Compassion Letters Update

 My most recent Compassion letters to Vanesa and Samuel included, mini handmade cards, Target kids band-aides, star rubber bands and 2 paper clips to keep it all together. I wrote each child's name and sponsor number on the back of the card and the envelope. I didn't seal this envelope, but instead put both inside another one to send to the Compassion office.

A few of the last I have mailed and not written about:

Brown theme

Samual's birthday! I laminated Dakota and Jaffery from this project.

Green Theme!

What other themes would you like to see my take on? What themes do you do?

You can find more information about my Compassion journey and other letters I have sent here!

Compassion Letter - Pink Birthday

It's Vanesa's Birthday... well, in June. However in hearing about letter travel time to Uganda, I am planning ahead!

I decided to go with a pretty pink theme (my other recent letters have been blue and white).

It might be difficult to see, but the pink paper is embossed with flowers (Michaels had these on sale a few weeks back and I stocked up on a several colors!). I also picked up the gem sticker cross at Michaels (clearance for $0.50). The pink cut out flower was cut from my cricut (each letter I have sent one in the color of that theme!).

I know Compassion cannot translate books, however I found this very thin Clifford birthday book and am sending it along! Hopefully it will make it through!

It wouldn't be a birthday package without a birthday card! I did a quick flower stamp, colored it in, glued down, added a cute punched out border and done!

The "LOVE" was super fun to make. I wanted to send something extra special for Vanesa's birthday. A few weeks ago, Alan brought home fresh flowers ( ❤ ). After a few days, I snipped off a couple flowers and placed neatly in a book. Fast forward a couple weeks. I decided it was the perfect time and color to use in this letter! I used my cricut to cut L V E, made a small "nameplate" with Vanesa's information and my sponsor id and laminated it all!

I'm excited to get this in the mail! I'll also be sending a letter and a few cut out goodies to Samuel, our Correspondent Child. His birthday is also coming up quickly! If you have ideas, I'm all ears!

What do you send your Compassion kids on their birthdays?

Compassion Letter - White

My last Compassion letters had a bright blue theme. This month, with all the snow (we are still around 4 -6 foot, pending which drift you measure), I decided on a white theme! :)

To print the Compassion stationary on, I found nice white textured card stock at Michaels.

To go with the white theme, I thought of:

• Snow
• Snowflakes
• Clouds
• Flowers
• Birds
• Eggs
• Beans

I found a couple snowflake stickers to include on the letter, and then cut out a couple snowflakes on my Cricut. I also found some white alphabet stickers to send to each child. Alan and I had also built snow people awhile back. I printed off a couple photos to include.

I also want to introduce you to Samuel. He is from the Dominican Republic, lives with both his parents and have 2 siblings. He is in 2nd grade.

Samuel is our first Correspondent Sponsorship Child. Generally, this means someone else is financial sponsoring Samuel, however they are not able to write to him. This is where I come in :) I have committed to writing letters to Samuel, thus being his correspondent sponsor.

Now, I'm writing to both Samuel and Vanesa at least once each month! :)

Do you send themed letters to your Compassion child? What other white things can you think of? What should my next theme letter color be?


It is the 2nd Friday of the month... have you written to your Compassion child yet?

Compassion Letter - Blue

It has been less than 2 weeks since receiving my information packet from Compassion. I mailed off my first letter less than a week ago, and now I'm already preparing to send my next envelope.

I'm not sure why, however I have decided to go with a "blue" theme this time. I picked up a few super thin used books (this Clifford one happened to fit the theme), printed the stationary on blue paper, and then started thinking about what else is "blue".  Without saying things like "some toys/houses/cars/things that can be painted are blue", it was a little challenging.  Here is the list of what I came up with.

