Outgoing Mail: Gifts of the Magi

I've been sending a lot of letter replies recently, still catching up from letters received a few weeks ago. One "new" letter I've sent this month is about Christmas!

A few weeks ago, maybe during Thanksgiving week, my pastor was talking about gifts and the things for which we are thankful. He told a cute story about his grandson that I immediately knew I wanted to share with our kids! The short version is that they were playing a "treasure hunt" game, and the treasure that the grandson chose to hide was very unexpected- but it was still precious to him. Our pastor then asked the parents of the church to talk to their kids about what kind of gift they would give Jesus if they could. They are then supposed to bring those to our Christmas Day service, and they'll be placed at the altar. I know he's asked the parents to include a note explaining why the kids chose that gift, and he'll use that in a later message. So I, in turn, asked *my* kids what kind of gift they would give baby Jesus! I also told them about a treasure that is important to me. I really hope that I hear back from several of the kids on this. I tried numbering the questions so the translators or tutors will know to pay special attention to them, as has been recommended on Compassion's website before. We'll see if it works!

I'm sharing the text of the letter here, so you can tweak it if you like. It might be fun to talk to your own sponsor kids about the gifts of the wisemen, and ask them what they would give! I also sent a nativity coloring page (which I found using Google) which you can download and send. And Compassion has two different nativity-themed pieces of stationery on their website!

Hello! Greetings from my family to yours. I can't believe that Christmas is just two weeks away. My pastor shared an interesting story in church last week, and I wanted to pass it along to you. It really had me thinking! Many of his sermons have been about Christmas recently, since the holiday is almost here. He was speaking about gifts. I think we all have gifts on our mind during Christmas, because of the gifts we give each other, and the gifts we receive. We even read about gifts in the Bible, when we read about the wise men who traveled to see baby Jesus and present him with gifts of gold and precious perfumes. My pastor (his name is Bill) had a question for us that had me thinking quite a bit- if we could give a gift to God, what would it be? We usually think about the gifts God gives us, but what would we give him if we had the chance? Bill then told us about an afternoon he spent with his grandson (I think he is 6 years old.) Bill and his wife were visiting their daughter and her family for Thanksgiving. The grandson likes to play a game called "treasure hunt," where he hides a treasure in a box and then they make a map to go find it. And he said "it has to be a treasure!" A treasure is something very special and valuable- even if it is not worth a lot of money, it may have a special emotional value. So the grandson hid the treasure, and Bill followed the map to find it. When he opened the box, he was surprised to see that the treasure was a bread roll from Thanksgiving dinner the day before! At first, it didn't seem like a treasure- but then Bill remembered that his grandson had eaten four or five of those rolls during dinner! He loved them so much and they were his favorite part of the meal- and he would have eaten more if he could! So this was a treasure to him. Something very special that he wanted to share with his grandfather. Bill asked us what gift we could give to Jesus if we had the chance, and asked the parents in our church to ask their children the same question. On Christmas, the children can bring their gifts and leave them at the altar as a symbol of their gift to God. I can't wait to see what they bring. I wanted to ask you two questions. 1. What is something that you treasure? 2. What would you give to baby Jesus if you had been there when he was born? For me, something I treasure is the Bible that belonged to my friend and mentor Betty, who passed away a few years ago. And I think I would make a soft blanket of the finest yarn for baby Jesus, so he wouldn't have to sleep wrapped in rags and dirty cloths in the manger. 
I hope to hear from you soon! I love you so much and I am praying for you every day. I can't wait to learn about your replies to my questions! 
Love, Jessi

Guest Post: How to host a letter-writing party!

Recently I've been thinking of ways to get sponsors excited about letter-writing. I asked my friend Hannah to tell us about her recent letter-writing parties! She has some amazing ideas, and I'm excited to try them out! 

When Jessi asked me to write about our letter writing parties, I was so excited! I hadn't thought to blog about it, but we've enjoyed the time so much that I'd love to share what we do and I'd love to hear if you have suggestions!

So far we have hosted three letter writing parties. We just emailed fellow Compassion sponsors that we wanted to have a letter writing party and asked that people arrive with their kids' names and numbers, previous letters (to reply to) and $1 per sponsored child to pitch in for shipping and supply cost.

In preparation, I went to the Dollar Tree and found a bunch of goodies: fun paper, cute birthday cards, stickers, sticker books, activity books, and large coloring books to tear pages out. I also gathered postcards, folders, and bookmarks I had lying around. Then I printed some templates from Elephant Grace and I wrote up a list of letter writing topics inspired by Compassion's 80 Letter Writing Prompts.

