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!

Vincent's first letter!

It's been almost exactly 2 months since I first sponsored Vincent, my little guy in Togo, and I received his 1st letter today!  It was the "Who am I?" template, and also gave information on his project, which was neat.  This is the first time a child's letter has included project information, like what day he goes to the project, and how he gets there.
From the map Vincent colored in, it looks like his project is down at the bottom of the country, by Lome, the capital.  From what I can tell of the July sponsor tour, our hotel will be in Lome, so I am hopeful that it's a possibility we'll be visiting Vincent's center during the sponsor tour!!
Vincent's favorite color is red, and his favorite food is rice.  He also has something in common with my daughter, as his favorite animal is a bird ;-)

Another letter from Alphonsine!

I was so pleasantly surprised today to see another letter from Alphonsine in my pile of mail.  But, even better, there was a surprise picture of Alphonsine enclosed with the letter!  In the picture, Alphonsine is holding the very first letter I sent her (online through myworldvision).  

Alphonsine's favorite color is blue, and her favorite animal is a cow, for the milk!  

The volunteer also traced Alphonsine's hand for me, and I was surprised to see it's larger than my 5 year old's hand!  Alphonsine only just turned 4 in October.  She looked like a bigger kid in her official world vision photo, but I assumed it was the angle of the camera.  However, it looks like she is a pretty big 4 year old!

This letter was post-marked from Kigali, Rwanda on 11/11/13, and it arrived today, 11/18/13.  I am surprised at how quickly mail arrives from Rwanda, but I am assuming that the bulk of the travel time for a letter is from Alphonsine's community to the World Vision Rwanda office in Kigali.

So much excess

That is 18 bags of clothing to go to the thrift store up the street.  Today, I went through all of the clothing that my kids have outgrown, that we were "saving" for a potential future foster placement, and got rid of it all except for a small tote of 0-6 month clothing.  That's 18 FULL garbage bags of girls' 6 months - 4T clothing that my daughter has outgrown, and boys' 6 months - 2T clothing that my sons have outgrown.
What the 18 bags in this picture don't include is 1 bag of 3T girls stuff to go to my friend who needs long pants/long sleeved shirts for her daughter, 1 1/2 full garbage bags of infant clothes that were stained and thrown out, a bag of 2T girls that went to a friend last year, and a full bag of 18 months boy clothing that went to a local family in need a couple months ago.  Wow.  I think about how much excess is here, and then I think about my sponsored children.  Do they have more than a handful of outfits?  Do they fit?  Are they weather appropriate?
Before I came back to sponsoring, I made a conscious effort to pare down on the clothing I was buying for the kids.  I recognized that I was out of control when they were little--I blame it on being an excited new parent, and my first baby being a girl, lol.  We do much better now, and we only take the handed down clothing from friends that we will actually use.  If I already have an entire size 6 wardrobe for my daughter, I don't need to accept another friend's outgrown clothing!  I get a lot of handed down clothing, and I also enjoy buying clothing for my kids.  There were, shamefully, a lot of clothes in these bags that still had tags on them.
So all of this clothing will be out the door tomorrow after I drop the kids off at school, and I certainly hope to not have this problem again, lol!  Just thinking about my sponsored childrens' probably lack of clothing is seemingly enough to squash any desire to purchase more clothes for my 3 kids!

New Compassion Store!

The new Compassion store has opened up online, and I ordered shirts literally the day it opened up!  Can't wait to wear them!  They have tons of shirts, hoodies, bags, hats, etc.  Definitely worth checking out!  Easy to order, and my shirts arrived quickly.

http://store.compassion.com/

Playing with piZap

How did this happen?

Somehow, watching a documentary about the prevalence of young girls being raped in Zimbabwe on the same night Hubby and I decided that we are probably done at 3 kids (we're really tired of diapers and wiping butts, lol), led to me sponsoring another little one.

Meet Marina, and she is sponsored through World Vision.  Marina lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo with her mother, 5 brothers, and 1 sister.  Marina is 4 years old.

Sometimes I seriously wonder if all of my sponsored children are some kind of filler for the fact that I always wanted to adopt internationally.  Hubby and I did end up adopting, but we ended up adopting through the U.S. foster care system, and since we're done at 3 kids, I highly doubt an international adoption will be in our future.  Even if, in a few years, we decided that a 4th child would be a good idea, international adoption is a long, windy road, especially these days.

