Compassion: 46 More

The Compassion Bloggers are back!! Have you been following along with their stories? I love hearing about God at work.

So far 354 children have been sponsored. We need your help in reaching the goal of 400 kiddos getting a chance to know the love of a sponsor and to know more about God. Sponsor a child today!

Here are a few stories from the Compassion bloggers that tugged at my heart:

Emily Freeman – Blogger at Chatting At The Sky

• Choosing the One You Least Expect
• What We Need When We Are Uncertain

Jeff Goins – Blogger at Jeff Goins Writer

• 10 Things I’ll Never Forget About Uganda
• What Hope Looks Like

Joy Wilson – Blogger at Joy The Baker

• What It Means to Boil Water
• One Thing I’d Tell My Mom

Myquillyn Smith – Blogger at The Nesting Place

• How To Have a Happy Home
• Why Today Was Spectacular in an Ordinary Way

Brianne McKoy – Team Leader at Compassion Blog

• This One’s For the Men
• What Nightmares are Made Of

Shaun Groves – Team Leader at ShaunGroves.com

• How To End Slavery
• A Message From Pastor Amon to You

Read more about our Compassion children, Solissa in the Dominican Republic and Lucnise in Haiti: Our First Compassion Child | Coloring and Drawing | Email Your Compassion Kid! | What to Send to Your Compassion Kid | Write to Your Compassion Kid! Compassion Bloggers Trips: Uganda | Social Media | The Roadshow 2014 Tour

Compassion: The Roadshow 2014 Tour

Our friend is a volunteer coordinator for Compassion, so she hooked me up a volunteer gig at a Compassion event (The Roadshow). When I arrived I met a couple who were child advocates. They registered me and gave me a volunteer sticker with my name on it. I was assigned to be a packer passer (or aisle runner).

One of the volunteer coordinators gave us a briefing on what to expect and what to do. All of the volunteers then were escorted up to the concourse (where all the other vendors were and the main Compassion booth was). The Packer Passers were given a bright blue Compassion apron with a money bag in the pockets with pens and packets of children that need to be sponsored.

I was assigned two sections where I was to go up and down the aisles holding up packets in hopes that people in the audience would want to sponsor needy children. Unfortunately, I was assigned one of the upper level sections, where there were only a handful of people. A few minutes after we were supposed to be walking up and down the aisles, security closed off the entire top deck due to lack of people there. The Packet Passers in the lower levels had much more success. In fact, 188 children were sponsored that night!

All of the volunteers then turned in their materials and got to sit in empty seats and watch the rest of the artists that were playing/performing that night. I got to watch Third Day and Jamie Grace. Skillet, Andy Mineo, Royal Tailor, We As Human, Soulfire Revolution, Vertical Church Band, and The Neverclaim were also there.

After my volunteer time, I got a chance to FaceTime with my girls (since the arena had WiFi) before their bedtime. I showed them inside the arena and outside on the concourse, including the Jamie Grace booth.

I talked to one of the volunteers who worked Jamie Grace’s booth and she told me that Jamie Grace was going to be signing after the show. I ended up staying late after the show, bought a poster, and Jamie Grace signed it for my girls. Not bad for one night’s (volunteer) work.

The Roadshow 2014 event made an impact on 188 children! Can we help make an impact on the lives of 400 more children? Let’s do it!! 167 children have been sponsored so far, but there are more waiting. SPONSOR A CHILD TODAY!

– Norm

Compassion: Bloggers on Social Media

We’re following the Compassion Bloggers on their trip to Uganda. I’m not usually an emotional person, but those pics and stories can get you smiling, crying, laughing…all at the same time. If you are on social media, you need to follow the Compassion Bloggers! They have been sharing with us their experience in Uganda, and how Compassion is impacting children there. The bloggers are blogging daily, but they are also posting photos on Instagram, and tweeting through the day when they can.

Are you social media? Well, you’re reading this post, aren’t you? Then, you are! You can head over to the Compassion Bloggers website to read their daily posts, or you can read them on their individual blogs (linked below).

Compassion Bloggers Uganda Team
Wess Stafford – Compassion President Emeritus | Twitter
Shaun Groves – Team Leader at ShaunGroves.com | Instagram | Twitter
Brianne McKoy – Team Leader at Compassion Blog | Instagram | Twitter
Emily Freeman – Blogger at Chatting At The Sky | Instagram | Twitter
Jeff Goins – Blogger at Jeff Goins Writer | Instagram | Twitter
Joy Wilson – Blogger at Joy The Baker | Instagram | Twitter
Myquillyn Smith – Blogger at The Nesting Place | Instagram | Twitter
Mike Varel – Photographer at Mike Varel digital storytelling | Twitter

You can check out their tweets on the Compassion Bloggers twitter list. To see some photos, head over to Instagram (or statigr.am or Ink361 if you don’t have an IG account)…and more photos on Flickr.

