40 Days of Water

Hello friends! As you probably know it is Lent time, and for most people that means 40 days of no chocolate, fried foods, red meat, facebook, or anything they want to give up. Now I am not an annual participator in Lent but this year I have linked up with Blood:Water Mission, an organization that is helping with the Water/AIDS crises in Africa. I have done things through this organization before (Lemon:AID stands were awesome!) and it is such a rewarding experience to know you are making a difference in the world. There are so many different projects you can join and even items you can buy to lend a hand to the amazing work they are doing.
Right now, actually starting yesterday, B:WM is doing a campaign called 40 Days of Water. What this means is from Feb. 22nd to April 7th, 2012, you give up all drinks - soft drinks, coffee, tea, alcohol, juice, anything - and replace it with water while donating what you would have spent on that to the water crisis in Uganda. Thirty percent of the population of Uganda lives without clean water every day. That's 960,000 people!! So far B:WM has built or repaired 162 wells in this country, each well is able to give a whole village clean water. And not only does B:WM help in providing clean water, they also fund programs and efforts for sanitation and hygiene for the villages. What a wonderful organization!
Now this challenge seems daunting. At first I thought I cannot do that. There is no way because sweet tea is my drug of choice...but I decided that surely I could do this to help those who are not as blessed as we are here in this country. So I am giving up tea. I am giving up coffee. For those around the world who need some help. And what better way to help than through the name of Jesus? I am so excited to take part in this even though it is only Day 2 and it has been pretty difficult I must say. I told Wes yesterday I would do anything for some sweet tea!
So how I am doing this... I have a jar with the 40 Days of Water Label on it:

Now every time I have water instead of a drink I would usually have (which I drink water a lot anyway so yesterday was only one time), I put a slip of paper in the jar that says what I would have had and the dollar amount. At the end of the 40 days I will total it up and donate that money to Blood:Water Mission to go to building wells in Uganda.

This is such a wonderful opportunity and I encourage you all to join in on this. Check out the link below to go to the 40 Days of Water website for more information.

40days.bloodwatermission.com

Hope you have a great day!

the Lisics