Taking Gifts to your Sponsored Child

One of the benefits of going on a Compassion Sponsor Tour is the ability to take gifts to your sponsored child and his/her family. Before our trip to Mexico in January, our family went shopping to find gifts to fill a backpack for Felix. Here is a list of some of the items we brought with us:

• The Jesus Storybook Bible in Spanish
• picture books in Spanish
• t-shirts
• deflated soccer ball and pump (it is much easier to pack a deflated soccer ball!)
• Hot Wheels cars
• photo albums with photos of our family
• various school supplies

We also brought items for his family which included:

• flat sheet
• wash cloths
• toothbrushes and toothpaste
• bars of soap
• couple pairs of flip-flops
• bag of candy
• reusable bags
• gift bags for his two siblings

We ended up pulling this all together in just a couple of weeks before our trip. The other thing you should know if you have the opportunity to go on a sponsor tour to visit your Compassion child, Compassion does a wonderful job of giving you ideas in your pre-trip information packet you receive a couple of months before your trip.

In preparation for my trip to Colombia to visit Lina in February, I have already purchased a couple of items for her.

Since Lina will be turning 16 just a couple of months after my visit, I thought she might appreciate a messenger bag instead of a backpack. I found this one at IKEA, but you can find these types of bags at many places, especially this time of year with school starting again.

Unfortunately, I missed Old Navy's $1 flip-flop sale earlier this summer, but they did have a buy one, get one free sale over the weekend, so I picked up a couple of pairs of flip-flops for Lina. Are they going to be the right size? I don't know. When shopping for items like this for your sponsored child, just take your best guess. There is no use stressing over whether things will fit or not. If they don't fit your sponsored child, they may have a sibling or friend who can use the items which will be a blessing to them.

We also found some fun bracelets on clearance at Payless Shoe Source. With so many of them, I am thinking that Lina can share these with her friends that she writes about in her letters.

Another thing to consider when shopping for items is your luggage space. There is a limit. Although I have heard that some people will bring an extra suitcase to fill with all of the gifts, then they will leave that extra suitcase in the country they are visiting for a family who may need it. Definitely something to consider!

In the upcoming months, I plan to share with you some of the other items I will be bringing along with me to help you in planning for your own Compassion Sponsor Tour.

Tackle It on Tuesday: Bathroom Project

We have been doing our best to enjoy summer here, but I have to share with you one project that we worked on over the past couple of weeks. I was inspired to finally tackle this long overdue project after reading The Nesting Place.  For years, I couldn't decide what color to repaint my bathroom. We have lived in this house for about 9 years now, and it is the only room in the house that has not been painted since we moved in.

Pale green, brass knobs, stencil around the window...yuck, yuck, yuck. And why did I wait so long? I don't know. But after reading that book, I realized, you know what? If I hate the color, I can always repaint it!

So, a friend sent me home with a paint sample, I loved it and went out to get started on this bathroom makeover. 

Before the painting could begin, a new outlet was installed on the other wall.

Goodbye ugly, pale green paint!! Hello pretty, pale yellow paint!

Ahh, it already looks better! Now onto adding a bit of rustic, charm.

We had an existing shelf under a set of cabinets, so my husband just covered them with pieces of pallet wood. The tp holder idea is one I found on Pinterest.

And here is what the rest of the rustic additions look like! New knobs on the cabinets, a pallet window box over the window, pallet pieces around the mirror, new hooks for towels, and for the light fixture, spray painted the existing metal, new globes, and a pallet cover. Added a fake flowers in an existing tin, and ta-da!! New bathroom for less than $150!!

So what will I be tackling next?

Oh, I have quite the to-do list!! I had so much running around in my brain of things I knew needed my attention, so I got out a sheet of paper and wrote down a bunch of things. As you can see, I have already been able to check a few things off my list. Since I have quite a bit on my list still, my next few Tackle It on Tuesday posts might be an update of all of my tasks.

