Fix Fatao's Heart

Fatao is a young boy living with his family in Burkina Faso and he needs to have heart surgery. He has a hole in his heart that needs to be repaired. Thankfully, he is a sponsored  child with Compassion! The total cost of his surgery is $23,000 (this cost includes the surgery, travel expenses, and follow up care.)

Read more about his story on the Compassion blog, then be sure to make a donation today!

Meet Our Compassion Kids Monday: Alesi

Let me introduce you to Alesi from Uganda! This is Kelsey's third correspondent child.

Alesi is 9 years old and lives with her father, mother, older brother, and uncle. She likes the color red, social studies, and net ball. Her favorite Bible story is when Jesus calms the storm. She wishes to one day to see an airplane and would like to become a nurse when she grows up. Her prayer is that God gives her wisdom to pass her class.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." - Matthew 7:7 (ESV)

Back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

Now that the voting for the My Gift of Compassion Video Contest has closed, I will now resume my regular blogging. :o) By the way, as far as I know, we did end up in the top 3 for votes. We will know on March 7th the winner of the contest. I will be sure to keep you all posted. :o)

Any way...we have just finished what I consider the hardest 2 months of homeschooling...January and February! There is usually not a lot going on outside the home in these 2 months, the weather is cold and dreary, and you spend many days just going through your routine of day to day homeschooling. My solution to all of this to is plan a field trip or two!

So the kids and I headed over to San Francisco to spend a day at the Exploritorium.  This museum (if you haven't been there before) is really an enormous museum filled with many hands-on science exhibits.

We were able to see a demonstration of how to make a light bulb with some basic items.

Matthew was able to create sparks on Kelsey's hand.

We were able to see huge leaves that have been preserved from the rain forest.

After we were done in the museum, we spent some time walking around the Palace of Fine Arts. The last time we visited the Exploritorium, renovation work was being done at the Palace of Fine Arts. It was a chilly afternoon, but a great time to get some photos.

If you look closely, you can see a couple of new additions... :o)

Have you been on a field trip lately? I would love to know about it!

The Reynolds Family Christmas Cow

Imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail this week telling us that we could have a chance to win a trip with Compassion to Nicaragua! All we had to do was create a video about our experience with the Gifts of Compassion Christmas catalog gift that we purchased.

Could we do this? I had never created a video for a contest before! After tossing a bunch of ideas around in my head (and not getting a lot of sleep just thinking about this!), I came up with a 'script' and e-mailed it off to my husband at work. He wrote back that he thought it was great!

So we spent the afternoon gathering props and making signs on poster boards. We transformed our living room into a 'filming studio'. I am so glad we have that big tri-pod for my camera!

After dinner, we rehearsed through the script. The video could be no more than 3 minutes long. I wasn't really sure how long the video would be when I wrote up the script, but after one run through, we came in just under 3 minutes! Praise the Lord!

We did 2 takes on the video and we submitted the second take. It is not perfect, but we were all happy with the results.

If you have read through this far, I have a big favor to ask of you! If you are on Facebook, please vote for our video. You can find it on the Compassion International Facebook page under 'My Gift of Compassion Video Contest'. The link is on the left side of the page. Our video title is 'The Reynolds Family Christmas Cow'. You can vote once a day through March 1st.

Meet Our Compassion Kids Monday: Victor

Victor is 13 and lives in Ecuador with his parents and two sisters. Victor likes to ride horses and take care of them. His favorite sport is soccer.

This is a picture that Victor drew of the place where he lives. I wonder how tall those mountains are? I will have to remember to ask him in my next letter.

Favorite Photo of the Week

Don't you just love how raindrops collect on flowers?



The Joy Dare #101-119

Are you following along with The Joy Dare for this year?

101. baby showers
102. daffodils blooming
103. chocolate
104. Valentine Banquet with our church family
105. eight cups of freshly squeezed orange juice ready and in the freezer for Orange Iced Tea
106. thirty-two cups of pasta sauce made and ready for the freezer

Source: i.imgur.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

107. inexpensive frame, page from 'Persuasion', red heart...quick and easy craft made
108. amazed by His love for me
109. a baby's smile
110. knowing a friend is praying for me

111. collection of raindrops on plants in my garden

112. homemade chocolate chip cookies
113. quiet at the end of the day

114. waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast

115. candlelight dinner at home with my family

116. having all the ingredients at home for a special dessert
117. Matthew arriving home safely after running errands for me
118. Kelsey's flower girl basket
119. evening of knitting with Kelsey