Seeds

My name is Allison and I admit that I have a large obsession with seeds.

And I am proud to say it is rubbing off on you know who!

I have had a passion for growing plants since I was a kid. I even remember having a "grow light" in my bedroom for my 7th grade science project. (That was my excuse anyway) I think that my obsession even bothers Phil a tinsy weensy bit. You see I gave up t.v. for Lent and I have nothing better to do! So I check my seeds 2 billion times a day and examine them with full scrutiny and (probably unnecessarily) tend to them. Phil looked at me one night before bed this week and firmly said "stop checking your seeds." I responded with "you don't understand, I CAN'T stop!"

They need me and I need them and their future produce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And guess who else is currently obsessed with seeds? Our church! Before we even started attending our church they launched a campaign and called it "Seeds." Isn't that cool? Our church feels called by God to eliminate their financial debt so that they can enlarge their reach around the world!

Here are some examples of alternative acts of service that could be done with the current $10,533.71 mortgage payment:

One month they could build a church in India.

One month they could launch an effort to pay the rent for a storefront church plant for 10 total consecutive months.

One month they could place 10,031 Bibles in the hands of people currently in prison.

One month they could buy 52,000 pounds of diapers for a Hope Center.

One month they could buy a freezer and stock it with meat for a year for the Grabill Community Food Bank.

One month they could send approximately 800 coats and pairs of mittens to Romania.

One month they could drill 3 wells in Villages in Kenya, Africa.

One month they could fill 234 baby bottles with quarters for a Hope Center.

Isn't that just unbelievably amazing! I am so encouraged by this and I know that there are many other churches and people out there that feel just as strongly as we do. We try to think in these terms too and look for ways to increase our giving capacity by eliminating unnecessary debt. Generosity makes my heart and lips SING!

One of my biggest purposes of this blog is to encourage others and educate you in the process. A lot of the stuff that I post and write about on here could be thought of as weird, odd, crazy, and even gross! I want to show that there are alternatives to "normal." One of my professors at Bethel once said that "new and brilliant ideas do not come from thinking normally." The moment that I heard those words I breathed a big sigh of relief! Finally, I am free! Nothing about the thoughts and ideas that go through my head are normal!

So now you know why I post about making laundry soap and cheese in my kitchen, give chicken bones to my baby to chew of the marrow, paint and faux my perfectly fine kitchen cabinets, cloth diaper, teach Luke to write numbers at our kitchen table, grow tomatoes in any container I can get my hands on, prove that a baby can be born in 2010 without an epidural, and show that people and churches can survive and thrive with little to NO debt!

Thank you very much! I will now climb down off my soapbox and finish making my granola!

Good night.