILITY IN SOUTH AFRICA!!!
That’s staggering.
Because you prayed and donated during 8 hours one day while you were sorting and washing and folding, hundreds of moms in Maubane, South Africa will be able to wash and sort and fold in clean, consistent water too!
And then remember how we kicked off the Fall in Love with the World Next Door campaign on Valentine’s Day this year?
And how you all raised $10,000 on the FIRST DAY?
And how in six months we’ve raised $38,050?
That includes:
- a community vegetable garden,
- a playground
- and almost the entire amount for the first half of the community center – the Kitchen and Welcome Center.
YEOW!!!
Want to see your vegetable garden’s progress?
Veggie Garden Update
This is what “just moms” can do when they change the world with their words, their carrots and lettuce and kids, and their donations to a community of “just moms” in South Africa.
You’ve provided moms a world away with a source of food as well as sustainable income!
Remember what all that vacant land looked like before you all dug in your hands and hearts and blog posts…
This is what it looks like now!
In March…
In April…
And in May!!!
You all are AMAZING!!
You are brave and generous and complete world-changers right there from in front of your sink of dirty dishes and cruddy crocs piled at the back door.
I love you.
I mean it. This is me reaching through the computer and giving you a full on BEAR HUG of gratitude from my people in South Africa.
Brave moms raise brave kids.
And change the world in the process.
Baie Dankie – Thank you very much (in Afrikaans).
Your biggest fan,
Lisa-Jo
PS: Let’s keep doing it, eh? Proving to ourselves that there’s no such thing as “just a mom.” Stay tuned for details on Thursday!
WOO! Look at that! it’s all too beautiful for words! So thrilled to see this dream become reality. God is amazing. Smiling wide here, with wet eyes. XXOO
Thank you so much for the update Lisa Jo!
I totally forgot, honestly.
That is the beauty of pure charity though I suppose.
A real response from a deep real heart for real human being, just a moment in time, just a electronic transaction, a credit in our checking account to remember to budget for, a prayer mumbled to a listening Father and its gone for us…but God’s Spirit multiplies things! Just want to share that this post is really hitting me hard in those good gut punches. I opened my email to read an update about the Christian genocide happening in Syria. It’s so over whelming, I just wanted to close it and get on with my daughter saturated day. But I didn’t. I read it slow. I looked at that link to “help refugees now” and The Lord instantly brought to mind that our checking acc. just got credited 40 bucks for a return item from target. “I can give half of that away” I thought. Later the girls and I went to Panera before we got groceries. I decided to sit there and just drink water instead of my usual decant indulgence of scones and coffee. More than a self-righteous symbolic act, I prayed that The Spirit, who searches the hearts and minds all mankind, would multiply one small act, pathetically so really, of going without in the face of excess, so a mother somewhere in Syria fleeing for Jordan could have a meal for herself and her children. Somehow, someway, I know it really does connect in the Spirit realm where God is in complete control in a world tore to pieces by Satan, it matters. I can’t stop thinking about. What you are doing Lisa Jo, is a part of a holy movement the Western Church getting vertical and Spiritual- inclined to the God-head once again. It is broken, small, and deliberate and its the best thing that has ever happened to me and it is the best thing, and The Only Solution for the declining irrelevant, powerless, American Church.
Blessing and Cheers,
{virtual hug back}
Leah
Beyond cool – well done everyone!
Halala!!
Thank you for your post about the wonderful work you and others are doing in South Africa. You never fail to uplift and inspire me, always with beautiful words and a strengthening spirit.
Like one of the commenters, Leah, I have been heartbroken by the genocide–of not just Christians, but also of Yazidis and other minorities–in Iraq. In particular, the plight of the families stranded on Mount Sinjar is almost more than I can bear. I appreciate Leah’s example of going without. I know that prayer and fasting have great power, especially when we do them for a specific purpose.
Because you are demonstrably so effective at reaching out in love to our neighbors across the world, I must ask you: Beyond our prayers, what on earth can we do for these people? I would appreciate any insight you (or your readers!) can share.
Great jobs Moms for doing this :).I m really inspired and have hope god can use me too :)
http://www.godlyindianmom.com/
https://www.facebook.com/godlyindianmom
Love, love, love! Thank for you letting us see this project come to life!
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