Merry Christmas from my kids!

We've had a very merry Christmas here, and I hope everyone else's Christmas was just as wonderful!

Best Christmas Present!

Meet Yeferson, age 6, from Guatemala!  For a Christmas gift, I got to sponsor another child!  My children chose the country (Guatemala), and I chose the longest waiting child from Guatemala.  Yeferson had been waiting over 400 days for a sponsor.  I cannot believe how long this little guy has had to wait!  

I have already printed out my (now traditional) new sponsor card, which has a single picture of me, a picture of my husband and me, and a picture of my children and me, and a short, introductory letter to Yeferson.  So, that will get sent off with my "snow" themed mailing going out tomorrow to my kids!

Yeferson just turned 6 last month, and lives with both parents, who are not married.  Typical homes in his community are constructed of cement floors, mud walls, and tin roofs.  Average income in Yeferson's community is $38/month.  I can't wait to get to know him better!

SNOW!

It's been snowing like crazy here, so I'm sending a few pictures from around my town to each of my sponsored children of all of the snow!
I'm actually not sure any of my sponsored children have experienced snow before.  I have 2 in Rwanda, 1 in the DR Congo, 1 in Kenya, and 1 in Togo, that I am guessing, definitely not!  I have 4 in India, and I'm thinking, probably not.  I have 1 in Ecuador, and I'm guessing no unless he's in a certain area of Ecuador.  We have neighbors from Ecuador who informed me that there is a region in Ecuador where it gets very cold, although I'm not sure if she meant cold enough for snow.

I hope my sponsored children will enjoy these pictures.  I also have winter sticker scenes to send them and snowflake stickers so they can have some "snow" :-)

Christmas card from Willy!

Today I received a Christmas card from Willy, my WV boy in Rwanda.  Same outside of the card as Alphonsine's, but on the inside, he drew me a "cat".  So cute, because my son does the same thing-- scribbles on a paper and tells me what it is!

At this point, I'm not sure this mail month can get any better!  I'm hoping this continues now that most of my sponsorships are over 4 months old!

Merry Christmas from Rwanda!

Earlier this week, I also received this cute Christmas card from Alphonsine, my WV child in Rwanda.  Inside, there was another tracing of her handprint, and a cute message.  

Like I said, it's been a great mail month!

December is a great letter month!

Today, I received my first letter from Elizabeth, who I sponsor through Plant-A-Book!  That was super quick, considering I just started sponsoring her around Thanksgiving, but I am assuming it was a pre-written letter.

I think that is one of the best ideas in child sponsorship--to have the child write a letter before they even get a sponsor, that is ready to go out to the new sponsor the moment the office discovers that the child has a sponsor.  

I'm anxious to get to know Elizabeth better when she gets back to school in January!

This makes 5 letters/cards from my sponsored children this month, and it's only half over!  It's nice that the mail is finally rolling in!

2nd letter from Nayan!

Yesterday, I was pleased to see that I had a Compassion letter in my mail slot!  I opened it up, and it was the 2nd letter from 5 year old Nayan, who has the same birthdate as my daughter, M.  They both turned 5 in early September.

Nayan's letter was the "about me" template.  The person Nayan loves most in his family is his father, and he sleeps with his parents at night.  Nayan is the oldest child, and his favorite flower is a lotus.  Nayan's favorite fruit is a mango, and his favorite toys are a bat and a ball.  The picture above is what he drew for me.

Nayan's letter was written on 9/26/13, and it helps me be more patient knowing how long it has taken for this 1 letter to get to me!

So I will probably be getting letters from Archita and Sabnam at some point this month, fingers crossed!

Another letter from Willy!

I am so excited to say that I received another letter from Willy, my WV boy in Rwanda, today!  This is Willy's 3rd letter to me, since I sponsored him at the end of August!
Willy's favorite colors are purple and yellow, and his favorite animals are a cow and a pig.  My favorite line from the letter is "Thank you once again for your love over me and how you show it to me."  So sweet, even though I know volunteers help him think of what to say, and write it for him, since he is only 3 years old.

Meet Elizabeth!

Meet Elizabeth!  Elizabeth is sponsored through Plant a Book, which is a smaller organization that came highly recommended from a couple experienced sponsors.  I'd been wanting to sponsor a child with a smaller organization, because I do enjoy seeing the differences among all of the child sponsorship organizations, and what better way to see the differences than to sponsor with as many as possible?  

Elizabeth is 8 years old, and in the primary school.  She has been abandoned by her parents, and lives with her Grandmother.

Sponsoring a primary school child through Plant a Book is only $12.50/month.  They also have an online store where you can purchase items for your sponsored child.

Wow, that was fast!

After less than a month of sponsoring Marina, from the DR Congo, I've already received her first letter!  In this letter, I discovered that her name is actually spelled Marine.  Her mother is a farmer, and she is in the 1st grade of primary school!  Her favorite subject is drawing, and she drew me a cute fish on her letter.
As has become my "custom" with my World Vision kids, I sent Marine and her family a $100 special gift after I received her first letter.
I really can't say enough about how impressed I've been so far with World Vision's correspondence.  I have 3 World Vision kids, and 6 Compassion kids.  In total, I've received 5 letters plus a bonus picture (not even a thank you for the gift picture, just a bonus pic for no reason) from World Vision, and 5 letters from Compassion.  Overall, World Vision's correspondence is blowing Compassion out of the water.  However, Compassion does have sponsor tours (which I am registered for), and a wonderful online community.  Both organizations are doing great things, but I have to admit, I love the great correspondence from WV!