Welcome to our Blessing Hands Blog

Thanks for visiting our website and learning about our charity that helps impoverished children stay in school.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

A Cutts Family Christmas

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here



A Cutts Family Christmas
美国人怎样庆祝圣诞节?
What is Christmas like in the USA?
马太福音 1:18-25 (Chinese Standard (Simplified) 
 
基督降生

18 耶稣基督的诞生是这样的:耶稣的母亲玛丽亚已经许配给约瑟,在他们成婚[a]以前,玛丽亚就由圣灵怀了孕。 19 她的丈夫约瑟是个义人,不愿意公开羞辱她,想要暗中把她休了。

20 约瑟思考这些事以后,忽然主的一位天使在约瑟梦中显现,说:"大卫的后裔约瑟,不要怕迎娶玛丽亚做你的妻子,因为她里面所怀的是由圣灵而来的。 21 玛丽亚将要生一个儿子,你要给他起名叫耶稣,因为他将要把自己的子民从他们的罪孽中拯救出来。"

22 不过这整个事的发生,是为要应验主藉着先知所说的话:23 "看哪,那童贞女要怀孕,她要生一个儿子,人们将称他的名为以马内利。""以马内利"翻译出来就是"神与我们同在"。
24 约瑟从梦中醒过来,就依照主的天使所吩咐他的去做,把他的妻子迎娶过来, 25 只是在她生儿子[c]以前,一直没有与她同房。约瑟给孩子起名叫耶稣。

 Matthew 1:18-25 New International Version

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[d]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. 
我们的家庭圣诞节
Our Family Christmas

Baby Jesus is born in a barn , but had all the animals come to worship him in our Bethlehem scene.
婴儿诞生在一个牲畜棚里,
我摆放这些动物来设置一个当时伯利恒的场景
The baby was born in a barn, but I had all the animals come to worship him in our Bethlehem scene.
你们有的人曾经问过我美国人是怎样庆祝圣诞节的,跟中国相比有什么不同。既然我今年拍了不少过圣节的照片我就想跟大家一起分享我们家庭过圣诞的传统吧。圣诞节在全世界都是一个神圣的节日,因为它是为了庆祝创世主的儿子诞生的节日。(参看上面附的经文)
 
Some of you have asked what Christmas in the USA is like compared with China. Since I have  lots of pictures of our Christmas celebration this year posted on Pinterest, I thought I would share them with you and tell you something about our special traditions in our family. Christmas is a special holy holiday all over the world because it celebrates the birth of the son of the creator (see the verses above).
 
在中国没有任何官方认可的与宗教有关的节日,所以就算是圣诞节也没有庆祝的意义。在我们这里,圣诞 老人、驼鹿、雪花、美妙的圣诞歌曲和赠送礼物都是圣诞节的特征。这是一个向世界表达爱和欢乐的节日,因为在这一天一个把我们从死亡和罪恶中拯救出来的主诞生了。
 
China does not have any official  holy holidays, so even Christmas there makes no mention of the reason for the day. Here Santa Claus, reindeers, and snow are also featured along with wonderful Christmas songs and gifts to give. The merchants here and in China love to sell Christmas gifts. But there is a better reason for the season.  It is a time to show love and joy to the world, because the one who will save us from death and our own evil has been born. 

圣诞平安夜
Christmas Eve  
Chrismon Tree symbols
圣诞树上的装饰
Chrismon Tree symbols
 圣诞平安夜我去参加了社区一个团体活动,大家欢唱圣诞颂歌,行了圣诞特别的庆祝仪式。整座建筑都点缀着各种圣诞的神圣的装饰品。室内每排座椅旁都摆上了美丽的蜡烛。在仪式结束的时候,我们都点燃蜡烛,高举着唱"平安夜"的颂歌。
 
I went to a fellowship meeting on Christmas Eve to sing Christmas Carols and take a special rite with all the others there that night. The building was decorated with Christmas trees with holy symbols on them. The room was full of candles on each row of seats. At the end of the service we all lit candles and raised them high to sing the Christmas song 
Silent Night. 
 
