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Holiday gift guide: 30 meaningful gifts under $50

Does your holiday shopping list look anything like this? iPad 2: $499. Kindle Fire: $199. UGG boots: $150. Long lines. Busy parking lots. Good finds for $30 are now good finds for $50 — and it’s really a bargain if your $300 gift is reduced to $200 in a Black Friday sale. If this sounds familiar, you can save your anxiety and checkbook this year by giving a gift whose impact will last much longer than the latest version of that electronic device. Celebrate the true spirit of Christmas this year with a gift that can change lives. Use this as your guide to some meaningful (and inexpensive) holiday gifts from World Vision’s partners, our Gift Catalog, our U.S. programs...
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Giving thanks and counting our blessings

Happy Thanksgiving, World Vision friends and family! We’ve been counting our blessings all this week as a reminder of what we are truly thankful for. This post highlights blessings 1-6 from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and also includes four more reasons we are giving thanks. BLESSING #1: The people we serve — children, families, and communities around the world. BLESSING #2: The many faithful donors and supporters of World Vision’s work. BLESSING #3: The many compassionate and beautiful children who remind us every day what it means to have a child-like faith in a God who loves us. BLESSING #4: Rooftops over our heads. BLESSING #5: Food in our bellies. BLESSING #6: Prayers for provision for our neighbors, near and far,...
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Rooftops, full bellies, and prayers (blessings 4-6)

We’re counting our blessings each day this week in celebration of Thanksgiving. Blessings #4, 5, and 6: for rooftops over our heads, food in our bellies, and prayers for provision for those who currently endure without these basics. *      *      * The holiday season has officially begun. Weeks before Thanksgiving, Christmas ads appeared on TV and in newspapers. Last week, I was in New York City, where the window displays and Christmas lights are an art form, which delights native New Yorkers and the thousands of tourists who flock there to experience this special time of year. I confess that I feel like a kid again — filled with wonder and awe — when I get to visit New York...
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Blessing #3: Compassionate kids

We’re counting our blessings each day this week in celebration of Thanksgiving. Blessing #3: The many compassionate and beautiful children who remind us every day what it means to have a child-like faith in a God who loves us. *     *     * The fun and sometimes frustrating thing about being a writer is that you never quite know what kind of story you are going to get. Sometimes, great leads turn out to be disappointing. Other times, what looks like a humdrum story turns out to have a twist that blows your socks off. So it was with a sense of nervous anticipation that I called Teresa and Carl Camera of Austin, Texas. I’d been asked to write a feature...
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Feeling gratitude — from the heart (Blessings #1 and #2)

Counting your blessings this week for Thanksgiving? We are, too. Blessings #1 and #2: The people we serve and those who serve with us, and the many faithful donors and supporters of World Vision’s work around the world. Thank you. *     *     * I was in the Dominican Republic last year with World Vision. On our last day there, the World Vision staff in Santo Domingo threw us a “goodbye” party. At some point during the festivities, I was asked to say a few words and then pray. I don’t remember what I said exactly, but I remember what happened after I finished. As I handed the microphone back to the sound guy, a woman grabbed my hand....
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