Compassion Joys: September

It's the end of the month- that means it's time to reflect on our Compassion Joys and share them here!

Letters! 

Letters really seem to be picking back up! There have been several days when we received four or five letters from the kids, and in one case, a letter arrived about a week after it was written! That's amazing! This month we heard from Mary (twice), Edmundo (twice), Jeferson, Festus (three times), Sukumar, Jayid, Pitchaya, Eyo, Marc, Thanakan, Ruth, Christine, Frainelyn, Abdias, Rachelle (who we lost as a correspondent this summer, but apparently there was a letter waiting for us in the backlog), Merlyn, Motempa, Vandana, Kevin, Milder, Laura, Nkoyio, Bijay, Reine, Jaki, Mary A., Sandier, Teresia, Jeannette, Brian, Barry, Prayer, Rose, Patricia, Celestine, Amelia, Caleb, Bonifas, Emmanuel T., and Kajal! Some of those were first letters, and others were from kids we hadn't heard from in eight or nine months!

Birthdays! 

We only had a couple of birthdays this month! Jeannette in Rwanda turned 14, Edwing in Nicaragua turned 15, Elisha in Tanzania turned 10, Eyo in Burkina Faso turned 12, and Carla in Bolivia turned 9!

Sponsor-versaries! 

We celebrated two anniversaries this month! We have now been writing to Angelina for two years, and Kevin for one year! I'm so thankful that these sweet kids are in our life!

Photo Updates! 

Several of our kids had photo updates this month!

Caleb and Reine

Edmundo and Emmanuel

Jayid and Isac

Anahi

Amitie and Mary

Christine and Amisha

New Kids! 

We got a new correspondent this month, too! Little Yarianny in the Dominican Republic is turning six next month! I asked to be added to the list for a child in the DR since our Laura will be graduating soon, and Yarianny showed up! She's so cute. :)

We also got a new correspondent in Uganda! Jowan has been in Compassion's program for three years, and has never received any letters. I'm so glad that we get to write to him now! 

Special Photos!

Two special photos came in this month! We got a gift photo of Milder in Peru, who is holding the pencil bag full of presents that I sent with Marissa when she visited Peru this summer. She also took gifts for Kevin, who mentioned a photo in his letter, but it must have become separated from the letter, because there was no photo attached. Compassion is checking up on that for me, and I hope to see his photo soon! Manna 4 Lempira also did some updates recently when the kids got new shoes and our letters, so I got new photos of Zoila! I can't wait to meet her soon!

Upcoming Trip! 

As of today, my trip to Honduras is three weeks and one day away! I am so ridiculously excited, I can't stand it. This week I received my itinerary for the trip, so I know exactly where we are going and when. I know the hotels and the restaurants (restaurant food! We didn't have that in Tanzania!) and I know which centers we are visiting! We will be going to HO229, HO341, and HO409! We will actually spend two days with 409- the first day is a focus on the child survival program, with visits to the homes of some of the moms. And the second day we are going in the afternoon and will do a VBS type session with the kids! It's extra exciting because Marissa, one of my sponsor friends who is also going on the trip, sponsors a girl at 409, so she will get to spend extra time with her! That's so cool! I have heard that there is another sponsor who has a child at that same center, which is just great! I can't wait to get to spend time with my kids and learn about the great work Compassion is doing in Honduras!