What a week it's been! The beginning went really smooth, nothing too crazy was going on which is a nice way to start the week. Yesterday however was a different story...
To start my day I had all of the kids that I babysit (I don't usually have them all on the same day). The one child is new so I have to remind her often about the rules in my home. I'm sure that will change soon as she learns them, the first couple times are usually rough then it gets better. My daughter got pink eye on Wednesday so I was dealing with that and if my day wasn't crazy enough, my son gets the flu! My children hardly ever get sick and I was talking to my girlfriend on Tuesday and I made a comment about how we hardly ever get sick here and wow did I jinx myself. My son had been cranky all day but I just thought that he was teething ( babies are always teething!). So when he woke from his afternoon nap I went to get him. The first thing that that greeted me as I walked into his room was an awful stench. Yup, you guessed it, He threw up all over himself and his crib! Woo hoo!! So now I have to make sure that he other children in my home are taken care of and I stick him in the tub while I run downstairs to start the laundry. So finally he's all cleaned up and I sit him in the high chair give him some snacks. He's sitting there happily drinking his water, it's all good right? Nope! I take him out and yup he pukes all over me! Wow! Fantastic! But OK, I can deal with this. I'm his mom so it really doesn't bug me as much. Besides, moms are often puked on, spit on, peed on. You name, it we get it. So round two of clean up. An hour later, not vomit but diarrhea instead. Oh my, is it gonna end? Yes I'm sure it will, hopefully soon.
So far nothing has happened since then but mind you it's still early in the day, anything can happen.
So my plan today is to relax and take it as it comes. I have no major projects that I want or need to get done except to write Easter letters to my sponsor children. I wanted to mail them by today so they would get there for sure by Easter, but after the week I've had I'll cut myself some slack. So my new goal is to get them in the mail this weekend so they can go out first thing Monday morning. I'm sure I should be able to accomplish that. Besides, I've already written two letters so I just have one more to write and then to pack some goodies for them and mail it off.
So if you sponsor a child and want to send them an Easter letter, I would suggest doing it soon so that they will get it close to Easter. It usually takes 2 months or so for them to get a letter. That's something that I often forget to keep in mind. But mind you, I'm still new at this sponsorship stuff so I'll get the hang of it soon!!
I hope you all have a great weekend!!
God Bless!
* Andrea *
Friday, February 25, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
My Ministry???
Hey for those of you who read my Sunday post and are waiting to meet our newest addition, Sorry to disappoint but I haven't gotten the picture yet. I can hardly wait to get it!!
I've been wondering for a while now just how does God want me to serve him? What is my ministry? God calls each and everyone of his children to serve him in some way or another and I wasn't sure what mine was. Until now. I really believe that at this point in my life, my ministry is kids. You see, I babysit for 4, I have 2 of my own and I write to 3 sponsor children. It really makes sense that this would be my ministry. On top of all that I feel that I would like to be a Sunday school teacher. Kids as my ministry seems strange to me cause I did NOT ever want to have kids. That is until I met my husband. I always thought that kids were time consuming, money consuming, they ruin your body, make your hair turn grey, need I say more? They were definitely not part of my life plan nor would they fit into my lifestyle. I had it all (or so I thought). I had a career, a clean house, no stretch marks ( also known as mommy tattoos), and lots and lots of free time. I could do whatever I wanted. Go for coffee, go shopping, work late, It really didn't matter. I just had a husband at home to take care of and well he's a grown man so he really didn't need me much. Besides he liked to hang out with the guys. But after we were married and we were settled in our roles as husband and wife I realized that I WAS BORED!! On Saturday mornings when he would sleep in and I'd be up early I had no idea what to do. So I would try to find something on the T.V. to watch, do a bit of house cleaning, anything to keep me entertained. So we talked and decided to wait a year before we would try for a baby. Well, God really had kids in mind for me cause it didn't take long at all and Boom! Ok now what? Well you get fat (really fat in my case), your whole body hurts, you can't sleep, you get "mommy tattoos", and yes the grey hair is starting. So finally the baby comes and you think it's gonna be all wine and roses, babies sleep all the time right? Nope! My firstborn was a good baby and a good sleeper but I never realized how much time they took! All I wanted was a little less free time, not all of It gone! Oh how I wished for before baby days. Then I realized that I can't change the past (not that I would have), I can only live in the now and plan for the future.
So now that I realized my life is not up to me to plan, most things make better sense. Not that they always make perfect sense, it's just a little clearer. We just need to remember to trust God in the direction that we should go and which path to take. He won't lead us astray. Just keep checking in to see if you are where he wants you to be. Who knows maybe your ministry is about to change...
