World Vision and birthday cards

Whew.  After some emails back and forth, and some waiting, I finally (today) received the world vision birthday card for my sponsored child, Alphonsine, in Rwanda.

Now, Alphonsine's birthday is October 2, so I'm guessing it will definitely not get to her on time.  About 2 1/2 weeks ago, I started getting emails from world vision telling me that they had sent me a birthday card for Alphonsine that I could sign and send to her.  I waited for a bit, and then emailed world vision, letting them know that no such birthday card had made its way to me.

They immediately sent another card, and I was a little shocked to see that there is a suggested $5 donation to send the birthday card.  I was also shocked to see that I am to send the card back to world vision offices in Washington state, and not directly to the world vision Rwanda office, as that is where all the rest of my sponsored children's mail goes.  Mailing to world vision offices first seems like an extra step. While it's less money in postage, it likely will take even longer to get there.

Well, so be it.  My beautiful Alphonsine will be getting a late birthday card, and I am, in fact, sending world vision the $5 to help cover the costs of processing birthday cards for the kids.

I can't say that I'm terribly impressed with the world vision birthday card program.

Waiting 597 Days!

Njogu lives with his father and his mother. His duties at home include helping in the kitchen, running errands and cleaning. There are 2 children in the family. His father is sometimes employed as a laborer and his mother is sometimes employed as a farmer.

I cannot believe how long this poor boy has been waiting for a sponsor.  597 days?  My goodness.  That is a long time to wait and wait for someone, anyone to choose your picture and start sponsoring you.  That is a long wait to receive an encouraging letter, Bible verse, picture, etc.  

Can you end Njogu's wait for a sponsor?  Click below to sponsor Njogu.

Edited: link removed because Njogu has been sponsored!!!

Meet Kamakshi!

When I asked for correspondence children, I asked Compassion for 2 correspondence kids to write to.  I got my 1st last week, and on Monday morning, this little cutie showed up on my account!  This is Kamakshi, from India, and she just turned 4 years old last month!  Of course, I've already written to her!

New craft for my kids!

This week, we are making handprint crafts to send to our sponsor kids.  On one side, we put all 3 kids' handprints.  M's is in pink because she's the only girl.  B and C's handprints are in blue.  

On the flip side will be my and Hubby's handprints.  If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll try to get the dog's paw print on them, but I'm not sure if that might ruin them because our dog is kind of wild, lol!

My kids were very patient with me as I painted their hands and did 6 of these pages today.

I think it will be interesting for our sponsor kids to see how big and small our handprints are, and to compare our handprints to their family's handprints.  Kind of makes us seem more real when a child can visualize how big we are.

Meet Jorge!

Meet Jorge, my first correspondent child!  Jorge is 7 years old, and lives in Ecuador with his mother and father.  His hobbies are soccer and reading.  I cannot wait to get to know Jorge through our letters, and have already sent him an introduction letter.

Future Correspondent!

Well, I emailed Compassion today to request 2 correspondent children be added to my account!  The requirements for the correspondent program are that you write 3-4 letters a year to your correspondent child, which will be no problem for me.
I gave no preference as far as gender, age, or country.  I will write to any child who needs letters!  It's kind of exciting waiting to see who Compassion will assign to me.

In the meantime, I'm still waiting on first letters from Sabnam, Alphonsine, and Willy.  I'm hoping Sabnam's arrives at some point soon, but I'm thinking that they did not have a pre-written 1st letter on file at her project, so I will likely be waiting a bit longer.

I have no frame of reference nor anyone to ask how long first letters take from World Vision, so that will be a mystery until they actually arrive!  

Still waiting

Not much to blog about right now on the Compassion and World Vision front.

I am still awaiting 1st letters from Sabnam, Alphonsine, and Willy, and I sent out online letters and pictures to my World Vision kids this weekend.

September 7 marked 1 month as a sponsor for me!

Tomorrow, my little guy starts preschool, and I might have to ask Compassion for a correspondence child or two in order to keep myself busy!  It will be the first time in 5 years that I've had all children in school every day, even though they are not in school for a full day yet.