So, it looks like I will just have to sponsor a lot of little ones instead.

Wow!

Saturday, when my mail arrived, I was overwhelmed with THREE letters from my World Vision kids.  An introductory letter from Alphonsine, and an introductory letter from Willy, as well as a thank you letter from Willy for the package I sent.  I was just beginning to worry that the correspondence with my World Vision kids would not be as great as everyone else's!
The letters were full notebook pages, and full of information!  I am very pleased with how much information is in each letter, and how detailed the thank you note was for the package I sent back at the end of August!

My 1st correspondent letter!

On Saturday, I was very pleasantly surprised to receive my first correspondent letter.  This letter was from Jorge, my 7 year old correspondent from Ecuador.  It was full of information, and I think Jorge is going to be a child who has a lot to say in his letters.  He wrote it himself, which is so cute-all of my other children are too young to write their letters themselves.  Jorge's favorite color is pink, his favorite sport is soccer, and he describes himself as a tall, handsome boy with black eyes.  Love it!
It's also nice to receive a letter in a language that I really don't need translated, as it seems that those many, many years of Spanish have stuck with me somewhat into my adult life.
I wrote all of my children online letters and attached pics last night, so Jorge will hopefully have a quick response to his letter.
This is also the picture he drew me on the back of the letter

I think I love looking at their drawings as much as reading their letters!

Going to Togo!

After talking it over with my husband, we've decided I will be going on the Togo sponsor tour in July 2014!  I'm excited and nervous all at the same time.  I've traveled internationally before, but I know this will be different than anything I'm used to.  However nervous I am, though, this is something I've really, really wanted for a long time, even before I became a Compassion sponsor.

I only have 1 sponsored child in Togo, and East India was actually first on my list of sponsorship tours I wanted to go on, however, the Togo trip is during the right time of year.  It will be during the summer, so my mom will be available to help my husband with our kids (she's a teacher), and there is not going to be an East India sponsor tour in 2014.  

Our ultimate plan is for me to go to Togo with Compassion in July 2014, and then take our entire family to Honduras with the MAMA project either late 2014 or early 2015.  And, whenever the next Compassion sponsor tour to East India pops up, I'd really like to be able to go.  This means we'll be doing some serious money saving over the next couple years to enable all of this expensive travel.  We figure taking our kids to Honduras is a much better experience than taking them back to Disney World ;-)

Living in Fear

Please check out the Compassion blog post below.  There are kids in Honduras who can't get to their child development centers because it's just not safe enough to walk.  A wonderful, involved sponsor has thought of a solution, but they need some monetary help.

http://blog.compassion.com/living-fear/

Another 1st letter!

I was thrilled to see a cream colored envelope from Compassion in my mail today!  Turns out, it was a first letter from Sabnam, my little one in East India who has a birthday coming up (she'll be 5 in about a week).  I found out that Sabnam has 1 brother who is 11, and 2 sisters who are 9 and 1.  Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite food is rice and meat.

Her family has cows, goats, a dog, and a hen at home!  Sounds like they are doing well!

Meet Vincent!

Meet my newest sponsored child, Vincent.  Vincent has just turned 5 years old, and is from a new center in Togo where the average monthly income is just $10, and the community needs electricity, potable water, health centers, schools, and vocational training centers.  Vincent is not yet in school due to his young age.

I periodically look through the sponsor a child pages on Compassion's website, and most of the time, I just want someone else to sponsor a certain child, or I pray that kids who have been waiting a long time get a sponsor soon, etc.  However, with Vincent, I immediately knew I wanted to be his sponsor.  He'd been waiting almost a full year for a sponsor when I clicked the button to sponsor him, and I could not say no to that face.  So, Vincent is mine.  I sent him a birthday gift the day before his birthday, so it will arrive late, but Vincent will know his sponsor was thinking of him on his birthday this year.

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!

Archita's Letter

It's only fair to post a shot of Archita's first letter that arrived this week, since I posted Nayan's.  Archita's letter was written by the project social worker, but she drew me a nice flower.  On the flip side of this letter, I discovered that Archita's favorite colors are blue and green, her favorite game is ringball, and her favorite food is rice, dal, and chicken curry.  

I found it interesting that she speaks a different language than Nayan.  Archita speaks Odhia, where as Nayan speaks Bengali.  