We keep things very low key…just water and popcorn for refreshments! Although sometimes folks now show up with muffins or cookies.

Set up was easy too…I folded index cards in half and labeled them: Templates, Prompts, Fun Paper, Stickers, etc. to help people find what they wanted. I also had a pile labeled, "Completed Letters Here: Is your child's name and number on each item? Your name and number?"

While at the first party I supplied almost everything, now people are bringing ideas and suggestions! My mum brought instructions and extra paper for paper airplanes, origami instructions, and fun Easter paper to our last party! And my friend brought origami paper.

I also like to include samples of what I am sending to my kids. For example, I put out a few of my birthday folders for people to see what I send for birthdays. (You can see my birthday folders in these blog posts. And this last party, since we were writing Easter letters, I included an example of what I did to make a card with the Easter paper my mum provided.

Sometimes we watch a movie to inspire us in our sponsorship journey (Compassion has wonderful videos on their website and blog) and we hope to begin incorporating praying for our kids. Due to having two little ones, it is a bit chaotic, but so much fun!

I love the aspect of getting together with other sponsors and talking about our kids. It's so fun to read their letters, to see what they have to say and to see the pictures that they draw!

Another fun thing is working together to supply everyone with goodies. I write to a lot of kids…over 40, so it takes me a while to create origami flowers for each kid. But at these events, my sister, who sponsors two (one being an LDP student!), likes to help me make things for my kids! It is such fun to team up and work together to encourage our kids.

So if you are thinking about hosting a party, I say go for it! We have really enjoyed the time. It doesn't have to be complicated, and will be very encouraging to all those involved.

And if you have hosted a party and have tips and suggestions, I'd love to hear them! I'm all for more ideas!

Outgoing Mail: Christmas

Well, poo. I was hoping to take some notes and some pictures to share- especially since I am sending so much stuff- and then remembered to do those things after I taped up the box! So I offer my apologies for a disjointed post of hazy recollections (and no pictures), but since I put my Christmas stuff out in the mail for the kiddos this week, I thought it would be a good time for an Outgoing Mail post!

Before I get into the Christmas details, let me tell you what else is on its way! 

We have lot of upcoming birthdays in October and November. Brenda, Prayer, Said, Carlos, and Mary will all be having birthdays soon. I put together a folder for each of them: Said got one with elephants; Mary got one covered in glitter (I hope she likes it as much as I do- I will admit to patting my hair with it in the hopes of some slight sparkle transference), Carlos got a manly blue folder which I decorated with giant soccer ball stickers, Prayer got a cool holofoil tie dye folder, and Brenda's was scratch-and-sniff with pictures of candy, because she has talked about candy several times in her letters (including telling me her best friend is her best friend because he shares is candy with her!) Inside each letter I included a birthday card, some activity sheets (United States seek-and-finds, among others), some sticker sheets, and a drawing done by yours truly. I'm always telling my kids I like to draw, and I like their pictures, so I hope they like the ones I sent them, too! I also sent a small gift for each of the kids. Carlos got a Spanish world atlas, Mary got a pretty journal, Said got a small coloring book for older kids, Prayer got a connect the dots book, and Brenda got a princess coloring book. As an added bonus, I included a fun Mickey Mouse workbook for Jayid, because he said in his last letter that he is working on English lessons. The book had a page for each letter of the alphabet, along with practice sentences and fun activities. It was basically a phonics book for younger children, but he's not that old and English would be his second language. I hope he likes it! 

And now onto Christmas! This was quite an undertaking- lately I have just been sending a few gifts at a time, for birthdays and special occasions. I actually made a chart/checklist for my kiddos to make sure that all 26 of them got everything I intended to send. I wrote out each of their names and numbers, along with a place for me to put a check mark for a card, a letter, and a gift. Then I marked each of the kids who spoke English, because I did have a few possible gifts to send that would work best for English speakers. Then I got to work! I wrote out a Christmas card for each child, and included the following inscription: "I hope you and your family have a happy Christmas and a blessed New Year! Lots of love, 

Jessi." Simple and easy to translate. All year long (well, since last Christmas) I have been setting aside Christmas cards that would be appropriate for sponsor kids- no mention of piles of presents or other stuff that wouldn't apply to them, no focus on snow, etc. I have leftover cards from years past, cards from the dollar store, cards that my aunt received as  thank you gifts from various charities, and cards that my mom got on clearance last year from her store. All in all I have enough cards for my own kiddos, plus about 150 left over to send to unsponsored kids! 

