Good evening, ladies and gents! I wanted to hop on here quickly tonight to share a few things that are very exciting, noteworthy, and simply fantastic. 

The word is spreading and I wanted to spread it some more. Have you heard of Pure Charity? When we spend money at a store or make a purchase online, that store usually donates a percentage of their proceeds to their own philanthropic giving, to causes or organizations we usually don't know anything about. BUT, Pure Charity has created a way for us as consumers to put that percentage of our purchases in our own account that we can then decide how that money will be donated. It's basically a charity savings account!

Tons of our favorite stores are a part of this. I believe at this time it's only online shopping purchases that can be credited to your Pure Charity account; they are working on applying this to in-store vendors as well. I've already made some purchases at Target and Zulily, all examples of online vendors that are a part of Pure Charity. The 1.5% of my purchase proceeds from Target will now be directed into my Pure Charity giving account where I can decide what initiative or project around the world I want that money to go. I think it's the coolest thing! Both Jen Hatmaker and Kelly Stamps have written about this along with specific projects they are backing as a place to start directing the funds. When you think about the amount of money that will be spent over the next six weeks, can you imagine the difference our 1.5%-3% of each purchase can make? Jen's post goes into a lot of detail about how to get started. And this is about the project she's backing. Here is information about Kelly's that also has a great explanation of how it all works. It's SO COOL!

Next up is something I haven't read myself yet, but I cannot wait to get my hands on it! Our favorite Bible we read with the kids is The Jesus Storybook Bible. Our friend, J.R. wrote a post today about a new book available, Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing, that is by the same people who collaborated on The Jesus Storybook Bible. He couldn't speak more highly of it, and since Matt and I respect his insights so much, plus can't recommend The Jesus Storybook enough, I am jumping up and down in excitement already and couldn't wait to tell you all about it, too. J.R. was also the one who recommended Hints on Child Training a few years back. It's not talked about enough as a gem of a resource for parents.

Ok, that's it for tonight, I think. 

Oh, wait. For writers, there's this. Beautiful this.

And the world is hungry. In ways it doesn't even recognize. As followers and lovers of Jesus, we have the food the world needs. We have God Himself, the Bread of Life, to offer. Encouragement.

Sweet dreams, dear friends.