I already have letters written back to Nayan and Archita, but they probably won't get sent until Tuesday.  I do want to wait that long to see if I get an initial letter from Sabnam during that time, but also because that will be roughly 2 weeks after I sent their last letters.  Even if I don't hear from Sabnam by that time, I will still write her a new letter :-)

How World Vision Works

BIG SURPRISE

I just recently posted abut how I expected the wait for my first letter to be relatively long, so you can imagine my surprise when, on Monday, TWO letters from my Compassion sponsored children arrived in the mail!
The first one was from Nayan, and here is the back of it.  The project worker wrote the letter, and he wrote the English alphabet for me!  Pretty good penmanship for a boy, lol.

On the other side of this letter, I found out the names and ages of his parents, and that he has a younger brother, Sayan, who is 1 year old.  Nayan's favorite color is orange, his favorite game is football, and his favorite good is rice and egg curry.  There was also a map to show which state he lives in (West Bengal).

Because of how quickly this letter arrived, I suspect it was first written when Nayan was registered with the project, and kept on file to be sent when word came that he had a sponsor.  But, even knowing that, it is special to receive a letter so soon!  That makes me hopeful that my first letter has already reached Nayan, or could be reaching him soon this week.

Sponsorship works!

Happy Birthday to my youngest

Taking a time out from sponsorship blogging to wish a very happy birthday to my youngest baby, C.  He turns 3 years old today, and I suppose I shouldn't be calling him a baby anymore.

This is from his party, which we had over the weekend.  This kid loves cake and ice cream more than any other kid I know (that's what's all over his face).

He'll be off to preschool in just a couple weeks.

C loves cars, spiderman, and copying his big brother.  When big brother gets to be too much for him, he hangs out with his big sister, who is much more calm :-). 

I love watching C be included in his older siblings' play.  They used to exclude him because he was "a baby", but now they are like the 3 musketeers.

1st Packages to World Vision kids ready to go!

I have to admit that one of the things that drew me to World Vision sponsorship is that we could send our sponsored children small packages.  I like the idea of being able to send more than just paper items that can total 1/4" thick (Compassion's rule), although I can see how this could easily get out of hand and ultra expensive :-).  Compassion's rule keeps me in check, lol.

So, this morning, after I drop my 2 older kids off at soccer camp, the little guy and I will be heading to the post office to drop these packages in the mail to Alphonsine and Willy.

They are filled with coloring books, stickers, noah's ark sticker scenes, colored pencils, pencil sharpener, a pack of 2 new toothbrushes, a short note (wasn't sure if I should send a note in the package or not), and a picture of my kids from late 2012.  

I blurred out Alphonsine's child ID number and the address for World Vision Rwanda as I am not sure on the rules yet for World Vision, so I figured better safe than sorry.

Update: the price was $14 and change for each package to go first class to Rwanda.  Not cheap, but not outrageous, either.

Double whoops!

Well, Hubby needed someone who shared his birthday, so say hello to 3 year old Willy, also from Rwanda, but from a different community in Rwanda that Alphonsine.

Willy was sponsored "on purpose", as I wanted to sponsor a child from a world vision project that was still in phase 1.  It was also completely by chance that he has Hubby's birthday.  I don't know if I saw his birthday and didn't realize it, but I really don't think so.  I thought he had a March birthday, so again, when his birthday popped up and it was Hubby's birthday, I was a little shocked.  I am usually pretty observant, and this kind of thing just does not happen to me.
Ok, now we're really done!
We have 5 sponsored children--1 for each member of our family.  To me, that sounds like a great stopping point.

Patiently waiting

I started sponsoring my 1st two kids on August 7, my 3rd child on August 12, and my 4th on August 22, so I am aware that I have a long wait ahead of me until I receive their first letters.  I've read that it can take anywhere from 2-6 months to receive your first letter from your sponsored child.  Still, I am practicing the patient wait--well practiced from our years of foster care and adoption.
It seems that sponsorship, just like foster care and adoption, is a gigantic exercise in patience :-)

Luckily, I have 3 very busy children who have kept me very busy all summer long.  However, school starts soon, and while my kids are still each only in half day programs, it ends up leaving me with more free time than I'm used to, as this is the first year that they will each be in school 5 days/week.  My youngest will be attending a different preschool that meets 5 days/week for half days, and my 2 older children (who are actually in the same grade due to when their birthdays fall), will be in our local elementary school's pre-k classroom every morning, 5 days each week.
This should leave me with plenty of letter writing time during the week, haha.
Actually, this Fall will be the first time I will be at home every morning by myself, without any foster babies.  And, this is also the oldest that our youngest has been without having another baby in the house.  Wow, did that statement even make sense?  I guess another way to say it is "We've had someone 2 or under in this house for the past 5 years".  But now that our youngest is about to turn 3 this week, it's like a whole new realm of parenting.
There are no cribs set up, no sippy cups, no bottles, no baby board books, and a lot of "big kid" toys.
For me, fostering is very much like sponsoring with Compassion-- I feel as though I can always help "just 1 more", but for now, we are taking a short break from foster care after fostering for 7 years without a break at all.