 很多家庭带着孩子全家一起参加圣诞庆祝仪式。祖父母、父母亲都参加,室内没有空的座位。牧师穿着特别的袍子主持特别的仪式,的是让大家都记住创世主那为了拯救世人而降生的儿子。

Whole families where there with their little children. Grandparents came as well as mothers and fathers. There were no empty seats in the place. The minister wore special clothes and did special things to remind us of the birth and death and coming to life again of the son of the creator. 


我们家里的圣诞树
Our Home Christmas Tree

Our Christmas Tree
我们的圣诞树
Our Christmas Tree
我们在家里也摆放了圣诞树,装饰着银色和金色的各种装饰品。在房子外面我们也装饰了彩色灯饰来欢迎客人。我把家庭圣诞信放在网上回赠给写信给我的人。

At home we have a Christmas tree with silver and gold decorations, and I put up lights outside our house to welcome guests. We also send out Christmas cards to our friends and relatives. I send a family Christmas letter online to people who write me.

我们给家庭每个成员都准备了礼物并包装好放在圣诞树下。孩子们会在拆开礼物前先晃一晃,试图猜测是什么礼物。

We wrap up gifts for everyone and put them under our Christmas tree. The kids like to shake them and try to guess what is in the packages before they get to open them.  

当我还是孩子的时候,我们通常会去外面的山坡砍下一棵小松树搬回家来做圣诞树。通常我们都会觉得那是一种冒险的经历,还常常为了选哪一棵树而争辩。每次扛回家后都发现树太大了,因为在外面看起来树通常会显得小一些。
When I was a child on our family farm, we used to go out to the fields and cut down our own live Christmas tree to put in our house. It was always an adventure and an argument about which tree to select. Then when we got it inside, it was always too big since it looked smaller outside before we cut it. 
赠送礼物
Gift Giving

我做了南瓜面包送给朋友,有的人会赠送象圣诞装饰品或卡片之类的小礼物。我的丈夫送给我各种餐馆的礼金卡,如麦当劳的。我中餐馆的朋友也送了他们参观的礼金卡给我,我平时教他们学习英语。过完圣诞节我有很多餐慢慢吃了。今年圣诞我们的儿子马修送给我们电子书籍。他感恩节时从加州回来跟我们团聚,所以圣诞没有回来。他通常和妻子辛迪去她父母家过圣诞。
  
I made pumpkin bread to give to my friends, but others give small gifts like Christmas decorations or gift cards. My husband gave me a lot of gift cards for McDonald's and other restaurants. That way we can enjoy a night out to eat together all year. My friends at the local Chinese restaurant also gave me gift cards to eat there. I will have plenty of meals after Christmas.  Our son Matt gave us Chromebooks this Christmas. He came from California for Thanksgiving, so he did not come back for Christmas. He usually goes with his wife Cindy to his in-laws for Christmas

我们的大儿子罗斯和妻子瑞秋带着孩子们回来跟我们提前庆祝圣诞,然后他们去宾州孩子们的外公外婆家过圣诞。孩子们得到叔叔和婶婶送的魔幻积木。我们给他们送的是玩具、游戏、拼图和衣服。约西亚得到了一辆蜘蛛侠玩具滑板车,爱不释手。
  
Our older son Ross and his wife Rachel brought our grandchildren for an early Christmas before going to Pennsylvania to their other grandparents' home. They got magnetic blocks from Uncle Matt and Aunt Cindy. The grandkids of course got toys, games, puzzles, and clothes.  Josiah got a Spiderman scooter he could hardly put down.
Josiah shares his Spiderman Scooter
Josiah shares his Spiderman Scooter 
约西亚和妹妹分享
他的滑板车
  
