This past holiday season, Seth and Amber Haines decided, as husband and wife that they would not spend any money on Christmas presents for each other.  Inspired by Seth’s visit to Mozambique, Africa the previous year, the family decided to donate the money they saved to a small village.

The challenge at home - to be creative, to be compassionate, to give from the heart.

Seth came up with an idea – one he says just sort of happened. ”There was no grand epiphany moment, nor was there a specific moment to which I can point for the genesis of the project. The project just came about and I began mulling it over with a friend.”  So, Seth  began to ask Amber’s friends for a generic ‘letter to a mother’.  He hoped to gather 30 to 40 to present to Amber on Christmas.

As letters began to trickle in, a friend suggested, Seth set up a blog to take in more.  New to the blog world, Seth went to some of the blogs Amber visited regularly.  And he reached out to a few of those bloggers as well.  He immediately received responses from Shannon, at Rocks In My Dryer , Ann Voskamp, from A Holy Experience , and Ann Kroeker.  The “Anns” (as Sethnow affectionately refers to them ) responded right away saying  they would assist with the project by writing a letter.  Shannon also wanted to write a letter, but took it one step further, hatching an elaborate idea to let the blog world jump in and contribute.  Shannon wrote articles on her site and on Blogher, making sure to keep Seth’s identity a secret. On the day the articles ran, thousands of mothers visited the blog that had been set up to receive letters.  

By Christmas Day, Seth had collected around 600 letters.

At this very minute, Amber has not yet finished reading all the letters. She explains, ” Most every letter represents a mom’s individual story, and each story needs to be heard. I love how the Mother Letters have given so many moms a voice, and I love how different all the voices are. I want to admire each voice, so it is very hard for me to plunge right into a letter after having just read another letter.”

And she finds so many letters apply to her journey as a mother,  ”As this year rolls by and I encounter new motherly trials, I’ll turn to the next letter, and behold, it encourages me right where I am.”

Clearly, Moms and Dads Matter.  For Seth, reading the letters has been astounding – he can now appreciate, on a completely different level – just how difficult mothering can be, “it’s given me new respect and admiration for what Amber goes through on a daily basis. I think every father should read as many of these letters as they can.”

For Amber, The Mother Letter Project has been an opportunity to watch her marriage grow.  Not only was she astounded the moment Seth revealed her gift, but she continues to be amazed by the joy they experience together in finding something they are equally passionate about.

Once Seth and Amber were able to process the magnitude of this gift, they realized they had one regret, ” that I was not able to benefit the village in Mozambique in a more tangible way: “Instead of holding on to that regret, Amber and I decided to try and make another run, raising money for people who have some of the same struggles as the villagers I visited.”

While he was in Mozambique, Seth heard tragic stories of the hopelessness that grew among the people due to low wages, poor agricultural resources, and curable diseases, such as malaria.  These stories prompted the couple to focus on combating malaria – a disease estimated to take the lives of 1 million children per year in Africa.

So, The Mother Letter Project continues with a new focus: gathering even more letters for a Mother’s Day edition and raising money to combat malaria.  The money they raise will go to Compassion International’s Malaria Intervention Fund. 

They are still taking letters, so submit your very own Mother Letter to motherletter@gmail.com.  If you submit a letter, you will be given a copy of the collection.  If you are a dad who thinks this would be the perfect gift, or a daughter who would like to give one to her own mom, pledge to donate 10 cents per letter written to The Mother Letter Project, and you will get an electronic copy.

And today is THE DAY you can help!  Seth and Amber, with the help of PensieveRobin, have created a Twitter movement called #10on10 – the goal: for people to donate $10 on the 10th of April (THAT’S TODAY!) to Malaria Intervention.  $10 is the basic cost of a mosquito net – one of the keys to combating malaria.  If you want to donate, click here!

Join in – follow @motherletter and @pensieverobin on Twitter.  The hashtag to play along and to spread info is #10on10.

To hear even more amazing stories about this project, join us on WhyMomsMatter on Blog Talk Radio at 12:30PDT/2:30CDT

And, as always, if you know an ordinary, extraordinary mom, nominate her for WhyMomsMatter!

Pictures of the Haines Family were taken by Brooke Robinson.