For my Christmas letter, I basically write out what my holiday routine is. I don't really talk about presents other than to say that my family members exchange gifts on Christmas Day- it would be inappropriate to talk about quantities or say something like "each person gives everyone presents," because even that sounds like a lot. By just saying "exchanging gifts", I leave it open to interpretation. And our kids want to know, too. In some countries, kids don't receive Christmas gifts until AFTER Christmas, because of cultural traditions. Or sometimes people just do gifts on Christmas Eve. By keeping it vague yet informational, I'm satisfying my kids' curiosity about my culture and my traditions while still staying sensitive to their own situations. A lot of my kids also like to talk about food in their culture, so I usually throw in a mention of my family sharing a meal together, and may add something like "one traditional food to have for Christmas in my country is turkey. Do you have turkeys where you live?" Again, I'm providing some vague information without going into great detail about the sheer volume of food (most of it incredibly unhealthy) we consume over the holidays. I also like to share a bit about snow in my Christmas letters, and tell my kids that where I live, snow is unpredictable- but it is lots of fun when it happens on Christmas. I ask them what the weather is like in their countries during Christmas, too. 

Finally, we get to the gifts! I know a lot of sponsors are always looking for fun ideas for stuff to send to their kids. I can't remember exactly what I sent to each child this year, but I can try to write down what I do recall. Hopefully my list will help if you are looking for ideas for gifts- and I'd love to hear about what other people are sending their kids, too!

• The 12 youngest kids are getting small, super-skinny Christmas activity books I found at Hobby Lobby (pack of 12 for 4.99, continuously 40% off.) Even if they can't read the instructions on the activity pages, they can still color the pictures and share them with their friends! 
• Two kids are getting student planners- probably Mary and Victor because they are the oldest English speakers. They are weekly planners with helpful tips like measurement charts, grammatical advice, and other nifty things. One had a car on it and the other had a butterfly. 
• Some of the kids are getting mini wall calendars. Michaels has tons of designs for $1 each. Some of them are pretty yet gender-neutral, such as the calendar with colorful pictures (a rainbow lollipop for this month, a close-up of a pack of crayons the next.) There were also hot air balloons, lighthouses, kittens, puppies....and my favorite, dogs dressed in fancy costumes. Like, tiaras and feather boas. I know I sent that one to Patricia because for some reason I had the feeling she would get a kick out of it. 
• Two of the kids got skinny drawing pads from Target's dollar spot. And one kid got a writing pad from the same place (it had Sesame Street characters so it wasn't as boring as it sounds!) 
• One child got a pack of origami papers with instructions- it might have been Barry because I saw that the instructions came in English and French, and being from Burkina Faso, he speaks French. 
• One child got a "sticker by number" kit from the Dollar Tree, which is exactly like paint by number, except with stickers
• A few of the kids got coloring books, including Sofia the First, Sesame Street, and Bible stories
• One or two of the girls got journals I found in the clearance bin at Michaels (regularly a dollar, they were 50% off!) 
• Carlos got a mini Max Lucado book in Spanish
• I found a Spanish word book thing at the used bookstore for one of the younger girls. I couldn't understand what it said, but I gathered that it was like a seek and find- "in this picture find one gorilla, two giraffes, three ostriches, etc.) It was skinny and paperback and I was happy because it was Spanish! 
• Caleb got an atlas
• Jayid got a Batman activity book, because Batman is semi-universal and he would have English help if he needed it. 
• The littlest kids got super cute nativity coloring books my mom pulled from last year's Chrismas clearance. I've been hanging onto them all year!
• The neatest new find: bookmark calendars. It's a stack of bookmarks bound together like a little flip book. When a new month starts, you can tear off the next bookmark- it has the calendar for the month on there along with a little picture (butterflies, lighthouses, Psalms, kittens, whatever.) The bookmarks, bound together, come in at just under a quarter of an inch, and because they are flexible and meet the requirements for Compassion and customs, they can be sent as-is. They're really neat- they can be found at Michaels in the dollar bins. Each bookmark calendar comes with three magnetic bookmark clips, which of course can't be sent to the kids, but you can just take everything out of the package, pop a label on the calendar, and voila. You have new magnetic bookmarks (I have a ton of them now!) 