During this trip, the team, Compassion bloggers, and Compassion advocates will be bringing awareness to poverty in Uganda and what Compassion is doing for the families who are able to be connected with them. We are hoping to get 400 children sponsored through their blog trip. Can you imagine 400 children getting sponsors in these 5 days? Four hundred children who will have someone to encourage them and show them Jesus’ love. So far 109 children have been sponsored. CLICK HERE to sponsor a child now! If you are unable to sponsor a child, will you pray for the 400 with us?

Read more about our Compassion children, Solissa in the Dominican Republic and Lucnise in Haiti: Our First Compassion Child | Coloring and Drawing | Email Your Compassion Kid! | What to Send to Your Compassion Kid | Write to Your Compassion Kid!

Compassion: Bloggers Trip {Uganda}

This year will be the 5th year Compassion is sending bloggers on the Compassion Bloggers trip. A team of 7 is in Uganda this year…RIGHT NOW actually!! They are blogging daily from January 27-31 in Uganda. The first two days, the team have be in rural northern Uganda with families affected by Joseph Kony’s violence. After that, they will head to Kampala, the capital city, with families living in a slum at the city’s dump. Then, they will be visiting two centers, spending two days at each one.

Compassion Bloggers Uganda Team
Wess Stafford – Compassion President Emeritus
Shaun Groves – Team Leader at ShaunGroves.com
Brianne McKoy – Team Leader at Compassion Blog
Emily Freeman – Blogger at Chatting At The Sky
Jeff Goins – Blogger at Jeff Goins Writer
Joy Wilson – Blogger at Joy The Baker
Myquillyn Smith – Blogger at The Nesting Place
Mike Varel – Photographer at Mike Varel digital storytelling

During this trip, the team, Compassion bloggers, and Compassion advocates will be bringing awareness to poverty in Uganda and what Compassion is doing for the families who are able to be connected with them. We are hoping to get 400 children sponsored through their blog trip. Can you imagine 400 children getting sponsors in these 5 days? Four hundred children who will have someone to encourage them and show them Jesus’ love. So far 66 children have been sponsored. CLICK HERE to sponsor a child now! If you are unable to sponsor a child, will you pray for the 400 with us?

Read more about our Compassion children, Solissa in the Dominican Republic and Lucnise in Haiti: Our First Compassion Child | Coloring and Drawing | Email Your Compassion Kid! | What to Send to Your Compassion Kid | Write to Your Compassion Kid!

Compassion Photo Scavenger Hunt

Compassion International started posting pics on Instagram two years ago. To celebrate the anniversary of their first photo, they are having a Photo Scavenger Hunt for the rest of July! There are prizes too, so get out your camera (or phone), or most likely, it is already out. You do have Instagram, right?

For each of the items on the scavenger hunt list, you can get two entries for the contest. Share your photos in IG, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, etc. and tag them #CompassionHunt. Then go to THIS POST and post the URL of your photo. There are also other bonus entries, too.

The #CompassionHunt ends July 31 at 9PM MST. And I wouldn’t forget to post the prizes!! They are giving away five Compassion t-shirts, a ResQrags t-shirt, two stainless steel Compassion mugs, one Compassion messenger bag, a copy of A Place at the Table by Chris Seay and a $25 gift for your sponsored child!!

Visit THIS POST for the list of #CompassionHunt items. Good luck!

You can read all our Compassion posts HERE.

Compassion: Bloggers Trip {Nicaragua}

God is doing something HUGE in Nicaragua! The college/young adult group from our church have been going to Nicaragua for past 2 years, and they just left for the jungle this morning! Sorry about the grainy IG pic below. The original is on my phone, and my phone is not working. 😦

And the Compassion bloggers are heading to Nicaragua too!

The Compassion bloggers will be blogging daily about what they are experiencing during their time in Nicaragua. They will hear stories of the people there, as well as learning about how the children in poverty live there, and also all about the ministry of Compassion there. (Some maps below in case you need reminding of where Nicaragua is. You’re welcome. 😉 hehe)

Make sure to follow the journey of these bloggers throughout the week.

