Merry Christmas!

I know its been a months since I last posted anything but life has been busy!

The end of November we went to Rome, Assisi and Florence in Italy and had a great time seeing all of the churches, old buildings, countryside, and so much more.

It took awhile to catch up at work, but I did in about a week.  Then throw in the holiday season with decorating, making cookies, and shopping and December went by fast!  I have spent the past month working on scarves for presents so that has been fun, challenging, and annoying at times (the rolls of yarn I buy keep ending up with knots...not from me, but from the manufacturer cutting it and then just putting a big knot in it halfway through the thing...very frustrating!).

Since my last post, we received a new correspondence child with Compassion International.  Her name is Flor and she is from Peru.  She just turned 10 years old and is the cutest thing ever.  She brings our count up to 5 kids total.....3 girls, 2 boys.  She is also our 3rd child from Peru now, so if that isn't a sign that we need to go visit Peru, I don't know what is :)

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  May God's love bring you peace in the holiday season.

More Compassion Kids Got Sponsored!

On Saturday night we helped at the Compassion International booth at the Newsboys concert in Eden Prairie, MN.  There were 4500 people in attendance so it took a lot of us to pass out packets, as well as collect the sponsorship forms during intermission.  We went fast though, and by the end of the concert we had another 207 kids sponsored!  Praise God!

After the concert, those that had sponsored a child were able to get in line to shake hands and get an autograph from the Newsboys, so that was special seeing them all excited.  The Newsboys were impressed with our sponsorship number as well, so that was a good thing.

I pray we get even more sponsored at the next event.  I really enjoy helping out.

New Correspondence Child

We have been waiting a few weeks for another correspondence child to add to our Compassion International family.  Guess who showed up on our account on Friday?

Yessica!

She is from Peru and is 12 years old (13 in March).  I was just checking out our account page on Compassion International when I noticed that she showed up.  I was so excited that I wrote to her right away, as well as emailed Compassion to request her history.  They said she has been in the program since 2007 with the same sponsor, but that sponsor only wrote her 1 letter in 2007 and 1 letter in 2008.  That means she hasn't received a letter in 4 years!

Well all that has changed.  I wrote her online on Friday (which they will print out directly in the Colorado headquarters...saves mail time).  I also wrote an actual letter and included paper, stickers, and a picture of us for her first packet from us, which I put in the mail today.  So already I've written as much as her old sponsor did in 5 years and its only been 5 days :)

I can't wait to her back from her (which of course will take a few months probably to receive her first intro letter).  It is always nice knowing their interests so you can send stickers and stuff based on that a little.

I also noticed the weird fact that 3 of our 4 Compassion kids have birthday's on the 5th (of different months).  5 must be our lucky number.

Letters from all 3!

Over the past week I have received letters from all 3 of our sponsored/correspondence kids with Compassion International.  It has been a few months since their last letters and I was getting anxious so it was perfect timing!

Said, our 6 year old from Peru, does more of the form letter question/answer type stuff on the front of the sheet, and then through his tutor, dictates a letter on the back.  I don't have the letter in front of me as I write this, but he mentioned how he likes playing with his friends, the color blue (he called it celeste, which means heavenly, or sky blue), and a few other things.  He thanked us for the 8 letters we had sent (at that time, since then there have been more) and loved receiving pictures.  He enjoys going to school and church.  He drew us some great pictures of an airplane, army tank, and a big picture of a person.  He is a very talented artist for only being six years old!

Priyanga, our 12 year old from India, wrote that she was enjoying school and church as well.  She wants to become a teacher when she finishes school, which is awesome!  I am glad she has future goals, especially for helping others get a good education.

Selemani, our 19 year old from Tanzania wrote that he was a great soccer player.  He also likes school and is getting ready for his Form 4 tests and studying hard.  He enjoys going to the center activities and bible studies as well and told us to read Proverbs 12: 1-4, which is:

1Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
    but whoever hates correction is stupid.

² Good people obtain favor from the Lord,
    but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes.

³ No one can be established through wickedness,
    but the righteous cannot be uprooted.

⁴ A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown,
    but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.

It must be a verse they were learning about during their Bible studies since it is pretty deep!  He is such a thankful young man as well since he said he and his family are doing good and that it was only possible because of God.  Even in a bad situation he is thankful, so I am very blessed to be able to write to this young man!

I am still patiently waiting for a 3rd correspondent child but so far, none have posted to our account.

Please pray for our 3 kids and their continued growth in faith and their continued education.

Kiva

Kiva is a new charity organization that I came across last week on someone's blog.  It seemed like a great charity so I looked into it more.  Kiva gives loans to people/groups around the world who need it for various reasons.  They may need a loan to put in an irrigation system, update their roof, buy more supplies for their business, etc.  The loans need to be repaid, so usually the loans were business related so that they could expand their business to bring in more revenue.  There is a set amount they ask for, and a set repayment schedule.  

As a "lender", you can give as little as $25 towards their loan goal (or more if you choose).  For example, a $500 loan will have 20 lenders, each giving $25 (or less lenders if one gives even more).  Each month when that borrower sends money for repayment, it will be divided up between the lenders and put back into your account.  As you are paid back, you can either use your money to loan to others in need, or if you need the money back yourself, you can cash out.  For example, if you loan someone $25 on a one year repayment schedule, you will get around $2 back per month.  So in reality, it would be another year before you could loan another person the full $25, but you can always add more money (paypal or credit card) to your account to loan more out.

http://www.kiva.org/

Kiva is a site where in order to sign up, you need to get "referred" by someone else (such as me!).  You can use the below link (I hope it works) to sign up:

http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/katie66715160

If that doesn't work, please let me know and I can email a link invitation to you.  

When you join right now, you get $25 free to use for your first loan.  Be advised that when that money is paid back, you do not get to keep or reloan that money, but it is still great to be able to lend someone out there the money and see the process of how it all happens without any risk to you.  You can then add your own money and do more loans of your own.  

You can search through the people requesting loans.  You can search by gender, groups/individuals, type of loan, etc.  You can sort by the loan amount, amount left to be funded, expiring soon, etc.  It is great being able to see their stories about the reason they are requesting the loan.

I hope you take a minute to check out the site and sign up through my link if possible.  Even if you just do the one free loan, it still helps someone else out so you should feel good.

Here is the guy I picked to do my first loan with:

http://s3-1.kiva.org/img/w800/1215780.jpg

Duncan is a 43 year old man with 4 kids in Kenya.  He requested a $250 loan, which will be paid back in 12 months.  He requested the loan in order to buy more old vehicle tires.  He recycles the tires to make sandals, which he then sells to make a profit.  He is hoping to continue to grow his business, since he desires to own his own permanent business location in the future.  I picked him because he only needed one or two more people to sponsor him to complete his goal, and because I think it is awesome that he is trying to grow his business (which is also very environmentally friendly by recycling!).  Since I just signed up last week, I don't know how the repayment will go, but I do pray for him that he has success.


Let me know how your experiences go.