My routine is to buy a sandwich or fast food for lunch on work days. During this season, I’m going to make my lunch at home more often and put the money saved to better use…helping our neighbors in El Nino. When giving thanks for these meals, I’ll be praying for them, too.

The sacrifice that I want to make during this Lenten Season is to give up drinking sodas. Not a big thing financially but the money that would have been spent on a soda can now go to our El Nino project in Mexico.

I do need to confess though that I blew it on the first day. Cruising through Costco I thought I would stop to get a soda on my way out the door. As I finished my last sips in the car as I went home, I remembered that I wasn’t going to drink sodas during Lent. Oops.

Well the 62 cents is still going to go to El Nino.

The bag of salt given last weekend will be a reminder of my Lenten desire to be more like Jesus out in the world in my non-church (at IPC campus) hours. There are many hours in the day where I interact with unknown people and my plan is to let them know by my actions that caring and loving people do exist by the grace of God.

Give up my occasional glass of wine with dinner — put aside the money otherwise spent and enjoy the meal with water. Spend a few moments in prayer that I can further help my neighbors in El Nino through this Lenten practice. God speed!

I love going for a walk and getting starbucks in the afternoon, but I am now going to just go for a walk and hold back from buying the coffee.

My husband and I just decided today that we’re giving up eating out, and we plan to cook meals together at home during these next 6 weeks. I think it’ll be a great way to spend more time together, and put our money toward a cause that has a great need and is so close to home–Mexico.

I’m starting with my Netflix subscription… A small thing, but I actually use it all the time (I always have something on in the background while I’m puttering around the house).

My thought is that I’ll use the extra time and quiet for more focused contemplation and see what else the Lord leads me to do…

Not eating out anymore