Save your calendar pages!

I still like to have a wall calendar at home even though our family uses an electronic calendar these days. This past year, I had a calendar from Dayspring which had beautiful illustrations with Bible verses for each month. Instead of just throwing the calendar away, I turned the pages into a project to send to my Compassion kids!

 

 First, I took apart the calendar, page by page.

 

 Then I trimmed the pages down to 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

 

 I pulled out some card stock and a glue stick. I mounted each of the pages onto some cardstock to strengthen the pages and to cover up last year's calendar pages.

 

We wrote letters to our Compassion kids yesterday and I was able to include these in our mailing. I hope they enjoy them!

It's About Giving

Are you up for a challenge?

 

I want 10 of my readers to give $10 to the Compassion Christmas Gift Catalog. A gift given through the Compassion Christmas Gift Catalog is a gift that can change eternity for a child and their family living in extreme poverty. Does this mean that you might have to bake cookies for your neighbor instead of buying them a Starbuck's gift card? Maybe...

 

Take a look through the catalog, together as a family choose a gift, then send the money! Maybe even make an ornament for your tree to remind yourselves of the special gift that you gave this Christmas.

 

Will you do this today?

 

 

 

 

December Photo Project - Day 13

Our generous church family has been donating their spare change to purchase treated nets to help prevent malaria through Compassion's Bite Back program.

 

Are you looking for a way to make a difference this Christmas? Compassion has a whole gift catalog to help you make a gift purchase that will last a lifetime for a family living in extreme poverty. This is one gift that doesn't need gift wrapping or a trip to the mall.

 

 

Time for a Compassion Giveaway!!

Have you been wanting this book?

 

When I participated in the Compassion Blogger Blog Month back in September, I was able to earn a copy of this book. Since I already have a copy, I decided to give away this copy to one of my readers! I will also be sending along one of the 'You Can Change the Story' bookmarks that were available at the Global Leadership Summit during the summer.

 

How to participate?

 

Leave a comment on this blog post letting me know what book(s) you are currently reading.

 

Entries must be submitted by midnight (pacific time) on Thursday, December 6th. I will draw and announce the winner here on the blog on Friday. Giveaway only available to those living in the United States.

 

If you are a Compassion sponsor, you will want to add a copy of this book to your library!

Take the time

We live in a very busy world.

 

We have instant everything.

 

We get impatient when we have to wait.

 

One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 46:10.

 

"Be still and know that I am God."

 

Be still.

 

When was the last time that you were still?

 

The children that we sponsor through Compassion want us to be still.

 

They want us to take the time to pray for them.

 

They want us to take the time to write to them.

 

 

 

They want us to take the time to send them encouraging words.

 

They want us to take the time to share our prayer requests with them.

 

They want us to take the time to share about our daily lives with them.

 

They want us to tell them about the hope they can have in Jesus.

 

The letters we write to our Compassion kids can be the 'hope in the darkness'.

 

Please take the time to read about Marco.

 

 

Will you take the time to write to your Compassion sponsored child today?

 

 

 

 

Peru - follow along!

The Compassion Bloggers Team is in Peru!

 

Kelsey and I just looked at the pictures that have been uploaded today on Flickr.

 

Here are a couple that we really liked:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, to go on one of these trips and have the experiences that all of these bloggers are having. I am so thankful that I can follow along from my home until I have the chance, if the Lord wills, to visit one of my sponsored kids. Just today, I received a letter from Lina. She told me it would be wonderful to meet me in person and to give me a big hug.

 

Are you following the bloggers in Peru?

Peru!

 

 

The Compassion Bloggers are getting ready to head out to Peru next week!

 

Shaun Groves has all sorts of things prepared to make it easy for all of us to follow along on this trip.

 

Will you join in praying for this team?

Imagine this...

...the sound of 3,159 children and their families singing, rejoicing, and giving thanks to the Lord!!!