All in all, between my stuff and the birthday folders my mom sent in the same box, we filled a large priority mail box to the brim! I hope all the kids like what I'm sending- now I need to work on restocking my box of paper gifts! I pretty well cleaned it out!

What are you sending your sponsor kids for Christmas? Have you found anything cool to send recently that you haven't seen or thought of before? 

Memory Verse: February

As I mentioned last month, I am doing a series of posts with memory verses this year! Since I am reading through the Bible with my Bible study group, I am encouraging my kids to memorize Bible verses with me. I plan on presenting the verses to them creatively each month, to encourage them to memorize!

I just finished writing letters to my kids, and I mentioned Valentines Day. I said that we have a holiday here on February 14 that celebrates love. I tell them that school children often give each other small cards, and sometimes share candy with each other, and that married people sometimes give each other flowers! I also told them that my parents were married on Valentines Day!

Going on with the theme of love, I chose a verse from the Bible about love! This month's verse is Matthew 22:37.

"Jesus said, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and 

all your soul and all your mind.'" 

This month, I decided to make bookmarks for the kids! I started with plain, colored printer paper. I would have preferred to use red, but the closest I had was fluorescent pink! I opened up Microsoft Publisher and made heart shapes with the shape tool- three per page. I then put text boxes inside each heart, with the verse. I printed them out, cut out the hearts, and laminated them! If you don't have access to a laminating machine, you can use clear packing tape instead. There are also self-stick laminating pages available at office supply stores, and most stores that have a decent office supply aisle (like Target or Walmart.) The hearts were cut out again, and I punched small holes in the top of each one. I found some ribbon and looped two pieces through the top of each one. If I had wider ribbon, I would have just used one piece. I know that small pieces of ribbon are acceptable to Compassion, but I always include a note saying it can be removed if necessary. Tasya made me some bookmarks last year (that's where I got the idea!) and put a little bit of ribbon through those, so it should be ok! Just as long as you keep it short and unobtrusive, it should be fine. 

Here's the result: 

I hope everyone likes them! Even the boys.   : ) Because I am including stickers with the bookmarks, I put each one in an envelope and then wrote our names and numbers on there. I had originally planned to send the bookmarks by themselves, and if I had, I would have put that information on a blank label, to make sure they got to the kids! 

Memory Verse: January

Last year, I did a series of posts filled with letter writing topics for each month. I'm not sure I could come up with new ideas for this year (usually my letters are pretty improvised, anyway.) I thought I'd try something new this year!

My Bible study group and I are reading through the Bible chronologically. I plan on writing to my kids about this project, as I have written to them about Bible studies in the past. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could get my kids to participate in a scripture memory project, though. I'm sure some of them don't have complete access to a Bible (they may not see one every day of the week), but I can share a verse with them each month, sometimes in creative ways, and encourage them to memorize it. Scripture memorization is so important! It seems daunting at times, but it can be easy. Memorizing Bible verses is an important weapon in our arsenal against spiritual warfare. It also shows God that we think His word is important enough to commit to memory. And to some people, access to the Bible is a privilege. My mom told me once about a Christian woman in Asia who was practicing her faith illegally and in secret. She knew she would be found out soon, so she worked so very hard to commit as much scripture to memory as possible, so she could recite it to herself in prison. Prisoners of war also shared Bible verses they had memorized during the Vietnam War. If you found yourself in a similar situation, how many verses do you think you'd be able to remember? We have Bibles everywhere- you can even get them at the grocery. But what if God called you to a situation where Bibles were not available, or were even illegal? We wouldn't have the "crutch" of being able to grab a Bible and open it whenever we want to.

So here is the verse I chose for this month:

The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy all your needs.

Isaiah 58:11

This month, I'm going to send my kids a card with the verse printed on it. Since it is basically the arctic tundra where I live right now, I was inspired by the weather and printed the verse on a pretty snowy background!

I'm hoping to be a bit more creative for the verses I'll be sending throughout the year, but for a last minute decision, I think it turned out pretty well! I'm printing the verses on cardstock, about the size of an index card, so they'll hold up a little better. 

December Letter-Writing Topics

And just like that, the year is done! If you have sponsor kids, I hope that you've been able to write to them at least a few times this year. Our letters mean so much to our kids, even if they aren't able to write back as frequently as we hope. Letter-writing is the most valuable part of sponsorship, and has the most lasting impact!