* Andrea *
I've been wondering for a while now just how does God want me to serve him? What is my ministry? God calls each and everyone of his children to serve him in some way or another and I wasn't sure what mine was. Until now. I really believe that at this point in my life, my ministry is kids. You see, I babysit for 4, I have 2 of my own and I write to 3 sponsor children. It really makes sense that this would be my ministry. On top of all that I feel that I would like to be a Sunday school teacher. Kids as my ministry seems strange to me cause I did NOT ever want to have kids. That is until I met my husband. I always thought that kids were time consuming, money consuming, they ruin your body, make your hair turn grey, need I say more? They were definitely not part of my life plan nor would they fit into my lifestyle. I had it all (or so I thought). I had a career, a clean house, no stretch marks ( also known as mommy tattoos), and lots and lots of free time. I could do whatever I wanted. Go for coffee, go shopping, work late, It really didn't matter. I just had a husband at home to take care of and well he's a grown man so he really didn't need me much. Besides he liked to hang out with the guys. But after we were married and we were settled in our roles as husband and wife I realized that I WAS BORED!! On Saturday mornings when he would sleep in and I'd be up early I had no idea what to do. So I would try to find something on the T.V. to watch, do a bit of house cleaning, anything to keep me entertained. So we talked and decided to wait a year before we would try for a baby. Well, God really had kids in mind for me cause it didn't take long at all and Boom! Ok now what? Well you get fat (really fat in my case), your whole body hurts, you can't sleep, you get "mommy tattoos", and yes the grey hair is starting. So finally the baby comes and you think it's gonna be all wine and roses, babies sleep all the time right? Nope! My firstborn was a good baby and a good sleeper but I never realized how much time they took! All I wanted was a little less free time, not all of It gone! Oh how I wished for before baby days. Then I realized that I can't change the past (not that I would have), I can only live in the now and plan for the future.
So now that I realized my life is not up to me to plan, most things make better sense. Not that they always make perfect sense, it's just a little clearer. We just need to remember to trust God in the direction that we should go and which path to take. He won't lead us astray. Just keep checking in to see if you are where he wants you to be. Who knows maybe your ministry is about to change...
* Andrea *
Monday, February 21, 2011
1 Becomes 3!!
I know, I know, your probably thinking that my math is terrible! Your probably right, however, 1 actually became 3! I'll tell you how. You see I have been thinking alot lately about becoming a Compassion correspondent. A correspondent is someone who takes over the part of writing to a child that is already being sponsored. The sponsor still takes care of the financial needs but someone else writes to their child. It's a great way for those of us who can only afford to financially sponsor one or two children to build relationships with more children and make a difference in their lives. It is such a pleasure to be able to write to children far away and tell them all about life in Canada and encourage them in their walk with God.
So, back to my bad math skills. I wrote an email to compassion Canada last week asking if they had any children who needed correspondents. I was so hoping for a yes but was disappointed a little to hear that they had a waiting list at the moment. I was hopeful however that God would bring a child who needed encouragement into my life. So I checked my email an hour later to see if the news was any better and oh wow it sure was!! Not only did they have a child for me, they had 2!! They had 2 young men from Rwanda that needed correspondents. I was very sad to hear that they had not received a letter since 2005! 5 years is a very long time when you are a 13 year old boy who could really use some extra encouragement at this time in your life. So the first thing I did as soon as I got the info I needed was send an email letter to both of them. It goes to the Canadian office and from there gets translated and sent to the field office in their country. It's a bit faster then mailing it. I wanted them to get a letter asap. When my email was sent I sat down at my table and wrote them both a letter and sent it by mail the next day so they should be receiving 2 letters from us close together. I wish I could see their faces when they get their first letters from us and are reassured that someone really does love and care about them. I can't wait to receive my first letter from them. I have sent so many letters lately and I know it will take months before I receive anything but I'm very happy to give some love to those who need it most.
So for those of you who already sponsor a child and haven't sent a letter, maybe today is a good day to sit down and write something. It doesn't have to be long or fancy, just a message of "I love you" and "your important to me" are really the most important words for them to hear.
If you don't sponsor a child and are thinking about it, I would suggest going to http://www.compassion.ca/ and checking it out.
May God bless you richly today!
* Andrea *
So, back to my bad math skills. I wrote an email to compassion Canada last week asking if they had any children who needed correspondents. I was so hoping for a yes but was disappointed a little to hear that they had a waiting list at the moment. I was hopeful however that God would bring a child who needed encouragement into my life. So I checked my email an hour later to see if the news was any better and oh wow it sure was!! Not only did they have a child for me, they had 2!! They had 2 young men from Rwanda that needed correspondents. I was very sad to hear that they had not received a letter since 2005! 5 years is a very long time when you are a 13 year old boy who could really use some extra encouragement at this time in your life. So the first thing I did as soon as I got the info I needed was send an email letter to both of them. It goes to the Canadian office and from there gets translated and sent to the field office in their country. It's a bit faster then mailing it. I wanted them to get a letter asap. When my email was sent I sat down at my table and wrote them both a letter and sent it by mail the next day so they should be receiving 2 letters from us close together. I wish I could see their faces when they get their first letters from us and are reassured that someone really does love and care about them. I can't wait to receive my first letter from them. I have sent so many letters lately and I know it will take months before I receive anything but I'm very happy to give some love to those who need it most.
