We are almost there!  We are so excited to report that 2 more schools have received blankets!
Purulha and Chamche.  Here is a note from Rita who so lovingly handed them out to the children on our behalf.

Hi Heidy,

I had a very special time at two schools this last week.  I visited both the Purulha and the Chamche schools and gave the children the good news that they were each to be given one very large, warm and colourful blanket.  I told them that as they would wrap themselves in those wonderful blankets, they should always remember that the Lord has His arms of love around them and that they can feel secure and safe with Him.  It was very special. 

Then, the children lined up and were each handed their gift.  Parents waited outside the gate to help their children carry home their blankets.  It was  a great experience.  Such joy, such wonder, such a miracle! 

Thank you for making that possible. May the Lord richly repay you for all your hard, hard work for these little ones.

Love, Rita   

We have one last school to go, Chijacorral, which has 365 students.  After that, it is our goal to gift a blanket to each of the 150 teachers.

One blanket at a time... one warm, happy, grateful child at a time.

the story of my cousin.

Over the past week things have really taken off with the blanket fundraiser as lots of people have been super generous and lots of money has been coming in.  Where and who it all comes from are unique stories in themselves..one of these stories is of my cousin Dana.

Dana is a inspiring, and driven young lady, who after hearing the the blanket story started taking matters into her own hands.  At a family gathering I had shown a video that my mom and I had put together of the blanket story and how lives are being changed by the gift of a blanket.

For christmas Dana had received a piggy bank, the cool kind that automatically counts your money for you, and through this she got an idea.  She went on a scouring rampage all through her house for loose change..checking under couches, looking in pockets, gathering from everyones piggy banks, in the laundry, any nook and cranny where a few pennies might be hiding!

After scouring the whole house Dana sat down with all her findings and spent hours counting, rolling, and sorting all the coins that she had come across, and so diligently searched for.

Being the determined young lady that she is Dana spent four days with all her efforts, forever following her heart to do good, and bring warmth to others lives.

Seeing the determination with which she undertook this project was so awesome!

From all the change Dana collected she got a grand total of $100!!!!! How crazy sweet eh?!

Hey guys, Dana here now.. if I was able to collect that much from the change in my house, may I  challenge you to do the same? Go through all the couches, in the washing machine, your vehicles...anywhere, and see how much you can raise from the loose change. I gotta feeling you'll be amazed! 

Once you've gathered up all your monies you can donate through the pay pal link on the side of our blog. 

Thanks guys. Cheers.

Dana and Kara. 

the story of an incredible woman.

This past week I had an acquaintance e-mail me and share the story of her mother with me.  The story that came out showed the love and dedication of a most loving woman.   Using her talents and gifts to bless all those around her. This is her story as told by her daughter...

"My mother brought 17 children into this world, living in a third-world country (Paraguay), and when they immigrated to Canada with 13 of them she felt she had entered 'Canaan'. She loved how readily she was able to purchase all that the family needed! (It was custom for all the employed children to give their paychecks to the parents - they in turn would give back to them a small percentage for personal expenses). Different, eh?


 She was used to sewing all the childrens' clothing, blankets, etc., back in Paraguay. She had a heart for the less fortunate and so she put her skills to work. She sewed blankets for all her kids AND grandchildren (which were many!). Then she just kept right on sewing blanket after blanket and donated them to third-world outreach Ministries. She was not a perfectionist sewer but a diligent one. Dad had to get her to pace herself because she would just keep going 'till she became overtired. She knew what it was to be in want and she felt she could do something now to pay back all that she was blessed with in 'Canaan' :))


 I didn't always see her charitable ways, until I had children of my own. I realized then how much she had done and was doing over and beyond what I felt I could ever do! (I have 3 children) I began to truly admire her. She became an inspiration to me and still is. She spent most of her life pregnant and raising all 17 children to maturity. All have accepted the Lord when she herself only dedicated her life to Him when she was around 40. She taught us all to be 'good' but not about Jesus till after that. Her passion then became Jesus and the children knew it well! She told me once that she had asked the Lord what she could do for Him and the Lord had told her that her mission field was right around her! :)) She has now been with the Lord since 1996. She was 74. All the children were grown and had families of their own. .. and her 'mission field' continues.. 
(Dad, and 3 of her children have since then joined her)



As soon as I saw your blog I thought, "Mom would have LOVED that!! .. and probably would have started a new sewing project!"




Many thanks to my friend for openly sharing the story of her mom, and letting her testimony impact others. 


May this story inspire us, let it drive us to use the talents and gifts that God has blessed us with, that in turn we can bless others.  Showing His love with all that we have and can do!






Cheers, 
kara

A time to give.

Spending two weeks in Tactic, Guatemala...
check.
Handing out blankets.
check.

wait...

handing out blankets?

yup!  i had the most beautiful, amazing oppurtunity to personally hand out blankets to almost a hundred  children from San Antonio.

We drove out to San Antonio on a nice sunny afternoon, all the blankets piled high up in the back of a pick-up truck.  As we pulled up to the school there was already a whole crew of young children waiting for us.  The director of the school had already gave the students a heads up that we would be coming, so they were eagerly awaiting us, but more importantly the blankets to come!

Rita Peters (one of the directors at Impact Ministries) was with us, and she had all the kids gather around and as she had captured all their attention, she wrapped one of the huge blankets around her saying that was the same with God's love.  That He wraps his love around us, and that whenever they wrap themselves up in their cozy blankets to be reminded of this.