Twitter Party
If you are on Twitter, there is a Twitter party on Thursday 9pm EST. The trip bloggers will be there too, so make sure you don’t miss it. You can ask them how they are doing and get your questions answered directly by them. Follow #CompassionBloggers to see what they are up to.

Prayer
Please be in prayer for both our church’s Nicaragua team who will be installing water filtration systems this week, as well as the Compassion bloggers. Pray for safety and health. Pray that they will open to how God wants to use them in the interactions with all the people there, that they will see the light and love of Jesus.

Compassion Bloggers Nicaragua Team
Shaun Groves – Team Leader at ShaunGroves.com
Brianne McKoy – Team Leader at Compassion Blog
Christy Jordan – blogger at Southern Plate
Edie – blogger at Life in Grace
Kelly – blogger at Faithful Provisions
Traci – blogger at Beneath My Heart
Mike Varel – Photographer/Videographer at Mike Varel Digital Storytelling
Keely Scott – Photographer at KeelyMarieScott.com

It’s A Girl!

Help a Child

We have been searching for a few months now. There were 2 times when we finally came upon girls who had the exact same birthdays as Emily, but they were seriously sponsored before we were able to click on any button! And then, it happened one day. My speedy fingers got a girl sponsored! I’m not quite sure that Emily knows that it means to sponsor a child, but she was pretty excited about it.

So here she is, our second Compassion daughter, Lucnise Francois. Yes, I know, quite fancy for a little girl’s name. 🙂

She is from Haiti, which is right next to where our Solissa lives, in the Dominican Republic.

So this May 13th we will be celebrating 2 little girls’ birthdays!

We can’t wait to learn more about Haiti and put together our first piece mail to our little Lucnise! Yay!

Do you have a sponsored child? What you benefited from the relationship?

Our other blog posts about Compassion:
Our First Compassion Child | Coloring and Drawing | Email Your Compassion Kid! | What to Send to Your Compassion Kid | Write to Your Compassion Kid!

Compassion: Write To Your Compassion Kid!

A friendly reminder to write to your sponsored child. If you don’t have a sponsored child, why not get one today!? 🙂 There are many organizations where you can sponsor a child. We go through Compassion International. Below is the latest mailing that we’ve sent off. It is a random Puzzle Buzz sample that we’ve gotten in the mail. And I can’t remember where we got the Princess coloring sheet from, but I hope Solissa will enjoy it.

Need ideas on what to sent? Jolanthe blogged about sending Pick and Draw cards (original idea from Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers). And I had written a post about things to send.

OR….

Just send an email! You can check out my previous post about emailing Solissa. If you sponsor a child, head over to the Compassion website and write your child today! It’ll only take a few minutes, and you don’t even need to add postage.

– Joyce

P.S. Happy Labor Day!

Compassion: What to Send to Your Compassion Kid

Happy (belated) 5th birthday to Solissa!

This is my view of our new photo of Solissa from my chair at the desk.

If you have been keeping up with us at least since November 2010, you will know that we sponsor a Compassion child in the Dominican Republic. She shares the exact same birth date with Melody. Last Thursday, they both turned 5!

We had sent some stuff to her in January. I think some child sponsorship programs allow for sponsors to send actual things to their child, but Compassion only allow paper items because of strict mailing regulations in other countries. We are, however, able to send monetary gifts, and whoever is in charge of the child’s case buys something for the child.

Anyway, if you sponsor a Compassion child, remember to write to them at least 3 times a year since they are also required to write to us at least 3 times a year. I think it’s important to build that relationship, so that the sponsorship is not just something you do because it’s the right thing to do.

Here are some things that we have sent:

• stickers
• coloring pages
• a letter
• photos
• bookmarks
• drawings

You can get more ideas from Blogging From the Boonies and the Compassion International website.

So this post reminds me that I should send her an email today. =)

What things do you send your sponsor child?

– Joyce

Compassion: Email Your Compassion Kid!

It has almost been a year since we have started sponsoring our Compassion child, Solissa. While visiting her is not a possibility at this time, our best way to connect with her is through our letters. Compassion International has made it even easier to write to her. Physically writing a letter makes it seem a little more personal, but we all have our time constraints and don’t have time to do that as often as we’d like. The website now has a feature that makes it super easy to connect with our sponsored child.

This is just an example…not an actual note that we sent. =p

1. Choose your template.

2. Write a note.

3. Upload a photo.

4. Double check the preview to see if you want to change anything.

5. Send your letter!

If you sponsor a child, head over to the Compassion website and write your child today! It’ll only take a few minutes, and you don’t even need to add postage.