So for those of you who already sponsor a child and haven't sent a letter, maybe today is a good day to sit down and write something. It doesn't have to be long or fancy, just a message of "I love you" and "your important to me" are really the most important words for them to hear.
If you don't sponsor a child and are thinking about it, I would suggest going to http://www.compassion.ca/ and checking it out.
May God bless you richly today!
* Andrea *
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Lets see how this goes...
Well, I've just started my blog and seeing as how I'm new at this it might take me a few tries before I get the hang of it.
At the end of January my husband and & I decided it was time to add another member to our family.No we were not thinking of having another baby as we already have 2 kids and a dog I have enough to keep me busy. We decided to sponsor a child. This decision involved alot of research into different organizations until we finally settled on Compassion. The reason we picked Compassion was because it takes care of all the other needs of the child but the most important one is that they focus on the teaching of Christ.They work within the local christian church and all the children that are in the Compassion program go to sunday school and are taught about Jesus. This was the most important thing to us.
So, now that we have the organization how do you choose which child? They all need help. I'm a terrible decision maker as anyone who knows me can testify to so I told my husband to choose the child. He did it within seconds!! He walked over to the computer where the children were and boom! he picks he first one! How perfect. Inside my head there were a thousand thoughts going wild. Why this one? Someone else has been waiting longer. Should we pick an older child? They don't get picked very often... and on and on it went. So we talked about it and agreed that we had made the best choice for us at this time in our lives. Who knows maybe if we are able to sponsor another child we will pick an older one?
Now I know some of you are wondering how is sponsoring a child adding to your family? Well, I look at it this way. Because I'm providing for all the needs financially and I'm building a relationship through letters, it feels as though I have another child.As a sponsor we provide for their needs- immunizations, food, clothing, school. But the most important is their learning about Christ. To build a strong relationship with our child I try to write often. I love to write and talk about things that are very different to them. Our holidays, how we celebrate, Snow was a fun one to write about, and just regular every day things. It doesn't need to be a big, professional letter. After all I'm just a mom writing to a child. I make sure to say in every letter how much I love them, and that I'm praying for them. I also try to send some goodies along with the letter such as: bandaids, thin coloring books, valentine cards, stickers, anything that's thin paper stuff as long as it's allowed within Compassion guidelines. I'll go into more details on what kind of stuff I send in a different post.
As far as introducing you to our newest member as soon as I have the picture I'll introduce you. Don't worry I don't think you should have to wait very long.
Have a great day!
At the end of January my husband and & I decided it was time to add another member to our family.No we were not thinking of having another baby as we already have 2 kids and a dog I have enough to keep me busy. We decided to sponsor a child. This decision involved alot of research into different organizations until we finally settled on Compassion. The reason we picked Compassion was because it takes care of all the other needs of the child but the most important one is that they focus on the teaching of Christ.They work within the local christian church and all the children that are in the Compassion program go to sunday school and are taught about Jesus. This was the most important thing to us.
So, now that we have the organization how do you choose which child? They all need help. I'm a terrible decision maker as anyone who knows me can testify to so I told my husband to choose the child. He did it within seconds!! He walked over to the computer where the children were and boom! he picks he first one! How perfect. Inside my head there were a thousand thoughts going wild. Why this one? Someone else has been waiting longer. Should we pick an older child? They don't get picked very often... and on and on it went. So we talked about it and agreed that we had made the best choice for us at this time in our lives. Who knows maybe if we are able to sponsor another child we will pick an older one?
Now I know some of you are wondering how is sponsoring a child adding to your family? Well, I look at it this way. Because I'm providing for all the needs financially and I'm building a relationship through letters, it feels as though I have another child.As a sponsor we provide for their needs- immunizations, food, clothing, school. But the most important is their learning about Christ. To build a strong relationship with our child I try to write often. I love to write and talk about things that are very different to them. Our holidays, how we celebrate, Snow was a fun one to write about, and just regular every day things. It doesn't need to be a big, professional letter. After all I'm just a mom writing to a child. I make sure to say in every letter how much I love them, and that I'm praying for them. I also try to send some goodies along with the letter such as: bandaids, thin coloring books, valentine cards, stickers, anything that's thin paper stuff as long as it's allowed within Compassion guidelines. I'll go into more details on what kind of stuff I send in a different post.
As far as introducing you to our newest member as soon as I have the picture I'll introduce you. Don't worry I don't think you should have to wait very long.
Have a great day!
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