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!