 艾丽需要人帮助来一起玩拼图游戏。她三岁了,喜欢玩乐高游戏,和妈妈一起做菜,也喜欢书籍。

Ellie wanted help with her new puzzle. She is three years old and loves legos, cooking with Mom, and books. 
Uncle Matt gave them magnetic wooden blocks
马修叔叔和辛迪婶婶送
的魔幻木头积木
Uncle Matt and Aunt Cindy gave them magnetic wooden blocks
Ellie works a puzzel
艾丽在玩拼图
Ellie works a puzzle


姜饼房子
Gingerbread House
 
The kids decorated this gingerbread house.
孙子孙女在装饰姜饼屋 The grandkids decorated this gingerbread house.
我们今年最有意思的是和外孙们装饰姜饼房子。他们喜欢添手指头上的甜酱。姜房子是用黏糊糊的甜酱粘起来的,各种糖果也是用甜酱粘在房子上做装饰。不幸的是,房顶第二天就滑倒下来了。孩子们以为也许老鼠想溜进去导致屋顶倒塌,我们顺便就教给他们地球重心引力的知识。
 
The most fun we had this year was decorating a gingerbread house with our grandchildren. They loved to lick the icing off their fingers. The house is held together with the sticky icing, and candy is also "glued" to the house with it. Unfortunately, the roof slid off over night. The kids thought maybe a mouse wanted to get inside, but we taught them about gravity.  
 
我们今年最有意思的是和外孙们装饰姜饼房子。他们喜欢添手指头上的甜酱。姜房子是用黏糊糊的甜酱粘起来的,各种糖果也是用甜酱粘在房子上做装饰。不幸的是,房顶第二天就滑倒下来了。孩子们以为也许老鼠想溜进去导致屋顶倒塌,我们顺便就教给他们地球重心引力的知识。

We don't set off firecrackers as Chinese do. That is reserved for New Years. We did have snow this year, but not enough to cause dangerous roads. 
我将要去中国过春节
Coming to China For Chinese New Year
 
Qinzhou No. 1 High Schoo Students
钦州市第一中学学生
Qinzhou No. 1 High School Students
我将要去中国参加钦州一月六日举行的高中生学费助学金发放仪式。我们还将在钦州于一月十八日举行助学金学生的聚餐活动。欢迎任何以前或现在的大学助学金获得者参加。请在下午的五点半先到白豚酒店的大堂集中,然后我们步行到聚餐的餐馆。

I will come to China on January 6th for the Qinzhou tuition gathering of our high
school students. We are also planning a scholarship dinner on the 18th of January in Qinzhou. Any former or present college scholarship student is welcomed and should come to the lobby of the White Dolphin Hotel at 5:30 pm. We will walk together to a nearby restaurant. 

我一月二十日去阳朔,并于二十一日举行大学助学金获得者聚餐活动我预计会住在竹苑假日酒店,地址:541900 阳朔县城中路10号请以前或现在的大学生助学金获得者下午五点半在酒店大堂集中。

I will go to Yangshuo on the 20st of January and have a scholarship dinner there on the 21st. I expect to stay at the Bamboo House Resort, No.10 Chengzhong Road, Yangshuo County, 541900.  Present and alumni college scholarship students can come to the lobby at 5:30 pm.  

从阳朔我将前往南宁,然后乘飞机去昆明看望我们在那里的资助项目我计划在贵州和我们资助的布依族学生过春节。安龙的学生将在二月四日在安龙高中聚会。任何那个地区的大学助学金获得者可以联系南希(黄女士)来了解当天的日程安排。我们希望能看到在当地的小学安装一个净水设备。
  
From Yangshuo I will go to Nanning and then on to Kunming by plane to see our projects there. I plan to spend Chinese New Year in Guizhou with our Buyi minority students. The Anlong students will gather on Tuesday, February 4th at Anlong High School. Any Blessing Hands college scholarship students in that area can contact Mrs. Nancy Huang about her plans for that day. We also hope to see a water purifier installed at a primary school. 
Lin Wang Kindergarten
王岭学 Lin Wang School

我将于二月七日回到南宁然后计划在十一日返回美国之前去看望都安瑶族地区学校的孩子们。
  
I will be back in Nanning on February 7th and plan to go to the Du'an Yao minority schools before leaving for the USA on the 11th. During that time I hope to see my friends who have been visiting scholars at Morehead State University over the years. 

