My husband and I had a rare moment alone last night and our talk wasn’t of the kids, the budget, the car that needs tires, the puppy we need to get rid of.

It was for those who are in Haiti, who have been devastated by a monstrous earthquake. They have lost everything. Everything. I tear up when I think about it. I can’t even watch the news because the despair haunts me.

But there are few things I can do. And while I have taken a break from blogging for a season, I can think of no better reason to hop back in and come together in this virtual world than this.

While there are a lot of things I can’t do during this tragedy, (like fly out there on the next plane to help) there is so much that I can do.

::I can pray. A lot. Even though I can’t be there, He can, He is, and He hears them. God’s heart is broken when His people intercede for the needy.  I can teach my children to pray, we can pray as a family, we can pray as a church, I can pray when I am awake at 2:00 in the morning thinking of those people and wishing I could do more. Praying may not seem like much, but how great a thing it is.

::I can give financially. There are many great organizations that are there helping, and the need funds to continue to serve and provide. There are many great organizations listed in my Help For Haiti post.

::I can give participate in a giveaway Another reason why I love blogging is the ability to unite in large numbers to make a huge difference in times like this. Hope For Haiti is a blog where you can donate a prize or service and for each dollar given, the donor receives a raffle to ticket to win. We just signed up to give a  $50 gift certificate to Christian Book Distributors.

::I can join others. Bloggers are amazing. Many have offered to help in incredible ways. Crystal has rallied together other bloggers who are committed to helping.  You can find more information over at Money Saving Mom.

How can you help?

Maybe you don’t have a lot of money to give, but every dollar counts. Do what you can. There is strength in numbers. We can make a huge difference with a little or a lot. If 1,000 people gave a dollar, that is $1,000. Your dollar may not seem like much, but when you add them all together it adds up.

Every dollar counts. So that is why I have a Mr. Linky here.  Link up a blog post about how you are helping those in Haiti,  and my husband and I will donate $100 for 100 links, (or $1 for each link, whichever is greater)to Compassion International . Together we can do A LOT. Let’s join together and make a difference for those in Haiti.

Share how you are helping here:

It is devastating what happened to Haiti. I can’t even bring myself to watch the news coverage it is so heartbreaking to see the despair. We want to help in anyway that we can, and I am sure you do too. So I rounded up a list of a few repuatable organziations you can donate to that will go directly to helping these poor people. If you know of any other way to help, please let me know and I will add it to the list. And don’t hesitate to give, they need help immediately or thousands will lose their life:

Samaritans Purse

Compassion

Salvation Army

World Vision

Operation Blessing International

If you are on Twitter, follow the hashtag #helpforhaiti to connect others that are seeking ways to help.

Another way you can help is through the blog Hope for Haiti. If you are a fellow blogger, you can donate a prize or service to give away and for every dollar donated the donor will recieve a raffle ticket. This is an awesome way to get involved with some great prizes available.

Remember to keep these people in your prayers as the tragedy is far from over.

If you know of any other way to help, have an additional list of resources, or know of an organization that I don’t have listed please let me know so I can share the link here.

As  parents, we want to develop a heart of ministry in our children. But we have seen on too many occasions that busyness can be a big side effect of ministry. We try to participate in things that keep us together as a family, and we also try to make sure that we aren’t called away from home a lot for the sake of ministry. Our family time is important,and we protect it as much as we can.

So we asked ourselves how can we do  make  family time and ministry a priority without sacrificing either?

A very simple idea came to me about a year ago, and it has been one of the greatest blessings to our family. How often we try to make things much harder than they should be!!

What works for us in combining our home school and ministry does not require a lot of time, it does not require us to leave home, and does not require a lot of money! It is so simple, you may never have thought of it. Are you ready for the big reveal?

We write letters.

Yes, that is it. Or that may seem like that is it. But it has actually become more of a ministry than I ever imagined. We have a file box of addresses of family and friends. Once a week, we will choose a family or person to write to. I haven’t set any precedence for what they write, I just let them write about whatever is on their hearts. We combine them in an envelope together, pray for the person we are sending it to and send them out. So many people have been blessed by their letters. Many times people will write back and my kids love getting mail so that is alway exciting! We have had so many tell us how these letters have brightened their day, how they save each letter, how it came at “just the right time”. It has become an activity we look forward to.

While writing, our children are developing skills such as spelling, grammar, handwriting and more. To us, that is just a side benefit though. I would encourage everyone to incorporate this into their family! In a day where most people communicate by email and there is so much junk mail in our mailboxes, a handwritten letter of love is a rare thing.

What are some other ways you have used your home school as a ministry? How do you balance family time with ministry?

Michelle emailed me this question :

I just recently came across your blog a couple of weeks ago and have been enjoying it. You mentioned that Friday’s were your outreach days. May I ask what kind of outreach you do with your children?

Perhaps some tips on how to begin if a person hasn’t yet started one? I have been wanting to do one for a while but I do have an A.D.D. boy, a pretty energetic, bouncy 7 year old girl and one teen girl. I have been trying to figure out what to do with them, but with the boy who has a hard time with interacting with others at times it is difficult to know what kinds of things we could do that would be a blessing and not trying for both him and the people involved that would be receiving ministry.

What a great question and I am honored to try to answer it! It has always been one of my goals as a parent to develop in my children a heart for ministry. All too often we think of ministry as being a missionary in a faraway land or participating in a church crusade or something of that nature. When we view the life of Christ though, we see that He reached out to the people He met throughout the course of His day whereever He was staying.  This is the model I want to represent for my children. I also want to train them to have their “spiritual radar” honed so that they can be sensitive to those in need, whether it is a smile, a prayer or a friendly letter in the mail or something much bigger. I believe the only way I can train them to hone that radar and grow in compassion for others is by actually doing it.