Other than that, I keep checking Compassion's group tours to see if they are going to add a group tour to East India in 2014.

Feeling hopeful

It looks like Isabelle from Togo, the girl who has been on my heart lately, has been sponsored!  Fingers crossed that she doesn't pop back up on the site!

Happy Birthday, Nayan and M!

Happy, happy birthday, to Nayan, and my first born, M!  Nayan and M are both 5 years old today!

Sponsoring a child with the same birthday as my daughter also makes me think a lot about the advantages she has, simply because of where she was born.  M has never known hunger, has never worried about being able to go to school, or have enough clothing, toys, etc.  She's always known a safe, warm, dry home.  She's been to Disney World, she's been to the beach, and heck, she's even been out of the country and on an airplane already!  School is a given--we don't know people who have to choose between feeding their families and paying tuition for school/buying school supplies/uniforms.

Both Nayan and M love to draw and paint, and both are pretty good artists who have wonderful penmanship (for newly turned 5 year olds!).

I started sponsoring Nayan in the beginning of August, and immediately sent a birthday gift of $30 to him with my initial sponsorship.  I figure it will get there after his birthday has already passed, but at least he will know I was thinking of him and his birthday from the start.

I hope that the next picture I receive of Nayan will show a bright and happy smile on that handsome face!

More letters on the way!

Today I mailed each of my Compassion kids their 3rd letters!  I have been doing pretty well on the every 2 weeks writing schedule for all 5 of my sponsored children.  This week's mailing includes a letter (of course), 4 mini coloring books for each child, and a recent picture of my kids on C's birthday.  Of course it helps my motivation tremendously that I've already received letters from Archita and Nayan.
This week, my kids are starting back to school, and it's also made me think about how easy it is in this country to get a decent education. We fuss about finding a nice home in a good school district without even thinking about how the absolute worst school district we could find is still better than much of what these kids in developing countries are getting as far as education is concerned.  We take for granted that our kids will have access to toilets and clean water at school.
It's very interesting to me how much Compassion and World Vision have helped me put into perspective.

Their only sponsor

I've been thinking recently, about how many children are actually sponsored all the way through their graduation from Compassion.  So many things can happen-- sponsors can come and go, children may leave their project for a multitude of reasons, projects sometimes even close.  How wonderful would it be to have the opportunity to become a child's sponsor as their very first sponsor in the Compassion program, and continue to sponsor that child through their graduation.  Maybe even be their sponsor in the leadership development program should they get in?  That would be so special!
So, I emailed Compassion to find out if my children had ever had a previous sponsor, and got a very quick response that I am, in fact, all 3 of my childrens' first sponsor!
It sort of gives me another sense of connection with my Compassion kids-- these 3 are my first Compassion kids and I am their first sponsor!  Somehow, that makes it more real for me, and makes me even more committed to sponsoring my children as long as they are involved with Compassion.  It would be a dream if one of my Compassion kids got into the leadership development program!

I wish I could sponsor them all...

I keep going back to Compassion's website to see if this precious little girl is still waiting for a sponsor.  She's been waiting for nearly 1 full year to be sponsored!
This is one of those times I wish I could just sponsor all of the kids who call to me!

This is Isabelle, and she's 5 years old, from Togo.  She lives with her mother and father, and there are 5 children in the family.  Adults who are lucky enough to be employed in Isabelle's community earn the equivalent of $10/month.  Isabelle's community needs electricity, potable water, health centers, schools, vocational training centers, and income-generating activities.  Sounds like the basics of life to me!  

If you think you might be able to sponsor Isabelle, please, follow this link to start her sponsorship for $38/month.

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/child-biography.htm?needKey=TG2100150

Need ideas for letters/goodies to send to your kids?

Through Compassion's blog, I discovered this little gem on Pinterest.

http://pinterest.com/compassion/second-friday-letter-writing-club/

A pinterest board full of ideas for when we get stumped.

As a new sponsor, I haven't been stumped yet, but I'm sure that day will come when I feel I have nothing original to write about or send to my children.
I don't spend much time on pinterest, but I can tell you that the Compassion pinterest page is filled with pins that sponsors could look through for hours!