Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Blessing Hands Christmas in a Time for Giving      Kay Jorgenson is a librarian in a small town in Montana. She is giving books worth $200 to Jiulong Middle School in Yangshuo. They are going to be buying Chinese books about stars, space, and science.  She and her family recently visited us while on their vacation. You can see her on the right in the photo that shows our paintings of Yangshuo's beautiful mountains. Kay Jorgenson is giving a library to Yangshuo children Joy Huang volunteers with 4th graders                                                          Joy Huang is also giving, but it is herself that she has to give.  Joy is in her fourth and last year of college. She is one of our Blessing Hands scholarship students. She sent me her volunteer report recently. We ask all our university students to give three hours of volunteer time each semester. It is their way of passing on the blessing hand we have given them.  She volunteers at Yuxing Primary school. She reported this conversation with a 4th grade girl.     " I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up.  She said when she grew up she wanted  to be a lawyer, because lawyers can safeguard the rights and interests of others and do something to save children,  for children need necessary rights. I was quite impressed with her, that at such a young age she can say so ambitious words. We also talked some about her study life, chatting very happy."     Li Zhongbo     Finally I want to share what Li's mother gave to our staff member Yaya Luo recently.  Li is almost blind, but his American sponsor is willing to send him for evaluation to see if a cataract operation will help his sight. His mother was so thankful that she  brought Yaya some peanuts and Chinese yams,  which she planted by herself. She said that she had no money and couldn't buy gifts. Zhongbo's sponsor, who helps  her son, lives in the US, so she didn't know any other way to express her thanks. She wanted to give Yaya her fruits to show that she really, really thanked Blessing Hands and the volunteer teachers.       You can be a giver too. You can give something so small as a concrete ping pong table for a school for $200 or as large as a water purification unit for $1000. Recently someone gave the salary of another health assistant in Longfu, which is only $183 a year.    Our Backyard   You can  Give any amount at this link  Blessing hands is a 501(c)(3) public charity and your gifts are tax deducible in the US.  We might have a white Christmas. I took this picture in our back yard recently.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Betty Cutts Blessing Hands Join Our Mailing List!

Christmas Spirit

The Christmas Spirit is Here

If you have not been receiving our newsletter recently you might need to resubscribe with the link below. You can also forward our newsletters to others by clicking forward in your e-mail program. Merry Christmas Christmas Spirit Recently I got to worship with the Lexington Chinese Christian Church. Their choir sang beautiful Chinese Christmas music. They are a great family of people and so friendly. I even got to teach their English Sunday School class and eat lunch with them after the service. Yesu (Jesus in Chinese) is very real this time of year.  I listened to Handel's Messiah all the way home in the car, and it has been in my spirit ever since. I also got in the Christmas spirit when Clark You and Lilly Li, two visiting scholars from China, came to help us with decorating our Christmas tree. They had never decorated a tree and enjoyed it very much. We also made pizza together also, so they had a lot of new experiences that night. They are good cooks and decorators as you can see from the pictures.  We also went to a musical Christmas program at the First Church of God in Morehead that night. Clark posed with a friend with their huge tree.       Our grandson, Josiah, is old enough to enjoy Christmas this year. He will be the center of attention at our family Christmas tree party. iGive.com Christmas shopping online has been fun this year. I have been shopping through  iGive.com which gives a portion of every purchase to Blessing Hands if you register at the  Blessing Hands dedicated page For a limited time, new members who shop within 45 days of joining will bring an extra $5 donation to Blessing Hands. They let you make a search for the item you want across many merchant sites. You can compare prices and also the % the merchants give to Blessing Hands out of every purchase. They also have a  iGive search link that will give 2 pennies  to Blessing Hands every time you search online. There is a tool bar that you can install that takes you right to search or shopping with one click. Grab the new  iGive Toolbar and make sure you never miss out on a donation when you search the web or shop online.  I've already made $6.62 for our cause in two days.  The service is free and will help many charities this Christmas. St. Alban's Episcopalian Church's College Group   Clark You and I went to talk to the St. Alban's college group about China and Blessing Hands recently. We had a great time sharing pictures and answering questions. Five of them took pen pals and the group will consider sponsoring one of our kids in the future.  We enjoyed the worship service and pizza party as well.  We also got to share our mission with the First Church of God of Morehead this year. They are placing us in their mission budget for $500 in support if pledges come in for us. If anyone wants to invite us to a church or youth group, we would love to share our experiences in China and tell about our Blessing Hands kids. Blessings to your family this Christmas. Sincerely, Betty Cutts