I also realize that if we don’t purpose to put others first on a regular basis, our days, weeks and months can easily fill up with things to do. So I decided quite a while ago that part of our home school education would be to set apart a ministry day. It made sense in our schedule to do this on Fridays.

We have done various things on these days as the Lord has lead us. Once we began to pray and seek who He would have us reach out to, there was no shortage of people and ideas He brought to our hearts!

Who does God call us to reach out to? In Scripture we are told to care for the widows, the orphans, the elderly, and the poor.  So begin by asking yourself: do you have any of these people around you? In your family, in your neighborhood, in your church? You will likely be able to think of many people. If not, there are organizations such as nursing homes and food pantries that you can volunteer your time or donate to. Here are a few things we have done for our ministry days:

::Visit widowed family members or the elderly

This has been one thing that we do the most and that my children enjoy the most! We have a few aunts that have lost their husbands in recent years, and really look forward to our visits.  Often times you can ask around your church if you cannot think of anyone yourself. There is also a home care facility near us that has an adopt an elderly person program that we will participate in this summer. If you visit an elderly person, perhaps you can take them outside to get some fresh air while your younger child plays. The elderly love to watch little children play and have fun. If you are visiting in someones home, invite them to come outside and walk with you if possible, and let your son run around and burn off some energy! I have a wiggly seven year old boy as well, so I have had to get creative in this area!

::Write letters

We began a few years ago having my children write random letters to family, church members and those who are lonely. It started out as a way to get some extra writing into our school schedule and has taken off into a ministry on its own! I have been amazed at how much this means to people. My daughter currently writes to a 102 year old woman in a nursing home a few towns away that she has never even met.  I have a letter writing box that contains paper, cards, stamps, envelopes, and addresses all in one place. Each week I encourage them to choose a person to write to and then we mail it out. We have even had people send along stamps to us so we could keep the letters coming!

::Donate to a local food pantry

Each week we try to purchase a few extra items that we can donate to a food pantry. Usually by the end of the month we have a nice sized box of items to give.  I use coupons and watch for deals for non perishable items that we can stockpile. It is an excellent way for your children to learn math and shopping as well as giving. Have them set a budget, clip the coupons, purchase the items and then deliver them with you. Many food pantries also need some help stocking their shelves or organizing etc. Ask them if  you could volunteer a period of time helping them. If you get your younger ones involved like this they are more likely to want to participate and feel a great sense of purposefulness.

::Donate clothing or toys

Many times  I will  have my children clean out their drawers and toys and we will pile them up and donate them to a local thrift shop that serves those in need.  You can also participate in Toys For Tots or a Coats for Kids program, involving your child as much as you can in choosing a toy or coat, and delivering it.

::Volunteer at Church Suppers or Soup Kitchens

My ten year old loves to serve, so she goes with my parents a lot to their monthly Spaghetti supper and helps out with serving and cleaning up.

Those are just a few ideas to get you started.  I think the most important thing is to pray about where God would use you and allow Him to lead.I am sure that He will guide you into just the right thing for your family

A few other thoughts for ministering with younger children:

::If you are visiting, it doesn’t have to be long.  Even a short visit is a blessing.

::Explain what you are doing and what you expect from them while you are doing it. Its a great time to practice obedience training!

::Get them involved as much as possible in what you are doing. This will hold their interest and keep their attention longer. If you are visiting, have them help you draw a picture or bake some cookies to bring along. If you are donating items, have them help you pack them and deliver them. I have found that my younger children have a natural heart towards service and love to feel as though they are being big helpers for God.

For your teen, a whole slew of opportunities are available and it is a great time for them to put feet to their faith. What does she like to do? Can she play an instrument? If so, perhaps she could teach a younger child whose family would not be able to afford professional lessons, or she could go to a nursing home and play for the elderly. Can she write? Encourage her to start up a family newsletter, a blog or a newsletter encouraging other girls in their faith. Can she lead? Encourage her to start a Bible study with some neighborhood children. Can she sew? Perhaps she can donate some goods to a fund raiser, or sell them herself and donate the funds to an organization. Can she bake (or learn to bake this summer)? Maybe she can make a meal for a family in need. Perhaps she can spend a day helping a mother with her chidlren, cleaning for someone who is sick or recovering from a surgery or illness etc.  Help her find her natural God given gifts and abilities and begin using them for the Lords purposes. She will be a blessing and be blessed!

I hope I answered your question, although I am sure I just scratched the surface of what can be done to minister to to others. ! I would love to hear back from you on any ideas you have implemented with your children in ministering and serving!

Do you have any outreach ideas that you do with your children? If so, I’d love it if you would share them in the comments with us so we can be encouraged and inspired!

A few months ago, I learned about an online ministry called Gleaning the Harvest. This is an incredible ministry created to help support single moms who are committed to being keepers at home.  I support this ministry whenever we can, and am very excited to have another way to help!

Home School Digest has offered to give a free issue away to any one who requests it, and when you use the promo code GLEAN, Gleaning the Harvest will recieve $1 in advertising credit. This will help them spread the word about their ministry in a very popular magazine, and you will also get to see how great Home School Digest is as well!

To get your free magazine, go here and enter the promo code (GLEAN) when checking out. I know you will be blessed by this magazine, and will also bless this great ministry.

Be sure to visit  Gleaning The Harvest , read the stories and have a look around. I am sure you will be moved by these women who have made a commitment to be a keeper at home in spite of difficult circumstances.