Here are some final letter-writing ideas for the year!

1. Christmas. Of course, the biggie should be listed first! There are SO many things you could write about Christmas. I always like to tell my kids how I celebrate Christmas with my family. They usually give me a rundown of how they spend Christmas day in return! I'll tell them how we visit Brandon's grandparents (his mom's parents) on Christmas Eve, and visit with that side of the family. Then Christmas morning last year I made breakfast for my parents, my brother, and my grandparents. As a child, my grandparents always came to my house to eat breakfast (and open presents) with us, and it was so much fun playing hostess in my own home! For lunch we go to my grandparents' (my dad's parents) and see that side of the family, then go to Brandon's other grandparents' (his dad's parents) and see all the Joneses. And we tend to finish out the night having dinner or snacks at my aunt's house. I don't put this in my letters, but this is a tradition left over from my childhood- after lunch, the family would come by my house and show proper excitement over the present my brother and I received, then we'd have a nap (or a break to play with toys!) and go to my aunt's house to see my cousin's presents and have dinner there! Christmas as a married couple is VERY busy (I do include that part in my letters!) because of all the family that we see, but I love it all! And then there is the most important part of Christmas- Jesus! I like telling my kids about the Christmas church services we have, and ask them if they go to church on Christmas. I also ask them how they celebrate at the projects they attend- every child who has written to me about the holiday has mentioned a party at the center! I wish I could go to those parties! It would also be great if you can send some holiday photos of your family along with your letters- this year I plan on digging up some Christmas pictures from my childhood and putting them in some online letters! I know Tasya loves seeing pictures of me when I was little, and I hope the other kids do, too. : )
2. New Year's. Will you celebrate New Year's in any special way? Do you stay up late to wait until midnight? New Year's celebrations can be a fun thing to write about- just use discretion when talking about the festivities (don't talk about alcohol, and you can probably avoid the subjects of Ryan Seacrest and the ball drop, because there's no way that's going to make sense to anyone who doesn't live here!) You can also talk about the topic of New Year's resolutions. Are you going to make any? You can even ask your child if there's anything he or she wants to accomplish in the new year. Just don't put too much pressure on them (or yourself.) You could say something like "the new year is a time of new beginnings. It is a good time to set goals for ourselves! Next year I am going to try to read my Bible more! What would you like to do in the new year?"
3. Family. A lot of people spend more time with their families in December than any other time of year. This would be a fun time to write a little introduction to your family and send it to your sponsor child. You could make simple family trees with pictures, send family portraits (especially if you do photo Christmas cards) or even make a little photo album to send! If you want to make a photo album, you will need some card stock for a cover, a color printer for the pages inside, and a stapler! Simply make a little booklet full of printed pages- you could do a page for each member of your family, for instance. Be sure to leave a little room for the translation of your caption! Anything you make to send your sponsor child has to be less than a quarter of an inch thick, be a bendy paper product (for example, you couldn't send a children's board book) and fit in a 9x12 envelope. Don't forget to label whatever you send with your child's name and number, and your name and number as well!
4. Snow. I am praying for a white Christmas! We haven't had very wintry weather yet this year, and we hardly had any snow last year. If you live in a region that experiences cold weather this time of year, you can talk about the weather in your letters. For most of us, talking about the weather means we don't have anything else to talk about. But telling your sponsor child about snow, ice and frost can be fun! You can talk about snowmen and snow angels, or even snowball fights. You can share how the frost on windows forms pretty patterns, and maybe send a picture or two of some impressive icicles if you have any this year! My city was hit with a big ice storm in 2009, which is the year before I started sponsoring children, but I have used some of the pictures I took during the ice storm in my letters to illustrate just what kind of crazy weather we can get here!
5. Generosity and love. 'Tis the season for giving. While our sponsor kids don't have the same kind of resources we have, nor as many opportunities to give, we can still talk about generosity and giving with them. Share a Bible story about giving or kindness with them; some examples could be the story of the good Samaritan, or the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people after a boy gave up his lunch to share with others. If you have an older child who reads English, it's entirely possible to find a copy of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that fits the requirements to send through the mail (a thin paperback copy would be perfect!) Tell your child that it's important to share what we have with others out of love. I was so happy and humbled when Victor recently wrote me a letter saying that he hopes to help other children as I do (through sponsorship and letter-writing) when he grows up and gets a job! 