小学生住的离学校很近,他们可以回到学校来跟我见面并领取学习用品。我们将会在都安瑶族地区增加两个小学/幼儿园,资助孩子们的学习用品。我希望能去看望韦森宝,并拍下他脖子做手术后的照片。

Some of the students will be on holiday, but some at the primary school students live close enough to come to greet me and get school supplies. We will be supporting two more primary/kindergarten schools in the Du'an mountains for school supplies. I hope to see Wei Senbao and get pictures of him after his operation on his neck.  

我衷心送上中美节日的祝福。这是家庭团聚和享受美食的时刻。如果在年底之前你希望给我们"祝福之手"的孩子送上一份礼物,请点击这个捐赠按钮,这个贝宝捐赠在美国和中国都可用。undefined
Blessing to all of you on these wonderful holidays both in China and the USA. They are times for family and good food. If you have a gift to give our kids undefinedbefore the end of the year, the Paypal donate button works in China or the USA. . 


Betty Cutts  贝蒂 卡茨 
For Blessing Hands  "祝福之手"
 
Contact ;us  点击这里联系我们
 

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Volunteer Blessings


Happy Holidays
 
China Team in the summer of 2013
Some of the China Team in the summer of 2013
  
 Volunteers Give    More Than Time

We could not do half of what we do without volunteers. Their love and big hearts make life easier for our kids and staff. 

Last summer our team visited Lin Wang Primary School in Du'an County to give gifts and school supplies. Eddy Wu, on the left, came from Hong Kong to volunteer. On the right is Mr. Liu, who I traveled with to the Buyi minority area in Guizhou Province. These great volunteers were a blessing wherever they went.
  
These are just a few of the wonderful people who have helped us this year. You can see many more volunteers on our Pinterest.com page.  Clicking the newsletter pictures will also take you to our Pinterest volunteer board.  

 
Give a Child a Merry Christmas
 
 
Maybe you don't have the time to devote to helping our kids, but your gifts can do the work for you. 

  • Sponsor a whole  Yao primary school of 50+ children for $250 a semester. This gives them art supplies, snacks, and sports equipment.
undefined
  • Sponsor a primary student for $42 a semester.
undefined
  • Give a middle school child $75 in aid a semester. We have 20 new ones we have just begun to support. 
undefined
  • Give $95 to pay the tuition of a high school student. We have many new students needing sponsors. 
undefined



Give a one time gift of your choice big or small. 
 
Give Any Amount 

Even better send a check to:

 Blessing Hands, 106 Timber Lane, Morehead, KY, 40351
Blessing Hands is a 501(c)3 public charity and your gifts can be deducted from your US income taxes on April 16, 2013. 
 
 
Get your  tax deduction before the end of 2013.
 
 
Your business can also receive a tax deduction. 

Be a Blessing Hand to many this Holiday Season. 















































































Gayle Bourne
Gayle Bourne
A Volunteer With a Big Heart.
Gayle Bourne is volunteering with Erting Pan and myself to help us to learn Quickbooks. She knows her financials and specializes in bookkeeping for nonprofits. I am so relieved to have someone who knows the answers to my accounting questions. She even came out in bad weather recently to help us. She helped me file our 990EZ this year. Gayle both provides administrative services and/or volunteers for several different organizations. 
 
This is how she states her motivation. "I believe we have an obligation to God and to our community to use our talents to make the world a better place and serve those in need."

Tom Politowski
Tom Politowski
Tom Politowski, A Friend of Nonprofits 

Tom helped us implement our Salesforce platform this year. He knows a lot about nonprofits and is expert in programming knowledge. He had the heart to get the job done on a deadline after it had been languishing for three years. 

He never lost patience with my lack of computer expertise and followed through with everything he promised. He has indicated a willingness to continue to help us tweak the system as needed. Tom did all of this without charging our nonprofit. He is one in a million. May he always be blessed. 