This is what happened in September when many people participated in Compassion's Blog Month! Last month, many of us who blog for Compassion were given weekly assignments to try to reach a goal of having 3,108 children sponsored solely through the internet. Well, that goal was met and then some! Prizes and giveaways were offered for certain assignments and there was one really big prize of earning a spot on a Compassion Blogger trip next year!

My Pinterest friends helped me to earn a $25 prize for Lina and her family! I was so excited when I received the phone call from Shaina at Compassion telling me that I had won a prize for her!

Do you have a blog? Would you like to blog for Compassion? It is really quite simple, join the network. You will receive assignments once or twice a month to help spread the word about Compassion. Share pictures and letters you receive from your sponsored kids, and most importantly, help others to realize how important our letters are to these kids!!

A few of the bloggers are getting ready to head to Peru. Will you join us in praying for them before, during, and after their trip? Oh, and be sure to read about their journey. These blogger trip blog posts are amazing!!

How do you see your Compassion journey ending?

We are at the end of Compassion's Blog Month, on a journey to do what we can to find sponsors for 3,108 children. As of this morning, we are 715 children away from meeting this goal!

Well, the folks at Compassion Bloggers have pulled out a very creative way to end our month. Our new assignment is to blog as if you are a sponsored child. You are a child living in extreme poverty. What do you have to say?

The top 3 blog posts (as determined by a panel of judges at Compassion) will win money for their Compassion child's family! But the overall goal of all these blog posts this month is to have more children sponsored with Compassion. If you are not currently sponsoring a child with Compassion, please prayerfully consider it as you read through my post.

In this post, I have decided to write 2 letters, and here is letter #1:

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith,

I want to thank you for the many years that you have provided my sponsorship with Compassion. Because of your investment in my life, I know who Jesus is because I was able to attend the project center each and every week and hear many lessons about this man who saved me from my sins.

Each week, I would share the stories I was learning with my family, and they also know who Jesus is. For this, I will always be grateful for your sponsorship.

As I prepare to leave the Compassion program, I am excited about the opportunities I will have in my community. Opportunities to earn money for my family, share about Jesus with others, and help at the Compassion project.

There is just one thing I wish had been different. Many of my friends received so many letters of encouragement from their sponsors. Even though I never received any letters from you, I am still so thankful for the blessing you have been in my life. I just would have loved to been able to learn more about you and your family.

Thank you for being a part of my life over these past 15 years. I will continue to pray for you every day.

Love,
Natalia

Letter #2:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith,

I am not sure whether to be extremely happy or extremely sad writing this letter to you! For the past 15 years, your family has been such a blessing and encouragment to me. You and your family consistently sent letters and pictures to me, which I have kept every one and will treasure through out my life.

Through my struggles, your prayers and letters pointed me to continually trust in Jesus. I am not sure where I would be today without your constant love and support. I pray that every Compassion child could have such dedicated sponsors like you have been for me.

Now that my time at the Compassion center is done, I am looking forward to being a part of the Leadership Development Program. I never would have even attempted to apply for this program if it hadn't been for your family continually sending me such encouraging words. I thank you for making me feel like I really am a part of your family.

I know that we were never able to meet in person during my time at the Compassion center, but I look forward to the day when we are all in heaven together, rejoicing at the feet of Jesus, because you took the time to invest in the life of one child, living thousands of miles away from you. Thank you just doesn't describe how much your family means to me.

I love you all so much,
Natalia

Both of these letters are creations from my thoughts about what a child might write at the end of their journey with Compassion. Which letter would you prefer to receive?

Pin It!

We are half way through the month of September and about half way to the goal of having 3,108 children sponsored! Yay!

To keep the momentum going, the wizards behind Compassion Bloggers have created a Pinterest contest. Each of us have been encouraged to create a board on Pinterest called 'My Sponsored Child'. The exciting thing about this contest is the winners will be selected randomly and our sponsored kids and their families will be the recipients of the prize money! Isn't that so cool! Love it!