Outgoing Mail

Last week was payday, so it's time (according to my own personal schedule) to send out letters to my kiddos once again! : )

This time around, the letters I'm sending are written on this really pretty printer paper I found at Hobby Lobby. It's regularly priced at $2.49, but was half off since it's "autumn." I really recommend their stationery department and holiday sections for pretty paper! I picked up some Christmas paper while I was there, too.

I'm sending out Thanksgiving letters this week, since it's almost Thanksgiving and I have the paper to match! All the kids are getting the same letter, because it's age-appropriate for all of them. Here's what I wrote, using Victor's letter as an example: 

Hello Victor!

I hope you and your family are doing well. How is your schooling? I am praying for your studies! My family and I are good. I was sick with a cough last week, but I went to the doctor and he was able to help me. Now I am doing better!
We are getting ready for a fun holiday here in the United State. On November 28, we will celebrate Thanksgiving. This is a day for families to get together and remember we have a lot to be thankful for. Many families celebrate this holiday while sharing a meal together. Often, this meal includes eating turkey! Do you have turkeys where you live? This year, my church has made a goal to bring Thanksgiving dinner to 300 families in our community. I am glad that we are able to help in this way. Brandon and I will be having Thanksgiving celebrations with my family, and then with his family! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. 

I think it's good to try to find something to be thankful for every day. This is a good time to practice doing that. I want to tell you some things I'm thankful for. I am thankful for Jesus, that I can have a relationship with Him and be with Him in heaven one day. I'm thankful for my church. I'm thankful for my family, and for Brandon's family. And I'm thankful for Brandon, too! I'm also thankful for you, Victor. I love you so much. You are a very big blessing to me, and I thank God every day for bringing you into my life. What are some things you're thankful for?

I hope to get another letter from you soon! Your letters are precious to me- I save all of them! I love hearing from you and learning about your life. I am praying for you every day!
Lots of love, 

Jessi

I think that it's important to be sensitive about certain issues while talking about celebrations (and meals) with our kids, but that doesn't mean we have to avoid the subjects altogether. I was able to write to my kids about how this holiday is traditionally celebrated without saying "I will have such a big lunch that Brandon's grandparents will be disappointed when I don't eat any dinner when we go to their house." And I didn't even say what we'll be eating- just that many families traditionally eat a turkey. Hopefully I will hear back from some of the kids on this turkey issue- I really am curious as to how many of them have turkeys in their countries. : )

Along with the letters, I am sending a Thanksgiving poem on some cute little cards I found at the Dollar Tree. They had them in the teaching supply section- a packet of 10 cardstock cards on autumn-themed paper (I got a pack of each design), and they also came with envelopes. I printed out a Thanksgiving poem and glued it to the cardstock, then laminated it at work. 

The envelope also provides a handy delivery method for some other extras I'm sending to the kids this month. Here's a list of what everyone's getting:

• Mary and Victor are getting little Christmas devotional books that Billy Graham wrote. They were just published this fall. Having English-speaking older kids means I can send them cool stuff like this! : )
• Mishel is getting a pink notepad with a picture of a puppy and a Bible verse on it, which I found at Lifeway for an amazing price. The verse is in Spanish. I don't know what it says, but the puppy is cute!
• Carlos is getting some Kentucky postcards and a cross-shaped bookmark. 
• Said is getting a pocket-sized Bible-themed word search book (again, Lifeway!) Though he doesn't speak English, he can still search for the words. Each page has a theme (such as a chapter in Acts) and then the words are based on objects, places, and characters in that passage. It's fun and it encourages him to read his Bible!
• Tasya, Prayer, Bonifas, and Jayid are all getting fall-themed sticker books
• Elisha and Brenda, who are 7 and 6 years old, are also getting sticker books that are geared toward younger kids. All the sticker books came from Michael's and cost $1 each. They have great sticker books for all the holidays!

November Letter-Writing Topics

We're almost at the end of the year! I can't believe it! Here are some ideas for letters to sponsor kids this month. : )

