This One-Year-Old's Birthday Party is Changing Lives in Asia
One-year-old Zeb sat in his high chair, cupcake frosting coating his mouth, cheeks and nose. He sucked his fingers, enjoying the delicious sweetness of the icing—unaware that very soon, families in South Asia will get to experience God's sweetness for the first time because of him.
It was Zeb's first birthday, and his parents William and Leslie decided to celebrate in an unusual way. They put together a Gospel for Asia Christmas Gift Catalog-themed party and asked their friends to buy livestock, clean water and other life-changing items from GFA's Christmas catalog in lieu of gifts for their baby.
As little Zeb toddled around, parents and children explored the catalog, some discovering for the first time that a pair of rabbits is more than just a pet to people in South Asia.
Partygoers Loved The Idea
"When we see the Christmas catalog, we see there are people that need so much," Leslie said. "We want to teach our children the desire for things is insatiable; so you always want things, but what do you really need?"
"In Asia you get the picture that there's true need," William explained, "and the gifts as simple as goats or rabbits or sponsoring a child and so many other things totally can equip them and change their lives."
Although this is only Zeb's first year bringing hope to the hopeless, his family has been bringing smiles to despondent families in South Asia for four years now through GFA's Christmas Gift Catalog. Every Christmas, they and their four young sons donate goats.
"Our boys just love it. They can understand what goats are. They've seen petting zoos before. It was amazing to them that goats blessed a family, and it wasn't just a toy," Leslie shared. "I think to them it's just toys, but when they read the stories of how it can change a family's life, it was a tangible thing that it wrote on their hearts of how they could help be Jesus' hands and feet."
Because the catalog made an impact in their lives, they decided to share it with their friends at Zeb's birthday party-even though it was only October and not quite Christmas.
The GFA Christmas Catalog Kept Christ As The Focal Point
This was Jenna, a friend of the family, hearing about Gospel for Asia and how she and her family could help others in need through the Christmas catalog:
"I think this is a wonderful idea for us as parents and adults and especially for our kids, just to see that not everyone has what they have," Jenna said.
Jenna and many others who attended the party share the same desire as Zeb's family to teach their children how to keep Christ as the focal point in their lives.
"What Christ is telling us to do is go love the people, help the people. So simple," William stated. "What is a better gift that we can possibly give to a child than just the spirit of, 'Hey, let's love them. Let's give to the kingdom'?" And the Christmas catalog helps them do just that.