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!

The ABCs of Compassion - Jesus

Out of all the letters of the alphabet for Compassion, this has got to be the most important one.

‘J’ is for Jesus!

Jesus is at the heart of Compassion.

So much so, that Jesus is a part of Compassion’s mission statement:

“Releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name”

In the book, Mission Drift, the authors share that Compassion has been told that if they remove the last three words from their mission statement, they would be able to work in more countries around the world.

And I tell people at events all the time, there are a lot of wonderful organizations doing amazing things to help people who are living in extreme poverty.

But if those people do not know who Jesus is, and if they do not have the opportunity to enter into a relationship with Jesus, they have no eternal hope.

This is why I love volunteering with Compassion!

I love knowing that at each and every Compassion center, the Gospel is being taught to each and every child. And in many cases, the children are sharing about Jesus with their families!

What word would you have chosen to go with the letter ‘J’?

Baking Bucket List

At the beginning of this year, I wrote down a few goals I wanted to accomplish this year. Since I love to bake, I decided to make a list of things I have never made before. My list included the following:

Basically, this is my Baking Bucket List for 2019.

As you can see, I have not made much progress.

But I have made a couple of batches of macaroons (macarons? does anybody know the correct way to spell this word?):

I still have quite a bit of almond flour, so I really should make another batch or two and experiment with different flavors and colors.

They really are not too difficult to make, you just need to make sure to really pay attention to the details.

And bagels?

I have been using a homemade sourdough bagel recipe from this cookbook: Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa

If you have a sourdough starter, you will want to give the bagel recipe a try. They are so delicious and really easy to make.

As far as the rest of my baking bucket list, I am not sure how many recipes I will try this summer.

After all, summer is not the usual time of year to spend a lot of time in the kitchen with the oven on.

What would you put on your baking bucket list?

Compassion by the Numbers

For the past four and a half years, I have been serving as the Volunteer Coordinator for Compassion events in Northern California. In this role, I do a lot of behind the scenes activities to make sure that there is volunteer coverage at all events in Northern California where the Compassion sponsorship opportunity is being presented. This could be any number of events: conferences, concerts, Compassion Experience events, etc.

Our region can be extremely busy!

Over the last six months, I learned that we had 19 events in our region.

For these 19 events, we had 449 volunteers.

At these 19 events with these 449 volunteers, 1293 Compassion children were sponsored!!

What? Say that again!

One thousand, two hundred, ninety three children!

That is basically FIVE Compassion centers of children!!

But the thing I love about Compassion, it is not about the big numbers.

When one child is sponsored, it changes that one child’s life.

That child will have their basic needs met.

That child will learn about how much Jesus loves them.

And when that one child decides to follow Jesus, it impacts them for eternity.

When we look at the overall issue of global poverty, we can feel stuck.

Compassion is helping each one of us tackle global poverty, one child at a time.

I would love for everyone who takes the time to read my blog to sponsor a Compassion child.

Will you sponsor a waiting Compassion child today?

Quilting progress...or not...

At the beginning of this year, I set a goal to complete twelve sewing projects this year. The other part of this goal was to not go out and purchase anything new, just use patterns and fabric that I already have at home.

It is a little embarrassing how much fabric I have purchased over the years. And how many unfinished projects I have…

Like this one…

Yes, I started this quilt in 2003. My daughter was three years old and I was hoping to make a quilt for her.

Fast forward to 2019, I guess it is time to finish this project!

Originally, I decided to make nine of these quilt blocks to make a larger size quilt.

Over the last couple of weeks, I cut out more squares, sewed pieces together, and eventually finished all nine squares.

Then I searched through my fabric stash and found a darker purple to use for the sashing…

Things were coming together quite nicely.

But then, I just wasn’t happy with how large the quilt was going to end up. So…

…out came the seam ripper.

Rather than making one larger quilt, I decided to change things up and make two smaller quilts.

I still have a bit of work to finish up both of the quilt tops, but I am happy I decided to go this route rather than one larger quilt.

So, my quilting friends, have you ever changed things up like this mid-project?