We had the students all line up in a line, and then one by one they had their names recorded, and then came up to the back of the pick-up.  One by one I was able to place in their hands the most precious, tangible gift.  A huge blanket.  With a hug and blessings I would send them off, grabbing the next blanket.

The look on each child's face was so priceless.

They would look up at me as I placed the blanket in their arms, and in their eyes was disbelief, and the look that said, "I can't believe I am actually getting this!" 

After all the blankets had been handed out, there was one mom that came back to thank us.  Standing behind her were her four boys. Each of the young gentleman had recieved a blanket, which was so incredible!  

As Christmas is just around the corner would you help spread some warmth through the gift of a blanket?

All it takes is $10. 

Not much at all, and with that you bring warmth to a child, and help show them that someone is caring and thinking about them.  That when they lie down to sleep at night they can wrap themselves up and be cozy.   

Will you help us bless these special children this christmas?

Cheers.

Kara

Winter Days

As the weather starts to turn colder and we are able to cozy in and sit by the fire or turn up the heat or grab a blanket, our thoughts can't help but turn to the people in Tactic, Guatemala.  There is no heat for them to turn on and any fire they would have would be saved for cooking the meal.  A big cozy blanket would be a luxury!

On Friday Kara left for Guatemala for two weeks.  I can't wait to hear her report.  She will be handing out more blankets and doing follow up on some of the one's already gifted.  We will post some update photos as soon as she gets back.

Many thanks to my customers who have been supporting this cause through purchasing bookmarks at my shows.

 Together we can make a difference.

Just a reminder that any gifts donated over $20 will receive a tax deductible receipt.

Who knew?

So today was a good day. 


Let me share with you why that was..


Over the past few weeks mom and I have been collecting huge plastic bags FULL of bottles, and cans!! 


Where they come from are stories in themselves, and so I'll share that with you. 


Most of them find their way into the back of my pick-up from the construction site, as there are recycling bins set up for just this purpose, or from co-workers at the ranch, or anyone that is wanting to help out an incredible cause. 


I must share with you though a special Jesus moment.   My parents, a friend of mine and I went out kayaking last weekend, and the lake we went to was so busy! Boats, trailers, dogs and people were everywhere!  


We finally made our way to the water to put our boats in and set off on an adventure!  After paddling beside mountains, and wadding through chilly glacier rivers to catch a glimpse of some wild fish we decided to head back.   As we were pulling the boats out and packing up my mom calls to me, "Kara! Kara! come take a look at this!"  I wander over wondering what in the world she is wanting me to see...


And then as I get closer I see what brought the excitement to her voice...
two HUGE bags full of cans.  But not just any cans, beer cans and bottles.


Now the reason that we were getting excited was first that they were just sitting there, but also the fact that you get afew cents more for beer cans instead of pop cans!! So we just landed a jackpot!!


We quickly grabbed them and made a dash for the car, and loaded them in the back. 


So today was the day that we made a trip to the bottle depot, to change all the bottles for cash, all to be put towards buying blankets. Just from the past few trips we have got enough money for 20 MORE BLANKETS!  How awesome is that?  Some more exciting news is that we've recieved enough money through donations and recycling bottles that we can almost purchase enough blankets for all the children in the Mocohan school!  

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
       - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Thankyou for all your support as we bless with blankets!

Cheers. 

Kara & Heidy

Just the beginning...

In 2006 our family visited Tactic, Guatemala.  Our purpose for the visit was to finally see our sponser children that we had been supporting for a number of years.   But what became of our visit was more than any of us could have ever expected...a dream was kindled.

A dream of greater purpose, one that would affect the local people in such a simple, practical, easy and life giving way.  

 During our visit we were invited into many homes, it's there that we saw the true reality of their living conditions.  It was so real, it wasn't just a commercial from World Vision where you could change the channel if you didn't like what you were seeing, it was real life, and we were witnessing it. 

Some homes had dirt floors with open fires within their tiny four walls, where all 5-7 people would live.
Sometimes you could see through the boards of the walls to the outside.  Tactic has a rainy season and we couldn't imagine living in those conditions, never mind without  warm cozy blankets.  We kept looking for them... where does everyone sleep?  Where are their blankets?  

As you often hear, and was true of our experience, the people had so little and yet were so hospitable.  Welcoming us into their homes and offering us their best, even if it was a warm, watered down Kool-aid like drink, it was quite humbling.

Leaving Guatemala and flying back home, we didn't want to forget the reality of the peoples lives we were leaving. Their stories were deeply engraved into all our hearts...

a dream was kindled,  the dream of gifting communities with the warmth of a blanket. 

My mom has a business called Forever Remember. She makes Bison Leather Journals and bookmarks.  She decided to take all the proceeds from the bookmark sales and put them towards purchasing blankets.

While mom was working at that, I actually packed my bags and went back to serve with Impact Ministries in the same communities where we visited.  My stay would be  for 1 year.  During that year while I was teaching in the schools, the dream of the blankets took another turn.  We thought that gifting each student with a blanket of their own would be a great way to get them into the homes.  Impact Ministries was so excited to embrace this idea and gladly joined our Blanket Dream.

Rita, co-founder of Impact Ministries, handing out blankets to over-joyed students in Chicoy.

Our goal:


6 schools, 1180 blankets!
Chicoy               100 Students  
Mocohan           200 Students
San Antonio      100 Students
Purulha              200 Students
Chamche           250 Students
Chijacorral         250 Students

 Together we can achieve it.  Will you join us?

-Heidy and Kara