What counts as news today?

Seriously? One of the lead stories on the NBC TODAY SHOW this morning was about a group of children selling items by the pool and getting robbed of their $147 by a local cheerleader. Don't get me wrong, I'm very sorry these children got robbed. HOWEVER, I have 2 issues with this being a lead story. 1. They plastered this 17-year old cheerleaders face and name all over national media. Come on, people. She made a mistake. She doesn't have a record. She was stupid and did something wrong and is sorry. Now, because NBC thought it would make a cute story she will be ruined.

2. seriously? This is the NEWS? I just read this morning on AllAfrica.com (you can sign up to get email updates when stories are written about specific topics or countries) that another 15,000 sit on the brink of starvation. That brings the number to 100,000+ in just a few districts. Literally, over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND people are on the brink of starving to death and NBC has to talk about a cheer leaders poor mistake and oh yeah. . .gotta throw a couple more Michael Jackson stories in there.

Why oh Why?!? ARGH!

Please continue to pray for Uganda's food situation: We were able to help some. . .but there are many left hungry. Thankfully, the Ugandan gov't as well as a few aid organizations are responding. . .but the situation is dire. My eyes continue to water as I consider these people who God has laid so heavily on my heart and the situation many find themselves in today. This was said about the Katakwi District in which HopeChest hopes to have several carepoints (let us know if YOUR church wants to be a part of long term, sustainable ministry to these precious ones of God):

"Ekongot (Katakwi chairperson) said the people had planted food, but the weather conditions like floods and prolonged drought let them down. "It is not that our people are lazy. People had planted food, but because of the unpredictable weather patterns, people lost all the crops in their gardens," he said.

Ekongot said hunger had affected education in the district as many schools were registering high drop-out rates because school children cannot concentrate on empty stomachs. "About 80% of our children now do not go to school because some of them have not eaten in the last four days," said Ekongot."

Let that move us to our knees.

Help Matthew

My friend, Donna, sent me this. Her organization has raise the funds already for his first surgery so he is even healthy enough to leave the country. Please read the letter below and prayerfully consider helping. . every little bit helps!

Bring Hope to Matthew

Dear Family and Friends,

We are the Mazur family and we would like to share with you about a little boy named Matthew who is 3 yrs old and is in desperate need of help. Matthew is severely malnourished, had a large umbilical hernia, as well as having some undiagnosed health issues in his back. Matthew lives in Liberia-West Africa.

Global Orphan Outreach (www.globalorphanoutreach.org) was asked by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to work on obtaining a medical visa for him as well as a host family and that is where we come in. We have agreed to be Matthew’s host family in the USA while he receives his medical care. The Liberian government is willing to expedite Matthew’s case due to his dire needs.

We are excited to be able to serve in this way and can provide for Matthew’s care once he gets here but lack some of the immediate necessary funds for travel expenses. Won't you please help?

How can you help?

Please consider giving to Matthew’s fund today and help us bring Matthew here. Invest $10-$20!! This will go a long way in giving this special little boy the help and family he so needs right now. Your giving will truly change his life forever!

All money received will go to his travel expenses or medical care.

We are real people and if you have questions, you may contact us at the phone # or email below.

Donations are tax deductible and can be sent to:

Matthew’s Fund

C/O Global Orphan Outreach

P.O. Box 97

Ladysmith, Wi 54848

Or you can send funds by PayPal at this link:http://www.globalorphanoutreach.com/contact.htm

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us -

Steve and Deb Mazur at (208) 647-0234 or Global Orphan Outreach at (715)-415-4401

Thank you!!

Steve and Deb Mazur

A Thousand Questions

Gracie learned to swim today! Truth is, I never thought she'd get rid of her "armies". She loved those things and didn't even TRY to swim in the pool. . mostly just float around. Then, today on our way to the pool she pipes up with "Mama, today I'm going to learn to swim" Alrighty then, Gracie girl! And learn to swim she did! Check her out practicing at my parents pool tonight swimming to Grandad. (Gracie is in the brown polka dot suit) Yes, she is jumping through a tube and swimming! Just a few hours after taking off her "armies"! I'm so proud!

PEOPLE WILL EAT TONIGHT

Tonight, there are mamas in a remote village of Uganda called Ngariam who will go to bed knowing that tomorrow they will get to feed their children!

All thanks to your response to God's call to feed the hungry!!!!

And. . tomorrow, the people of Kapelebyong will receive the gift of food. There will even be gov't officials there to give it some fanfare!

