Wow! July has barely begun and I have had a lot to share about my ‘boys’ already. On July 8th Niyomugabo had his 19th birthday.
Happy Birthday, Niyomugabo. I hope that you have a wonderful day. I hope that today is a very special day for you and that God will continue to bless you and your family abundantly. You are very special to us and we love you very much!
Love: your family in Manitoba.
Have your sponsor kids had any birthdays lately? I would love to hear about them.
*Andrea*
Last night when I went to check my mail, there was nothing in it except these two envelopes:
So you can only imagine how excited I was!
It was even more exciting for me to open them up and see that they were both from Nsengimama!
I have not heard from him yet so I was very excited!
The first letter was just introducing us to him. This is what he said:
“Dear Andrea & Timothy Sawatzky, Nsengimana Claude greets you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. He is very glad to thank you very much for being his sponsor and may God bless you. Your child (meaning him) is now in senior 4 and studies are going well so he asks you to often pray for him to be clever and he wishes to proceed his studies at university after high school. Now in Rwanda it’s raining, what about over there? Your child requests you to send him your photo because he is eager to see you, may God continue to be with you.”
In the second letter he said:
Dear Andrea & Timothy Sawatzky, I first of all greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. How are you with your family? For me, I am very fine together with my family. God keeps on protecting us well. I was very much pleased with your letter. I am studying in S4 and my studies are going well. I was very much pleased with your familys picture with snow. The God who let me know you is very God. We are in very rainy season here in our Country, you told me it was very cold there at yours, how is it now? I still thank you very much for being my sponsor, may God keep protecting you with your family. May God keep protecting you.”
I just love his constant focus on God throughout the entire letter. It’s such a good reminder for us to keep our focus on him at all times and to praise him constantly. I’m so happy that he wants to go to university and I pray that he will be able to. It’s so great to see the ambition that he has to change his future. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to write to him and I look forward to getting to know this young man better, in the months and years to come.
Have you heard from your sponsor child lately? I would love to hear about it.
Have a great weekend!
*Andrea*
Well, It’s writing day again! I really love writing to ‘my boys’ and I have so much to say this time. I could probably write my next 3 letters to them with the thoughts that I have floating around my brain. I’m so thankful that the Canada post mail strike didn’t last too long. I don’t want ‘my boys’ to wonder why they have had to wait longer than usual to receive a letter from us. I did email some, but I prefer to hand write my letters. My hand writing could be neater, so it’s good practice for me when I hand write the letters and not just type them.
I can’t wait to tell them about the fair that we went to, Canada day, and the fair that we are going to this weekend. Summer time is so busy that it’s so easy to come up with writing ideas. I have also been taking lots of pictures. Now, I just need to develop them so that I can send some with my letters.
If it’s time to send a letter again for you and you don’t know what to write, go through your pictures, choose some favourites and write something for each picture. I’ve heard that they love to receive pictures.You don’t have to write a big long letter, just a note and picture is fine, they just need to have some kind of communication from you. And if the saying is true that “a picture says a thousand words” you should have lots to say.
I wonder what they will say when they see these pictures:
That’s just a sneak peek of what I’m sending to my sponsored boys.
What are you sending?
*Andrea*
Today, my little Alejandro turns 4!!
Happy Birthday Alejandro! I hope you have a wonderful day! I want you to know that I’m thinking of you a lot today and I’m praying for you as well. I hope that you enjoy your day and remember that God created today just for you.
I hope your day is extra special!
We love you!
Love: your family in Manitoba
Can you imagine this is the water that you drink every day?
This is reality for millions of children around the world.
I’m not telling you this to guilt you into something. I’m not good at that, nor do I like to be treated that way. So, I won’t do it to you. I will, however, share something that I recently heard with you, so that we are better educated about the conditions of the world and how we can help.
Compassion International started a program called “Water For Life” http://www.compassion.com/water-filters.htm which provides water filters to a child and their family for only $55 (U.S. funds) . It’s a one time donation that will change lives. This water filtration system cleans over 1 MILLION gallons of water.
That is enough water for one family for their lifetime. That is enough clean water to help children who would otherwise get sick and possibly die from diseases like: Cholera and Typhoid. Diseases that are easily preventable. Diseases that you and I don’t ever worry or even think about, but they kill over 4,000 children everyday.
Right now, Compassion has filtration systems in Haiti, Rwanda, Guatemala & Ghana. Seeing as how my two correspondence boys live in Rwanda, I’m saving up to give the gift of clean water. Want to join me?
Let’s do this. Let’s give the gift of clean water to those who need it most. Let’s show them what love can do. Lets spread the word, tell your friends, neighbours, co-workers and let’s see how many filtration systems we can give by the end of summer. Summer is sooo hot, Wouldn’t a nice, cold glass of clean water be great?
Let me know when you donate a filtration system (or are part of a donation) http://www.compassion.com/water-filters.htm. Leave me a comment and let’s see how many we can give!
*Andrea*
If anyone is interested in donating with me, you can click on the ChipIn widget on the side and donate securely through paypal. Any amount is greatly appreciated!
I am beginning a quest. Care to join me? In this quest, I hope to find many things but most of all I hope to find contentment. You see, I currently am not content. Not even a little bit. I’m also needing peace. Peace and Quiet. The kind that you don’t get when your kids are small and your house is trashed. Yes, my house is a disaster. I just get it cleaned up, and then 5 minutes later you would never know that it took me an hour to clean it. Take last night for instance, I put my kids to bed and then I spent a good hour and vacuumed and washed my floors. I thought it was a brilliant idea, doing it after the kids were in bed. However, I forgot about the dog. My dog is as messy as my kids. She leaves her toys everywhere, and she also sheds so I have to keep on top of that too. So, this morning when I woke up, I vacuumed again.
Anyway, back to my quest for contentment. I have been feeling lately that I would like to do something (anything!) different. I’m not sure what though. I would love to move to the ocean, or buy a big old historical house somewhere in the country (it could even be in a different country) and maybe restore it or just enjoy it’s beauty, I would also love to go on a missions trip, or just go away for a weekend to do some shopping. I have thought and prayed about many things, but I have not been led to do any of them. So, I just have to wonder, what am I supposed to be doing? Where does God want me? Every time I ask that question, the only thing that comes to mind is ‘right here’. Here is where he wants me, right in the middle of my life, raising my kids, being a wife to my husband, and building my relationship with Christ. But ‘here’ is not where I want to be right now. I’ve been ‘here’ for so long with so little change that I’m getting bored/restless. So that makes ‘here’ a difficult place for me to be. Maybe that’s why I’m supposed to stay ‘here’, maybe that means that I’m growing and soon He will move me and use me in the way He (not I) has planned. Maybe I’m being tested to see if I can ‘keep the faith’. I don’t know. All I know is that I’m where (I think) he wants me to be and I need to accept it and do my best to be content. So, I will continue to be ‘here’ and keep bringing my discontent to Him cause only he knows what my future holds.
How have you been lately? Are you content with your place in life? I would love to hear from you.
Psalm 119:35 “Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.”
*Andrea*