Whoops!

I've been very eager to explore sponsorship in World Vision, as I know there are many, many people who choose to sponsor with Compassion as well as World Vision.  Both organizations are legit and doing important work.  But, because they work a bit differently, I was curious to explore the differences myself.  At first, I told myself that in January, I'd just check out World Vision and see if the next child I wanted to sponsor would be through there.
However, I made the "mistake" (really, no mistake at all) of researching World Vision and ended up sponsoring Alphonsine, a 3 year old from Rwanda who is living with her Grandmother.  I clicked to sponsor her, put in all of the information, submit it, and it wasn't until I was clicking through the "my world vision" section that I realized Alphonsine and I share the same birthday!  Yes, I think Alphonsine was no accident!

Meet Alphonsine, who will turn FOUR on my birthday this year!

I am that annoying Compassion sponsor

Compassion sponsorship is relatively new to me, thus, everything Compassion related is new, shiny, novel, exciting, and very moving!
So, right now, I am that annoying Compassion sponsor to my friends and family.  I talk about it a lot, I research it more and more (because when you're a new sponsor, there is always something new and exciting to read, new knowledge to obtain, etc), and I do my best convincing to get others to sponsor a Compassion child.
So far, I have one friend sponsoring :-)
I am still amazed and speechless when I see the smiling faces of children who are clearly ecstatic to be receiving pictures and letters from their sponsors.

Check out these beautiful smiling faces:
http://blog.compassion.com/most-prized-possession/

Just, wow.

And, even though I've seen the youtube of Jimmy Wambua meeting his sponsor, I still tear up when reading someone else's account of seeing that first hand.

Being a Compassion sponsor can become overwhelming for a person like me, who has a great desire to help others.  I do a decent job of helping in my community (volunteering, dropping quality foods off at the food pantry, fostering young children who need a place to stay, etc), but until Compassion, I did not know a way to reach out further, and help children who are continents away.  So, right away, I want to sponsor more and more children.  It's difficult not be infected with this enthusiasm for the good Compassion brings to these children.
So I figure, in the meantime, while I am still getting my feet wet sponsoring my 3 little ones from East India, I can encourage others to sponsor just 1 or 2 children through a Compassion project.

Think about it.  It's really only $38 each month.  To many of us, that is nothing at all--barely noticeable in our budgets.  But sponsorship, along with regular correspondence, can change a child's life.

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm

My loot arrived!

Finally, my order from Oriental Trading Co. arrived with all the loot I plan to send to my kids over the next few mailings!

These are shiny stickers, super slim coloring books, and noah's ark sticker scenes.  I cannot wait to get these out to my kids!  First thing going in with the new sponsor form letter are the sticker sheets, as they are the only things that fit into the envelope given by Compassion.  With my next mailing, I will be sending coloring books in larger envelopes, and then the Noah's Ark sticker scenes will be sent in October. 

Any leftovers will have to go to new children in January ;-)   I'm considering also signing up for the correspondence program, which means I would write to a child who is being financially sponsored by someone who does not wish to correspond with their child.  

So as of today, my 2nd sponsor letters are out the door to my kids.  Letters stuffed with 5 sticker sheets each.

This little one has really been on my mind

I keep coming back to this little girl, because I want to sponsor her, but I can't, so I'm hoping someone else will :-)

This is Amidatou, from Burkina Faso.  She lives with her mother and father, and there are 7 children in the family.  She is 4 years old, not currently attending school.

Most adults in her community make the equivalent of $20/month.  Common health problems in the area are malaria, coughs, meningitis, and typhoid.  The community needs tuition assistance and employment opportunities.

Please consider sponsoring Amidatou for $38/month, or sharing her sponsorship link with someone who might want to.

UPDATE: Link to sponsorship removed as Amidatou has been sponsored!!  So awesome!  Thank you, thank you!