This is what Tim has to say about working with us. 
  
 "I met Betty at a conference where she came up to me and asked for help. I listened to her story about how Blessing Hands helps poor Chinese children have an opportunity for an education.

A few months later Betty and I connected and spent a weekend completing their system and loading in all the students and donor information. Betty was tireless in the mission to complete the task. We accomplished her goals, so she can communicate with all the students and sponsors easily.

Betty and the Blessing Hands team are dedicated to their mission and persistent in making a difference in the world. I'm happy to help."

Tom Politowski, CEO
Nthropy, Inc.
Bernardo Lopez
Bernardo Lopez
A Wiz at Data Cleansing
Bernardo Lopez had the patience and expertise needed to help us get our data cleansed and ready to import into the Salesforce cloud platform that is free to nonprofits . When I was upset, discouraged and afraid that we would never get our data up and running correctly, he knew just what to say to calm me down. I am thankful for his kindness and ability. 
 
He is from Ecuador and speaks Spanish and English fluently. He is a founding member of Engineers Without Borders (FIU chapter) and their treasurer. He works in New York as a Senior Analytics Consultant. His photo caught him eating a grilled scorpion in Beijing.
Deepak Subhedar
Deepak Subhedar
Deepak Subhedar
Deepak Subhedar was born and raised in Hyderabad, India. He attended Osmania University and later Mysore University before pursuing a software application development career. He moved to the US in 1996 and currently works for Glovia International Inc. - A Fujitsu Company. He lives in Eastvale, California with his wife Jyothi, and daughters Shivani and Sanika.

Through the magic of the cloud, he has made it possible for our student records to be available online for our administrators in China as well as for our US office. They can see the contacts and sponsors in a Chinese interface while we in the US can use English to view the same records. He has set up the framework for our data base.

"I discovered Blessing Hands while exploring volunteer opportunities for my daughter Shivani and landed up initiating implementation of a non-profit Salesforce.com CRM for Blessing Hands.  
 
Blessing Hands, promoted by the Cutts family, is a small charity organization which is making a big impact on global society. It is not just giving scholarships but teaching philanthropy. By being the student recipient of a Blessing Hands scholarship, it is hoped that one day the students will become philanthropic themselves and "give back" when they are financially able".

East Oldham Middle School Water Purifier Team.
Great Team  
 
These volunteers from East Oldham Middle School spent two weeks in China last summer installing water purifiers. Left to right they are history teacher Joshua McCurdy, principal Jim Ross, physical education teacher Tim Kelly, and science teacher Dennis Mangum. They made a deep impression on the Chinese wherever they went. With their USA student's help, they raised enough money to pay for their trip and three water purifiers for Yangshuo, China primary schools.

Lan Liuxia
Lan Liuxia
The Best Volunteers of All - Our Blessing Hands Students 
 
Our college students usually volunteer at least three hours a semester to help others. They do tutoring, visit older people, clean up the environment, gather things for poor people, and join volunteer clubs. 

Best of all some of our students have volunteered to help other Blessing Hands students by giving up their scholarships when they no longer need them or by sponsoring students when they become wage earners themselves.  Lan Liuxia was our only Yao minority college student when she wrote the letter below. 
  
"I have a good news to tell you that I am a senior student now. We don't have many lessons, so I am mainly to find a proper job. Which means that I can make a living by myself soon, so I don't need to apply for a scholarship this year. I hope to leave this precious opportunity to other people who are in need of help.

Thank you very much for helping us over the past years . I hope I can do my best to help people who are in need of help in the future ,just like you .Now I am also preparing for the BEC exam, because I want to go to a foreign company to work. I will work harder and harder."
                                Yours sincerely,
                                    Lan Liuxia

Our purpose is fulfilled when our students start to become Blessing Hands to others. Our adult volunteers are a great inspiration to the students. Everyone is learning it is better to give than receive. 

At this season of joy and giving, I want to honor those who have given so much to our kids this year. So many more people have helped our students over our eight years of giving to Chinese students. 
 