• Blue bird
• Blueberries
• Flowers
• Sky
• Water
• Robin's eggs
• Blue jeans

I used my Cricut machine to cut out the blue bird and flower. I then found the K and V (my child's initials) in my stash of scrapbooking stuff. I also made a simple bookmark to go with the book I'm sending. I'll be putting all this together, likely gluing down some of the item, such as the letters, and sending them off in the next couple of days!

Do you send themed letters to your Compassion child?

You can read about my Compassion journey here. Though somewhat short, is definitely becoming a part of who I am.

Happy with a hint of tears

Last night, I spent nearly 4 hours reading, researching and writing.

Nope, I'm not back in graduate school (thank goodness!)!

I am a Compassion Child Sponsor.

It had been my bucket list item #131 to sponsor a child and on January 22, 2011, with birthday donations instead of gifts, I was able to cross that one off my list (THANK YOU to all who donated!). 

Meet Vanesa from Uganda. 

I'm not sure what is was about her that reached out and grabbed me. I think it was a little bit of several things. She lives with her mom and 5 siblings.Vanesa had also been waiting over 6 months for a sponsor.

After clicking "submit" on the sponsor page, I printed out her bio and photo and immediately put it on our refrigerator.

I then wrote this on my birthday recap post... "I'm looking forward to hearing more about my Compassion Child. It said to expect information in about 15 days. Wow. It seems like so long to wait. Yet, she waited over 6 months for me..."

Each day after work, I rushed home to see if anything had arrived. I spent time reading blogs of others who sponsor children, learning what they write about, what little things can be sent with the letters, how the translation process works.

Then, the day came. If you are a twitter follower, there was a play by play account of me opening my letter and going through the information, one detail at a time. I was so excited; I felt so blessed.

Okay. Back to last night. I finally was able to sit down to write my first letter. There are so many great resources out there for new Compassion Sponsors. A few that I found particularly helpful and inspiring are:

Blogging from the Boonies (I read a good majority of her blog last night!)
Flowerdust
The Compassion Blog  
Compassion Trips - links to bloggers whom have gone on Compassion trips
Whittaker Woman (aka: Heather)  - I've been a long time follower of Heather and Carlos who have both participated on Compassion Trips

There ere are many more... blogs, videos, stories... I'll share more links on another post.

Dakota was very interested in what I was doing all night.

When all was said and done...

I finally got 2 photos printed out; one of Alan and I, for the "My Sponsor" card, and one of me standing in our backyard in the snow.  I also google searched Bible Color Pages, and found a simple one to print out. I didn't receive any stationary in my information package, however was able to print the general Compassion template onto cute purple, flowery scrapbook paper. I added a few stickers, wrote a general "Hello, I'm your sponsor, it is great to meet you, we have 2 pet dogs, we are thinking of you and praying for you" message.

I took a deep breath and looked at my work. It didn't feel like enough. I kept researching. I realized I should also write an intro email! (YES! You can email your Compassion child! How awesome is that!?) I decided I should also send an email to Vanesa. It is directly sent to the child's country office to be translated, thus saves tons of time in mailing first! My email was a simple 6 lines of "we are happy to be your Compassion Sponsors, we are thinking of you, I will write often, and we look forward to learning more about you and your family."

This felt better. Vanesa would receive a couple different messages from me, one a little more quickly due to email and one a bit after that! I read a few places the mail sent can take several weeks, and didn't want her to have to wait that long!

After going through this process, I am happy. I am happy I found Compassion and that I am sponsoring Vanesa. I am happy to be blessed to have a home to live in, family to lean on, food to eat, clean water to drink. I am happy to have a job, that my husband has a job, and we can both drive to work, in cars we own, on paved roads. I am happy to to live in a country that I feel safe in.

However, as I think about all I am happy for, all the blessings in my life, I cannot help but feel a tear run down my face. I look at Vanesa's photo and think of her and her family. I begin to think of all the people, around the world, including those in the United States who live each and every day without so many of the things I am blessed to have in my life.

I feel like I need to do more. I do not know what exactly or how, yet I must do something more.