Look at these neat booklets!

It's sometimes confusing, and sometimes fun to see the changes that have occurred at Compassion since I last sponsored back in 2010.
One of the changes that I love is the addition of these booklets

This is now the child sponsorship packet, and I think it's a great improvement.  Instead of having a couple sheets of paper, I now have a booklet for each child, with their personal information and picture included in it.  Additionally, the booklet included kind of a form letter to send to my child, information about their regions, and countries, and letter writing tips as well as prayer tips.  There is a small list of FAQs at the back of the booklet.  I love that it stays together, all in one spot for each child.  The booklets also included card stock pictures of each child that I tore out and hung up on my fridge in anticipation of future letters :-)

I have the form letters from each of these booklets filled out (and I added a special note with each), and they're just waiting for my sticker order to arrive so I can include some stickers.  Once the stickers arrive, I'll be sending my 2nd letters off to each child.

I also donated to the Christmas Gift Program already, as we had the extra money this month, and I wasn't sure when the cutoff would be (I think as early as October?).  I wasn't sure what the recommended donation was, so I guessed $20 per sponsored child.  I'm sure I'll have a better handle on things next year, and I won't have to guess at an amount!

Meet Sabnam

So, I initially only thought I should sponsor 2 children, and take it from there.  However, I could NOT say no to this face.  I kept coming back to look at her picture, and eventually, just 5 days later, decided that it would not be an issue to sponsor just 1 more child.  Haha.  That's how it all starts, isn't it?

This is Sabnam, and she is 4 years old, and also from East India.  As you might have guessed, I do plan on participating in a sponsor tour to East India at some point in the next few years.

Meet Archita

This little beauty is Archita.  She is also from East India, and is 5 years old.  She is the 2nd child I chose to sponsor, as my initial intentions were to start with 2 kids.  I sponsored Archita and Nayan within minutes of each other.

Meet Nayan

This little guy was the very first child I chose to sponsor through Compassion.  He has the same birthday as my daughter!

Nayan is from East India, and he is a few weeks shy of his 5th birthday.   I wrote him his 1st letter the same day I chose to sponsor him, and also sent him a family picture.

Introduction

We are finally in a financial position that sponsoring a handful of Compassion children isn't a hardship for us.  This blog will be a place for me to be accountable for letter writing long term (I never have a problem in the beginning of a sponsorship), and not going overboard with Compassion sponsorships.

Right now, I sponsor 3 children, all from East India, as that has always been an area of interest for me.  I am always drawn to the kids of India, and specifically, East India. Since we are likely not doing any international adoption, I figure we could help the kids who have parents, but just need a lot of support.

We are foster parents who have also been blessed to adopt through the foster care system, and have (believe it or not) had wonderful experiences overall through our local county foster care program.  Our kids are now 3, 4, and 5 years old.  After fostering for 7 years, and having 3 very small children all right in a row, we are on the fence about closing our home or remaining open to be a safe place for more children.  Our kids are getting older, and we are just now exiting the haze of infant/toddlerhood with all 3.  It's nice.  It gives us freedom to pursue other activities, like child sponsorship.

A little over 3 years ago, I started sponsoring, but quickly realized that not only were we not in a financial position to sponsor, I was extremely busy with our 2 children who were both under 2 years old at the time, and I quickly found myself having signed up for 5 kids to sponsor, in addition to having a handful of correspondence children!  Way out of hand!  I shut the whole thing down after 3-4 months, realizing it was just not a season in our lives where we had the time or money for such a thing.

Now, we're in a much better position.  Yes, we have one more child, but the youngest is preschool age.  We now have no debt beyond our mortgage, Hubby has a better paying job, and we have a budget in place that allows us to reach out to others who need it.

My personal goal for sponsorship is not to move beyond 3 kids for the remainder of 2013, as the dollar amount for 3 kids is barely noticeable in our budget.  I'd like to write at least 1 letter a month, but not more than 2 letters a month (I don't want to overwhelm the kids or Compassion's translators/mail system/etc), and I want to make sure I send monetary birthday gifts, and donate to the Christmas Gift Fund every year.  And, I want every other letter to have some kind of "goodie" enclosed for my child to use and share with their friends.  Stickers, coloring pages, etc.  I'm also hoping that my kids get involved with these sponsorships, and will be excited to draw pictures for our sponsored children, make handprints, etc.