the gift that keeps on giving: water buffalos

Last year, my husband's side of the family decided we didn't need to spend money on useless stuff for each other for Christmas. Instead, we bought chickens, Bibles, school uniforms, and even a cow for families in Uganda, and that was our gift to each other.

This year, my sister-in-law knew some aid workers that were going to Nepal soon, so we all did Christmas early and gave enough for them to buy a water buffalo.

Here is the e-mail from the aid worker:

Just to let you know, there is a small village in rural Nepal who had eleven buffaloes we had purchased for them that was flooded and ALL their livestock died, leaving them destitute. We were able to purchase a new, healthy buffalo for this village with your donation. The people were SO HAPPY and thankful. This one buffalo will help support them until we can get more. Essentially, it will keep them alive.

Thank you and your family for doing this.

Please consider doing Christmas differently this year, and check out this fantastic video. I've watched it at least 15 times.