A Very Scrooge-less Christmas!

Do I love Christmas or do I love Christmas?!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I love Christmas music (preferably Celine Dion, Amy Grant, NSync, and The Carpenters), decorations, cookies, shopping, crazy people, parties, movies and the REAL meaning of Christmas. And I almost forgot, I love gifts! Of course I love getting gifts, but I truly love giving more than receiving. That may have something to do with the fact that the gifts I give to Derek are usually beneficial to both of us, therefore I am giving and receiving all at the same time. Smart girl here! (I'll share my big gift with you after the 25th!)

So on the note of giving is better than receiving..... What better time of the year to give to those in need! Whether you're buying a dead rose from "Doug," the Indian guy downtown (who I'm pretty sure is not named Doug) and paying an extra dollar or two, or just dropping in some extra change at the Salvation Army stand, now is not the time to be stingy! Not many people read this blog (I know, right?! What's wrong with this world?), but what kind of lousy person would I be if I didn't use it for good once in awhile? So today, and from here on out, I'd like to share with you some organizations, that aren't super well known, but would GREATLY appreciate and benefit from your help.

First up is not an organization, but a family that I've talked about on here before. Brad and Tara Mowen adopted their first ADORABLE baby boy from Ethiopia last spring and just found out a few weeks ago that they will be going back to Ethiopia right before Christmas to bring home their two new sons. Awesome news! That's the short version, but you can read about everything here. Sounds easy, but there's a ton of paperwork and money that go along with it and they could use all the help they can get! On their website, you can purchase either t-shirts or bead necklaces made by African women for $15 each, which will help with adoption costs. Now I know you may wonder why you should be helping these people you don't know, but you should change your way of thinking and realize you're actually giving two little boys a family! There will be two less orphans in Africa shortly and what I love more than anything is that they are actual brothers. Heartwarming!

Second up is another organization I have mentioned before. The actual organization is Amazima Ministries and was started by Katie Davis from Kisses From Katie. Amazima "feeds, educates, and encourages orphaned and vulnerable children and the poor in the country of Uganda."

This is an amazing organization to help with and while any amount of money is gladly accepted, you could (and should!) sponsor a child for just $300 a year. That's $25 a month. Your phone bill is probably triple that! This will include education at a Christian school, school supplies, school uniform, three meals a day, medical care, Christian discipleship, and spiritual growth activities for their families and/or guardian. I understand if $300 isn't readily available however, so they also offer handmade, beaded necklaces for $19.95. What. A Steal. These necklaces are made by the Ugandan women through Amazima's vocational program and I'm just waiting for the red one to be back in stock. These women better pick up the pace a bit! (I kid, I kid.) You should seriously check out their website to read everything, they say it much better than I ever could. Back to Katie..... She has a new book out, cleverly titled, 'Kisses From Katie.' Heeeyyooo! Honestly, I can't put into words what an amazing girl she is. Read her book, read her blog, you'll love her!

I'll think I'll call it a day with charities in this post, but I've already got quite a few others in mind and I'm actually really excited to share them with you! GOODNIGHT!

Mi Casa Es Su Casa.....

......unless you want an oven in su casa! We've finally moved into our real apartment and I truly can't complain. It's nice, it's fairly modern, there's a flat screen tv that we can plug our computer into to watch real television, the shower feels excellent on my head, buuuut there's no oven. This was suppose to be "The Year of the Oven," and now that has been renamed to "The Year of the No Bake Cookie!" Yuuummm.....when I was 12! Do they think Thanksgiving pumpkin pie and Christmas cookies bake on a two-burner stove? I don't think so! This is a true tragedy!

Thoughts of having no oven have completely consumed me, but luckily, I am an even tempered, level headed, mature 29 year old woman. HEAR ME ROAR! Maturity means I don't yell at Derek for having no oven because it's obviously not his fault, I don't bring up the no oven 'sitch' in every conversation I have and to everyone I meet, and I haven't cried over it. That would be SO crazy if somebody cried over not having an oven! I am once again starting to become very upset, so I think it's best we move on.

Here are those pictures of our new hood I promised you weeks ago! Bolzano is an awesome city and I may not have originally thought it was a happening tourist spot UNTIL I ran into a Rick Steve's tour downtown! Rick Steves! First question asked, "Is Rick Steves with you?" He wasn't, but there was NO WAY I was passing up the chance to meet this traveling nerd. Anyways, hope you like the place as much as I do! **Note** I did not edit these photos. On most days, I would rather come down with full blown AIDS than deal with Photoshop!
(Only my favorite place in all of Bolzano!)These next three photos are from just outside of Bolzano, where we actually live.**Another Note** When we bought the DSLR camera, I thought mad photography skills would flow from my fingertips, but as we can all see, that's not the case. Don't think mean things to yourself about my less than stellar photography, okay? Thanks!