Photo Treasure Hunt - Red & Green

December 11, 2013

Just a day late on my post here for this week, but here are the red and green things I was able to photograph:

Ready to join us for our weekly photo treasure hunt?

Link up by posting your blog post URL- not just blog URL
Link back to one of us (grab button if desired, I hope to have the button in my side bar soon!)
Visit other blogs and leave comment love.
Be sure to take note of next theme and start collecting more photos. Jill always has a fun transition photo, so be sure to visit her blog to see what the theme is for next week!
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And you can tag your photos on Instagram with #phototreasurehunt

Next week's theme is....Lights! Take some time this week to photograph all the Christmas lights you find along your path.

It all started with a cow

November 27, 2013

Two years ago, our family decided to try to earn enough money during Advent to purchase a cow through the Compassion Gift Catalog. I found a great Advent calendar that was a little different than most. Instead of the kids receiving something each day, they were putting aside money each day based on things we are blessed with in our home. And yes, we did end up with enough money to purchase the cow! To help us remember our gift, I found a cow ornament, wrapped it, and put it under our tree for Christmas morning.

Kelsey with our special Christmas Compassion cow ornament

Then, two months later, we learned about a video contest Compassion was hosting for families that had donated toward the Compassion Gift Catalog! This was pretty exciting because we ended up being in the top three vote getters for the contest. There was a chance for two of us to win a trip to Nicaragua with Compassion! We didn't end up winning the contest, but this was the start of my heart's desire to go on a Compassion trip

I know not everyone can and/or will go on a trip with Compassion. But there is a way that each family can make a difference. Even if you do not sponsor a Compassion child, you can give a gift this Christmas that will have a lasting effect for a family living in extreme poverty.

Compassion has a wonderful gift catalog so that you and your family can give a gift in Jesus' name this Christmas. You can even set up a wish list and share it with family and friends. Won't you consider spending less on your own family this Christmas, so that you can share the hope of Jesus with another family?

October Compassion Share & Tell

October 18, 2013

Last month, I introduced a new thing here on my blog, Compassion Share & Tell! Each month, I want to be able to share with my readers what I am sending to my sponsored and correspondence Compassion kids. In return, I am hoping that each one of you will share what you are sending to your Compassion kids! Also, this will be a great way to help us all be accountable to each other, making sure we write to our kids on a regular basis.

So here is what I put together for this month:

First, I printed off the printable Christmas ornaments from Compassion’s Second Friday Letter Writing Club Pinterest board. (This is a great board to follow! {wink!}) It took a bit of time to cut out all of the ornaments, six in each set.

Since I happen to have a laminating machine (found one really cheap at Costco), I put each ornament through the laminator, then cut them out….again. If you don’t have a laminator, you can just as easily cover these with clear contact paper.

Since we can’t send a lot of ribbon in our mailings, I did hole punch each ornament near the top, then tied a bit of ribbon to just one of the ornaments in each set. Then each set of ornaments went into a ziploc bag. On the outside of the bag, I placed a label. I print out a sheet of labels with my name and sponsor number, as well as my child’s name and sponsor number. This makes things go a little quicker when you are sending multiple items at one time.

Since I typed out my letters last month, I wanted to handwrite my letters this month. So I went on a search for some printable Christmas stationary. Here is what I wrote in each of the letters:

Dear Lina (or Abner, or Victor),

It is only October here, but by the time you receive this letter, it might be Christmas! For Christmas, our family likes to decorate a Christmas tree with many ornaments. I am sending some ornaments to you. These ornaments all have Bible verses to remind us that Jesus is our Savior.

I have a couple of questions for you:

Do you have a favorite Christmas song?
What special Christmas traditions are there in your country?

I am still spending a lot of time studying the book of Ephesians. One verse from last week was from Ephesians 4:7 - “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

You are a special person, created to do amazing things because God loves you!

And I love you too!

I stapled the ziploc bag to the back of each of the letters, folded the letters, and placed all the letters in a 6x9-inch manila envelope to mail. So for just a little bit of time, and a little bit of money, my October letters are on their way!

Are you ready to join in?

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