Praise HIS name! Let HIS glory be renown! May HIS name be made great because we gave.

Stop for a moment and drink it in. A mama sleeping peacefully for the first time in weeks. A little one with a full belly. An old man who no longer worries for tomorrow. and WE got to be a part of it. GOD IS GOOD!

Faith that leaves a legacy and changes the world

Please pray for some family friends of ours, Jordan Stinziano and his family. I don't know them well, but Greg grew up with Jordan and especially his younger brother, Jamin (who was Greg's college room mate and went with us to Uganda). Jordan's dear wife, Maggie lost the battle with cancer this morning and went to be with Jesus. She leaves behind an adoring husband and 4 little ones. In the midst of this battle, Jordan and Maggie gave everything to the Lord, even leaving their well-loved church family in Naples to go home to Syracuse to plant a church and spread THE WORD. Spread the word they have. Their faith and trust through the storm has left a legacy that is more of a tidal wave then a ripple. Take a moment to not only pray for Jordan, the kiddos and their friends and family but to read a bit of Jordan's thoughts (go to "the rant") through the process. It will inspire and challenge you to greater faith.

Our sermon this morning was from Phil. 3:1-11 about knowing Christ. . .even in His sufferings. It is here in our sufferings that Christ is known and shown. Jordan and Maggie exemplified this kind of relationship. Continue to pray that those that they touched will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus and those that loved her will grow closer to Jesus in the midst of the pain. That would make Maggie very happy. . .to know she was used. I'm sure she knows that now as she has heard "well done, my good and faithful servant" from the one she loved more than life itself.

How Feed Fed Me - Part 2

I thought I'd take a moment to share these 2 precious stories with you. I LOVE how God used "Feed the Forgotten" to absolutely change us. . I still have more writing to do on how He used it in my life. I feel like I've been drinking from a firehose lately with the Lord teaching me SO much!

The first story is from Amy Cook. I ADORE her. She is an amazing single mom to 4 kids who just came to know the Lord a few years ago. She follows so passionately and beautifully that I encourage you to read her blog. You will be challenged and encouraged by her. Besides what she wrote in this email, she donates parts of her earnings to the orphanage that our church sponsors, Rapha. No, she doesn't make a ton of money and can just toss some to those who need it. Actually, she is a single mom scraping by as a waitress at our local IHOP. However,

she believes PASSIONATELY that God has called us to minister to the orphan and widow and she lives it out. She has convinced the other waitresses to take one day a month and donate all their tips! In the months where the waitstaff isn't interested, Amy offers to do their grunt work for donations. It makes me cry just writing it. THIS is what it's all about. Thank you Amy for challenging me to live wholly and deeply

committed to our Jesus!

From Amy:

"I read my kids your first blog to kick off feed the forgotten. Aj really took it to heart. He got so excited. So we made a collection cup and started putting money in it. We made tally marks as we went....and we took advantage of the matching funds and the one girl who donated ten dollars if you donated ten dollars. We gathered $27, but added up it fed 400 meals. WOW! How easy was that? ...well, it was easy...thats the problem. We just basically used our spare change for the past two weeks. I think AJ learned that we can make a difference. But I imagine...what if I really sacrificed. I mean really sacrificed....what if a lot of people did? What if....we really shared what we had? What if..... we really believed that thats our family and friends dying of starvation? What if...? Amy

The next email is from my sweet friend, Cindy. I LOVE how God used "Feed" to not only feed others but show HIMSELF to Cindy!

From Cindy:

"I have been so touched by your Feed the Forgotten posts! My husband was laid off a few weeks ago, and our budget has been so tight, I’ve had to put a hold on some of our extra giving. It has been so hard to do! Today, as I sat here catching up on your blog, I realized there IS money to give!! I don’t know if you are familiar with ebates.com, but it is one of those site where if you shop through them, you earn a percentage of your purchase back as cash. At the end of the quarter, you receive either a check for the cash, or you can have them place the money in your "Fast cash" account, which is basically an online Visa gift card. I checked my balance and had $11.31 available. It seems like such a small amount, but then I thought, no..it will be matched to $22.62, and when you do the math, $22.62 divided by $0.14 per meal equals 161 people fed! THAT SO ROCKS!! :o) I love it! Yay for "found" money! "

God is SO good! I love how He's changing us in this process! If you have a "How Feed Fed Me" story, I'd love to hear it!