Write to your Compassion Child: Share something famous

Whenever I am talking with new sponsors at Compassion events, I try to remind them that the new child they just sponsored is really curious about them.

These kids want to know what your favorite color is, what you like to eat, what your favorite Bible verse is.

They are also really curious about where we live.

I am not talking about the houses that we live in or the cars that we drive.

Do you live close to something famous?

Living in California, we live within driving distance of San Francisco to the west, and Yosemite National Park to the east. I prefer to spend the day at Yosemite, but whenever we have out of state visitors, they generally like to see the “City by the Bay”.

I try to avoid the ‘city’ part of San Francisco. My favorite part of taking people to San Francisco is walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Walking across the bridge gives you an incredible view of San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay.

In my latest letter to the children we sponsor with Compassion, I shared with them some facts about the bridge and asked what is famous about the country where they live.

Because I know the kids love to receive photos, I also sent a photo I took of the bridge from the day of our most recent visit:

I also included a coloring page I found online:

I colored a page and included a page for them to color. You can find the coloring pages at Our Family Passport website.

Even if you do not live close to something famous, you can share something unique about the state, county, or city that you live in. Maybe you can even include your own drawing of something where you live. I am sure the child you sponsor will treasure the time you took to include something extra with the letter you send.

What special things do you include with letters to the child you sponsor with Compassion?

Write to your Compassion Child: Photo Idea

Congratulations! You just started sponsoring your first Compassion child!

Now what?

If you really have just started sponsoring a Compassion child, I know you will like this idea.

But even if you have been sponsoring a Compassion child for a while and you are stuck thinking of what to write, or what to include with your letters, I know you will like this idea too.

One thing I know from traveling and visiting a couple of our Compassion sponsored children, these kids don’t have many, it any at all, printed photos of themselves.

I remember being a new mom with my camera, and I was constantly taking photos of our firstborn, and I still love to take photos of my children. Even in our digital age, I have come up with a few ways to make sure I am printing out photos of my family and displaying them in our home so I can enjoy them.

Last year, we began sponsoring a new young lady in Colombia.

I sent an email to Compassion to ask for any of her previous photos. Did you know that you can do that?

All of the registered Compassion children have their photos updated at least every 18 months to 2 years. With over two million children registered currently, that is a big undertaking to have the photos updated on a regular basis.

But I wonder how many of these kids have their photos at home?

With the previous photos I received from Compassion, and Alix had a birthday coming up soon, I ‘created’ a collage of photos to wish her a happy birthday!

I use a website called Canva to create these pages and save them as a PNG file so I can add them as a full photo page when I write letters to my Compassion children online.

You can be super creative with this, or just add a simple message or Bible verse.

What do you do with photos when you write to your Compassion child?

The ABCs of Compassion - Letters

When was the last time you received a letter in the mail?

When was the last time you wrote a letter?

I can imagine for most people, the answer would be ‘I don’t remember’.

But if you are a Compassion sponsor, I sure do hope you have a different answer for those two questions!

As a Compassion sponsor, we have an opportunity to encourage the children we sponsor through the letters we write to them. Many times, these letters are read by the children more than once. A lot of the children keep the letters from their sponsor in a very special place so they can read them when they need to remember that someone who lives thousands of miles away is praying for them.

When my daughter and I went to Mexico almost three years ago on a sponsor trip, I will never forget what Alfredo brought with him.

The paper in Alfredo’s hands is a letter that Kelsey had written to him. He wanted her to know that he is receiving her letters and that they are very important to him! How precious is this!

Compassion has a few sections on their website with answers to frequently asked questions, letter writing ideas, and some letter writing prompts.

Need some motivation to write a letter, you can find that too!

My personal suggestions on writing letters?

Reply to each letter, and write a few additional times a year also.

Ask a couple of questions and include a Bible verse with each letter.

Send photos, especially of your family. The kids love seeing the people who are praying for them.

What questions do you have about letter writing?

Making My Life Easier: Menu Planning

Twenty-nine years times 365 equals 10,585

Why that calculation?

That is approximately how many times I have had to make a decision about dinner. Now obviously, I have not made dinner that many times over the course of the last twenty-nine years, but probably pretty darn close to that number.

No wonder I am stuck in a rut and just a bit plain tired of planning dinner each and every week.

A friend of mine posted an article on Facebook recently about dinner planning and all that goes into it.

It is just not planning what to eat each night of the week.

When I sit down on Monday morning to plan our week of dinners, I look at the weather, who is going to be home each night, what ingredients we have on hand, is anything on sale, what additional items I need to purchase, what ingredients need to be prepped, does anything need to be taken out of the freezer, when do things need to be taken out of the freezer…. I think you get the picture.

Obviously, my individual family situation is much different than many other families.

Up until a couple of years ago, I was pretty much a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom with time to shop for and prepare a good portion of our meals.

But now that I am substitute teaching a good number of days a month, and traveling to Compassion events at least once a month, my schedule is all over the place.

And our kid’s work schedules are not consistent.

So, to make my life easier, a few months back, we had a family meeting to discuss menu planning and dinner.

The solution…our two adult children are each responsible for dinner one night a week.

This week, our menu looks like this:

I have even started making notations for each day so I know who will be home for dinner.

This is just one thing I have implemented that is making my life easier these days.

What one thing are you doing to make your life easier?

The ABCs of Compassion - Kids

Continuing on through the alphabet for my series of ‘The ABCs of Compassion’ and at first, I wasn’t really sure what word I should use for the letter ‘K’.

But then I decided on the obvious…kids!!

Compassion’s mission statement is ‘releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.’

So of course, kids are a big deal!

Compassion kids have hopes and dreams.

Compassion, through the local churches, is giving thousands of kids around the world many opportunities they never would have had available.

Kids are learning to read.

Kids are learning about basic hygiene.

Kids are learning how to play with other kids.

Kids are learning about Jesus.

Seeing the photo above, you would never imagine that this group of kids live in impoverished areas of El Salvador. These kids live in areas where it is too dangerous to take their instruments home. Because of this, they are only able to practice together for about an hour a week.

But when we sat and listened to these kids perform for us, it brought us all to tears.

The lives of many kids around the world are being changed each and every day because of their local church and their loving sponsor.

Are you ready to love on a kid growing up in extreme poverty?

Sponsor a Compassion kid today!