1. Thanksgiving. Well, this one's pretty obvious. You can write to your sponsor child about Thanksgiving! Just leave out the parts about nationwide gluttony and midnight shopping sprees. : ) You can say that in the United States we have a holiday celebrating thankfulness in November. You can say that this is a time when many families come together and have a meal together. You can even say that traditionally, that meal involves eating turkey! Tell your child what you're thankful for (my kids are at the top of my list!) and ask them what they are thankful for. Many countries also celebrate a thanksgiving holiday, even if they don't take place in November, so your sponsor child may write back about that! There's also an abundance of crafts you can send this time of year- handprint turkeys, construction paper cornucopias. You can also make some artwork out of Bible verses about thankfulness!
2. United States government. We don't have any elections this year, but November is when we tend to have the big ones. Why not write a letter about our government? Keep it super simple, and maybe stick to the older kids with this sort of letter. But there is quite a bit you can talk about. You can say that our country was founded in 1776 by people who moved here from Europe. You can say that we have had 44 presidents, and tell a little bit about the one we have now. You can say that the capitol is in Washington, DC, and describe where that is in relation to where you live ("it is located in the eastern United States, about 15 hours away from where I live!") And you could talk about the kinds of things that are in Washington, like museums and important government buildings and a zoo! And it's so easy to find coloring pages and other activities about our government, the presidents and everything else. 
3. Veterans Day. This holiday is on November 11. If you know any veterans, you can write about this holiday and tell your kids it's a day that we honor people who have served in the United States military. If you know any veterans, you can talk about them. My alma mater has a really cool tradition- every year they have a Veterans Day service. They have breakfast for the veterans in the gym, and all kinds of people come. It was always neat to see which classmates had family members who served. The junior class serves breakfast- when I was a junior I didn't work with the food, but I was a greeter and handed out carnations for our veterans to wear on their lapels. Then they have a special chapel service, including songs sung by all the different choirs, and a presentation of an art piece that the art department works on for the first several months of the school year. They've done murals depicting the memorials in Washington DC, and for four years of the five years that I was there, they did murals for different branches of the armed services. And then they recognize the different veterans by asking them to please stand as different wars and conflicts were announced. Up until very recently we had a veteran of World War I who was still able to attend the services (he passed away my senior year, I think.) So if I write about Veteran's Day this year, I might write about those experiences I had in high school (and my brother in law is still at that school, and my father in law usually comes to the service!)
4. Local holidays. There are several holidays in November that are celebrated in the countries where Compassion works. Children's day in India is celebrated on the 14th, which is the birthday of India's first prime minister. The Day of the Dead is a very popular holiday in Mexico, but I'm not sure how much a Compassion center would talk about that with the kids. November 10 is National Heroes Day in Indonesia, and Revolution Day is celebrated on the 20th in Mexico. 
5. Christmas. This is just a reminder that if you want to send Christmas stuff to your sponsor kids, you will want to be sending them soon! I would recommend sending them no later than the 15th, the middle of the month. It takes time for everything to get sorted at Compassion, then things need to be mailed to the countries, translated, and delivered. Don't forget to label any extras you're sending, like activity books, with your sponsor info and your child's name and number!

Outgoing Mail

No letters for me this week- but I do have some going out when I get paid on Thursday! Here's a little bit about what I'm sending to the kiddos this week.

This week, I'm sending out Christmas goodies! Since Christmas is about two months away, this is the best time to send Christmas gifts and cards to your kids. If you  have sponsor kids, I strongly recommend that you go ahead and send them some treats for Christmas now, so they get them in time for the holidays!

This year, I am sending out sticker books for each of my kids. Michael's craft stores already have a ton of Christmas stuff in their stores. They usually have some great dollar items (for you shoebox shoppers!), but this year, I haven't seen much there that will work for our Compassion kids. However, they ALWAYS have really amazing sticker books from a company called Darice. They do sticker books for all the major holidays, and they have a huge variety of sticker books for Christmas! Licensed characters, neon, an "alpine" theme, more traditional scenes, etc. I got some more mature looking sticker books for some of my older kids, some nativity books for the youngest ones (they are really cartoon-y), a Minnie Mouse one for Tasya (because she is always wearing a Minnie Mouse shirt in her pictures) and I specifically got a snow-themed one for Joane, who lives in Haiti. Ice does not form naturally anywhere in Haiti- even in the mountains! Snow is something she would never ever see. I know some of my other kids live in tropical, hot areas, but for most of them, they have a snow-capped mountain somewhere in their country. I just thought of Joane when I saw this book, so I picked it out for her.

My kids are also getting Christmas cards. I am sending out penguin Christmas cards this year, with a brief message inside. I got these cards last year at Lifeway, where my mom works. They are made of a really nice quality paper, so they should hold up in shipping and will probably last a long time. The younger kids are also getting nativity sticker scenes, which I found at Hobby Lobby. They're about $4 per dozen sticker sheets, but Hobby Lobby is always running their stuff 40-50% off.