I have already 'pinned' a few things to this newly created board and hope to pin more items throughout the week. There are so many creative paper crafts to be found on Pinterest to send to our sponsored kids. Pinterest is my go-to source for our monthly sponsor letter writing night projects!

Compassion Blogger Assignment: Dear God

In case you didn't know, September is Blog Month at Compassion. There is a goal to have at least 3,108 children sponsored this month through the internet. As of the e-mail we received this morning, 837 children have been sponsored because of Compassion Bloggers! Yay! Isn't this exciting!

Last week, we were encouraged to share about Blog Month on our blogs and have our readers prayerfully consider sponsoring a child. This week's assignment is just a little different. Here goes:

Dear God,

Little did I know how becoming a sponsor with Compassion would change my life, but You knew. To me, these children are not just a picture in a packet. They are living, breathing human beings who deserve a chance to make a difference in their little corner of the world. Thank You for moving in our hearts to add to our family in this way!

Never before have we spent so much time praying for people we have never even met. However, we feel like these children are a part of our family, and they are. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we love each one of them. We know You love them too, and You planned for them to be a part of our lives.

If it is Your will, Lord, I pray that You continue to watch over these children, protect them, give them a hunger to know more about You, and help them to make a difference in their families and in their communities. Thank You for always being there to hear our prayers for these children.

In Jesus' name...Amen!

How about you? Have you ever written a letter to God about your Compassion kids?

Have you ever considered...?

...sponsoring a child?

 

 

 

 

I know before we started sponsoring a child through Compassion, we were skeptical. Are these kids real? Does the money really help these kids? How does it all work?

 

 

At concerts we had attended, I would see the child packets being handed out and I just couldn't bring myself to raise my hand to take one. "We don't have enough money to do this", was one of the lies I believed.

 

The reality, we do have enough money to do this! For most families, you can make a $38 a month sacrifice to make the difference in the life of a child.

 

Make iced coffee at home instead of buying Starbucks, make pizza at home instead of having it delivered, rent a movie at the Redbox instead of going to the theater, cut your cable, eat rice and beans once a week. There are so many creative ways that most families can squeek out $38 a month to be that one family that can make a difference in the life of one child.

 

If you are willing to make the sacrifice, be sure to visit the Compassion web site. Pray about the children on the web site, pray for God to help you select a child that you can add to your family today! I challenge you to seriously pray about this. And if you do decided to sponsor a child, please let me know. Knowing that one more child has a family to love on them just makes my day!

Compassion Blog Month

Have you heard the news?

 

September is officially Blog Month at Compassion and there is a big goal! There is a goal to have more children sponsored via the Internet than any other September in history. I have committed to do my part to help spread the word about Compassion Blog Month and help more people make the decision to become Compassion Sponsors.

 

If you are a blogger and you sponsor a child with Compassion, you can join in the fun! Just click the "I'm Participating in Blog Month for Compassion" button. You won't regret it! :o)

 

 

Compassion Bloggers

When I started by blog years ago, it was a fun way to share about our daily happenings, especially with my parents living out of state. But over the past year, I have been able to use my blog to share about how much I love Compassion International! As a homeschooling mom, this gives me a way to help share with others a way they can be more involved with making a difference in the life of a child, even from their own home. One day, I pray that I will have a chance to visit one of our sponsored kids. But for now, I can be on a 'mission field' from my own home, sharing the love of Jesus with children in other countries.

Do you like to blog about Compassion? If you do, you can join a team of other Compassion Bloggers. As a Compassion Blogger, we receive assignments periodically to share on our blogs. These topics range help each one of us learn more about these Compassion kids and the world they live in. You can also read about the trips that some of the Compassion Bloggers have been able to go on to visit Compassion kids and projects.

I know I am looking forward to reading the posts from this upcoming trip to Peru. Won't you consider becoming a Compassion Blogger today?