Do you like to make a to-do list? Are you a paper to-do list person or a techy to-do list person?

Fun places to visit in Colorado Springs

A few weeks ago, my kids and I traveled to Colorado Springs for a Compassion conference (which I plan to share about soon!). While we were there, we visited quite a few Colorado Springs attractions, and most of them had free admission which made up for the one pricey thing we did do.

Pike's Peak Cog Railway - This was the one thing we paid admission for. It ended up being a really nice way to see a lot of scenery on the way up to the top of Pike's Peak. Our tour guide shared a lot of interesting and witty information with us on the trip to the top of the mountain.

Our Cog Railway train at the top of Pike's Peak

Can you say you have been at this elevation?

Next time I find myself in Colorado Springs, I would love to drive up to the top of Pike's Peak. As much as I enjoyed the ride up on the Cog Railway, we sure didn't have a lot of time to roam around the summit once we arrived there. After standing in line for the restroom and getting the world famous hot donuts (both of which are a must!), there was really only time for a few photos, then it was time to load back onto the train for the trip down.

So, now onto the free stuff!

Focus on the Family Welcome Center - Even though my kids are older, I knew we needed to stop here to visit Whit's End and go down the three story slide. 

That three story slide is pretty cool!

Kelsey was pretty excited when she found Narnia!

While we were here, we went on the guided tour, roamed around Whit's End, and explored the Kid's Korner. We were hoping to do a taping at the KYDS Radio, but we didn't realize you needed to make a reservation. If you have young children, I could see families spending a lot of time exploring Whit's End and the Kid's Korner.

Compassion Global Ministry Center Tour - Even though I have been on a tour of Compassion's Global Ministry Center before, I enjoy hearing different tour guides share their stories on the tour. And this time we had a very special tour guide and a special visitor on our tour!

Our friend, Rebecca, with my son, Matthew, and Sean, our trip leader from our Mexico sponsor tour

Satish telling us the first time he saw this, he thought the garbage was too clean!

We were surprised to learn that Sean, our trip leader from our Compassion Mexico Sponsor Trip, was our tour guide for the building tour. What a fun surprise!

And Satish, a formerly sponsored Compassion child, joined us for a part of the building tour. Once we got to this point of the tour, Satish shared with us that before he was enrolled into the Compassion program, he used to help his father sort through garbage to find things to sell at the market in India where he grew up.

Want to know what my favorite parts of the building tour are? Peeking at the mail center where all of our Compassion letters are processed and made ready for delivery, and visiting the replica Child Development Center, which is just missing real children ready to give you hugs.

Helen Hunt Falls - A friend of ours told us about the trails in this area.

This is quite a short hike at Helen Hunt Falls

Even though this is a relatively short trail up to the top of the trailhead, the elevation change and the overall high altitude made this hike just a bit challenging for us. But it was definitely worth the sweat and frequent stops along the way! If we had planned this day a little better, we could have hiked a couple of other trials while we were in this area. Next time...

U.S. Olympic Training Center - this was a favorite for both of my kids on this trip.

Waiting for their medals

Michael Phelps trained in this pool!

On this free guided tour, we saw different training areas and learned how long some of the athletes train here. We were told it takes four to six weeks for the athletes to acclimate to the high altitude of Colorado Springs (makes me not feel so bad that the hike up Helen Hunt Falls was a bit of a challenge for us!) 

Garden of the Gods - a trip to Colorado Springs almost requires a visit here!

Garden of the Gods rock formations

While these rock formations are no comparison to what we saw at Bryce Canyon a couple of summers ago, they are definitely worth the visit. There are paved trails in the main area of the park (which is where we stayed for this visit), but there are many other trails to explore (which we will have to explore on another visit!)

U.S. Air Force Academy - Our last stop before heading to the airport was to the U.S. Air Force Academy.

