Those of you who came here from Wonders Never Cease … well, you know what’s up.  Today author and blogger, Becky Ramsey , and I are doing a progressive blog post – a little like a progressive dinner only without dishes to do afterwards. 

So, let’s start at the very beginning…  Check out Becky’s post about Passports, and THEN come back here for part two…

Part Two:   Purpose

Don’t you just love Becky’s blog ?  I read it nearly every day.  I love the photos, the themes, and the video clips.  And she has a purpose to what she does:  to help us think about everyday stuff in a new way. 

And that is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately:  purpose.  Take gift giving… I am a big proponent of purposeful gifts.  Why waste money on trinkets?  Give a gift that is purposeful or don’t give a gift at all – at least that’s my philosophy. 

My favorite purposeful gift to give:   books .   You have to know someone well, though, to choose the right book for them.  

I also like to give plants.   Plants clean the air in your home.   They bring a little of the outdoors inside.

For children, I often give artsy playthings that require the imagination…

or games that the whole family can play.

And one of my favorite gifts to give:   a home-cooked meal.

But I think the best gift I’ve ever given was a water buffalo .  

Yes.  A water buffalo.  My maternal grandparents both grew up in rural communities.  My grandfather went on to become a particle physicist, and he and my grandmother have traveled the world making the globe accessible to both their children and their grandchildren.  So, when their 60 ^th wedding anniversary arrived a few years ago, the family was stumped.  

What do you get people who have everything they want and need?  

Well, we came upon the perfect solution:  we went together and bought them a water buffalo through Heifer International . 

Now, we didn’t actually present them with the buffalo.  The buffalo went to a family somewhere in the world who needed it.  In my grandparents’ honor, we gave a family a source of milk for their children.  They can now make cheese to sell in town in exchange for eggs or flour.  And perhaps that family’s children can now afford to go to school.  Maybe someday that family will be able to afford several water buffalo… and some chickens… and perhaps some sheep. 

That’s what I call a gift with purpose!

Becky wrote about Passports – those documents that allow you to travel internationally, to experience the world in all its wonders.  And I bring you the Purpose… Whether you have an active passport or not, you, too, can make a difference in another community. 

Passports with Purpose , a group of travel bloggers, is sponsoring a raffle with fantastic prizes.  A raffle ticket costs $10 – half of the cost of a flock of chickens.  Think about that… how many times do you spend $10 on something less purposeful than a flock of chickens?  

For each $10 ticket you buy, you are making a contribution to Heifer International , AND you are entered into the drawing for your prize of choice.

And the prizes ?  Well, they are pretty fabulous!  You can see the whole list here .

That $200 SkinStore.com gift basket is awesome.  It’s sitting right here tempting me, and I will happily ship it to you if you win it! 

There are so many prizes that there are still a few for which no one has purchased a ticket.  Those are REALLY good odds! 

So, hop over to the Passports with Purpose page , choose the gifts you want to win, and buy your raffle tickets.  Those raffle tickets make great, purposeful gifts, too! 

Many thanks to Becky Ramsey for joining me in this progressive blog post!   And don’t forget to check out her book, French by Heart, book # 7 on our 12 Travel Books for Christmas list.   

Photos of the water buffalo and chickens courtesy of Heifer International/Darcy Kiefel.