Merry Christmas to all you sponsors, volunteers, and donors. Our students and I are very thankful for you. I will end with this recent quote from one of our students, Qunhui Zeng.
 
"In my opinion, Blessing Hands is a  warm-hearted charity. Without Blessing Hands, there would be more Chinese children who cannot finish their studies.

In the end, I  would like to say, "Thank you" and " Merry Christmas" to you. " 
 
Qunhui Zeng.
Merry Christmas from the Cutts home .Betty Cutts, Founder and Director
Merry Christmas from the Cutts home .
Betty Cutts, Founder and Director

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Sponsor a New Blessing Hands Student

 
Subject: Sponsor a New Blessing Hands Student

New Blessing Hands Students
Anlong High School
New High School Students Need Sponsors
Most of our high school students are in Guangxi or Guizhou Province. I just received pictures of new students. These first five students are at Anlong High School in Guizhou. They are from the Buyi minority and come from rural families. You can help them stay in school by giving their $90 tuition for a semester or $180 a year. Five Blessing Hands students there got sonsorships to college this year. 
Zhengjin
Zhengjin
Jiru
Jiru
Fulin
Fulin
Changfeng
Changfeng
Mingyu
Ming
Donate Give $90 for one semester.  Donate  Give $190 for two semesters.
Qingling
Qingling
Guoqing
Guoqing
Dongmei
Dongmei
Guolin
Guolin
Xingjian
Xingjian
 








 Pubei High School is in the Qinzhou Prefecture. We have been helping their students for eight years. Many of their students have gone to college with the help of Blessing Hands sponsors. Pick one of these students to sponsor and write to us at this link. Their tuition is $180 each year or $90 per semester.
A Chinese Webmaster to Make a Chinese Site
Wang GuopingWe hope our students will soon see our new Chinese website hosted in China.Our present website does not usually appear in China. One of our long time supporters, Wang  Guoping, is volunteering her webmaster skills and one of our former students, Bamboo Feng, who works for a web hosting company in China, are working together to get us online in China. Bamboo wants to have a section of the site be a forum where our Blessing Hands students can communicate with each other and post interesting reports, art works, or photographs.
We also have the help of various volunteers to translate our present webpages and edit old newsletters to archive there. If you want to help with translation or editing older Chinese newsletters to show on that site, please let me know. It might take awhile but we will release the new URL when the site is ready. 

Give us a review and see what Blessing Hands reviewers have said about us on GreatNonprofits.org
Betty Cutts, Director and Founder of Blessing Hands
Betty Cutts, Director and Founder of Blessing Hands
We only lack three more reviews before the end of October to qualify to display a Great Nonprofit Seal. You have an opportunity to help us make even more of a difference. We would especially like to hear from people served by our programs. Won't you help us raise visibility for our work by posting a review of your experience with us?  It's easy and only takes 3 minutes! Go to this link to get started!  

This is one of my favorite reviews by "roritd": 
 In an era when many not-for-profit foundations extract immense expenses for operation, it is a rare treat to find one as selflessly devoted as Blessing Hands aka Betty Cutts has with financial integrity, using extremely limited resources, impacted so many less fortunate lives. Many of these less fortunate have acquired an education they otherwise would never have received, and now are contributing to society. My brother and I also operate a non-for-profit in Hong Kong, and have known this organization since 2002.
Turn Your Car Into a Blessing
The car sale went to help children.Did you know that you can donate your car to Blessing Hands and receive the value it sells for as a tax deduction in the USA. We have had one donor do this, and it resulted in quite a gift to Blessing Hands. It doesn't matter where your car is, we can use it for children. Recycle Blessings! Contact us at this email if you want to give us a car.
You can give $42 a semester for a primary child  Check out 
or $84 with this button Donate for two semesters.  
Ling Wang
Feel free to contact us with any questions regarding our students. We can be reached at 606 207 4785. Checks can be sent to Blessing Hands, 106 Timber Lane, Morehead, KY 40351. 

Sincerely,
 
Betty Cutts
Blessing Hands