U.S. Air Force Academy Chapel

When visiting here, make sure you enter at the right gate (yes, we went to the wrong gate!). Once you make your way to the main visitor's center, you will find a building filled with history, a lot of information about what it takes to attend the academy, and what is required of the students at this academy.

No visit here is complete without making the short walk over to the chapel. What an amazing building! This is a building that should be seen in person, pictures just don't do it justice.

Well, that sums up all the places we were able to visit on our trip to Colorado Springs! And like I said, everything but the cog railway up to Pike's Peak was free!  Do you have a favorite place to visit in Colorado Springs?

July Compassion Share & Tell

Things have been a little (okay, a lot!) quiet here on my blog over the last few weeks. I needed a bit of a blogging break because we had a lot going on in real life. Next week, I hope to share with you about our trip to Colorado. But today, I wrote to my Compassion kids and want to share with you what I wrote to them this month.

This month, because things have been so busy, I decided to use Compassion's online letter writing option. In order to write a letter online, you just need to sign into your Compassion account. Once you have signed in online, you should see an option on the left side of the page to 'Write My Child'. Click on that link, then a new page will come up showing your current Compassion kids.

One nice thing about writing to your child online, there is a 'duplicate this letter' option. By choosing this option, you can basically write the same letter to all of your children, and just make minor adjustments for name, gender, and any specific things you want to add for each child.

Here is my letter to Lina:

Hello Lina!

I hope you and your family are doing well! I have been enjoying your letters with the details of your neighborhood and the details about you. In fact, you and my daughter are the same height, 5'2" tall!

Here is a verse I would like to share with you:

Psalm 1:1-2 - "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night."

Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? I really like the book of Esther, but right now, I have been reading through the book of Psalms. I love being reminded to praise God in all things, and to remember to spend time reading the Bible.

Have you done anything fun during your summer vacation from school? My kids and I were able to take a trip to the state of Colorado. We even took a train ride to the top of one of the highest mountain peaks while we were there. The mountain is called Pike's Peak. I have included a picture of us below.

How is your family? I think about you and your family often, and I pray for all of you often.

I want to remind you that you are a special blessing to me and my family, and that God believes you are a special young lady. Continue to do well in school and learn as much as you can about God and His plans. He has a special purpose for your life and I pray you know how much He loves you.

Sending my love and hugs!

Next month, I will be sure to do handwritten letters to the kids because I keep finding great ideas on Pinterest and fun stickers to mail to them.

Have you written to your Compassion child this month?

Tackle It on Tuesday: Too many socks

So last week, I was almost embarressed to show you my overflowing sock drawer

The drawer was so full, I couldn't even close it all the way! Yikes! 

This is a project that doesn't really take too much time, it is just a matter of making time to do it.

First, I pulled everything out of the drawer and made one pile of socks to discard. My husband likes to use socks in the garage for rags, so rather than throw these away, I was able to give him a full bag of 'new' rags.

When I looked at my 'keep' pile of socks, I knew there were more socks there than I really needed to keep. My daughter took all of the colored short socks. Then I looked at the colored socks and realized I only needed one of each color. I added those to the growing garage sale box out in our garage.

Ah! I believe I can actually close my sock drawer now, and this didn't take much time at all.

What I am planning on tackling next?

Taking a bit of time off!! Yes, there won't be many posts here on the blog over the next three weeks. We have some travel plans, then family coming to visit from out of state, and a week of VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church.

I will still be posting on Instagram if you want to follow me there.

In the meantime though, you can see what some of my blogging friends are up to:

Jill at Compassion Family always has some wonderful Compassion tips to share. But did you know she also has a blog where she shares some of her amazing photography?

Hannah at Because of Shamim has been sharing about missionaries in letters to her Compassion kids.

Aly at One Day Lighter is a new blogging friend of mine, I love how simple her blog is and the Truth she is sharing.

Have a great couple of weeks, and be sure to get out and enjoy summer!