Now, on to the letters. I am sending regular letters this mail run, not Christmas themed ones. I will send a Christmas themed one closer to Christmas, describing my family's traditions and what we'll be doing for the holidays. I found some really pretty paper at the Dollar Tree last week. It's just printer paper, but the borders are dark blue with yellow stars. I really like the paper!

In my letters this month, I've written a greeting paragraph. I mentioned that it is starting to get very cold where I live, and that on Wednesday, we saw a few snowflakes in the air- but they melted before they hit the ground! I asked each of my kids how cold it gets where they live. I know that some of them live in areas where it's constantly hot and humid, but there are some areas, like the mountains, where it can get cool.

In the next paragraph, I mentioned that a sad thing has happened recently, because my friend Jessica passed away. I mentioned this in all my letters except for the very youngest kids, and for Bonifas and Elisha (they got introductory letters this week.) I said that Jessica had some disabilities and she had been sick for a long time, but now she is in heaven and she is healthy and whole. I asked them to pray for my friend Laura, Jessica's mom, and her family.

After that, for most of my kids, I wrote a little bit about my Bible study group. Most of my kids are aware that I do Bible studies with some friends of mine. Sometimes I write about what we're studying, and ask them if they're familiar with the story or the topic. I usually get a response! Right now we're finishing up Priscilla Shirer's One In A Million. Here's what I wrote this time:

"My friends and I are doing a Bible study together about the Israelites in the wilderness. Have you read this Bible study? After they left Egypt and escaped from slavery, the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years before they reached the promised land. It was frustrating, but God took care of them the whole time! He provided food and water, guided their travels, and He never left them. God is always with us, even when we feel like we are in the wilderness." 

I wrapped up the letters with some affirmations for my kids: I reminded them that they are precious to me and I love them very much, and that I'm praying for them every day.

So that's what I'm taking to the post office this week! I am going to put everything in a flat rate envelope this morning, because my last package was so heavy, it cost more than $10 to send! What are you sending your kids for the holidays?

October Letter-Writing Topics

Wow! October is here already! It's time for another letter-writing post! Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Parents. My parents both have birthdays in October, so I am sure I will be writing about that. But even if your parents don't have birthdays right now, you can still write and tell your kids more about them. Tell them about their likes and interests. If they are married, you can share how long they have been together- or even tell your child how they met! I also think it would be fun to send both old and new pictures of your parents to your kids. I had this idea this weekend when Brandon's aunt wrote a facebook post about her 33rd wedding anniversary. She posted some pictures from their wedding, and then some recent pictures taken at their youngest daughter's wedding earlier in the summer. The pictures were a lot of fun to see! 
2. Harvest  Festivals. Don't even bother writing about Halloween to your kids. Compassion does frown on it, and anyway, it's pretty hard to explain in acceptable and/or understandable terms. "We have a holiday where people like to dress up as scary things and then get lots of candy. Also there are skulls, ghosts, and vampires." Yeah....it's not going to go over well, so just skip it. But you can talk about things that are sort of related. You can write about pumpkins and explain that sometimes there are special pumpkins that are used as art- these pumpkins aren't for eating, but they can be carved with designs and a candle is placed inside to light up the carving. If your church has a harvest festival, you can also talk about that, too-  just skip most of the Halloween ties. You could say "every year in October my church has a party for the local children. Some of them dress up in fun outfits. They play games and sometimes receive some candy or other small treats." 
3. Fall treats. Discussing food with your sponsor child can be tricky and sensitive, but this is one way that you can talk about food without bringing up any awkward issues. Most of our kids have at least some familiarity with farming and growing fruits and vegetables. Have you ever been apple picking? This is usually the time of year that people do that! Same with pumpkin picking. Tell your child about some of the things people make with this produce. Apple cider and pumpkin pies are easy things to describe to our kids (how they look and taste, and most importantly, how they smell!) that won't sound insensitive. 
4. Teachers. October is home to International World Teacher's Day, which I honestly didn't know what a thing. You don't have to tell your child about this little holiday, but you could still ask about his or her teacher and tell them about a teacher who had an impact on your life. 
5. Local wildlife. Did you know that October is Squirrel Awareness Month? I didn't either until a few minutes ago, but there you have it. I actually wanted to share this topic with you even if it wasn't directly related to October. Recently Victor wrote to me saying he wanted to learn more about my country. I asked him what he wanted to know about, and then told him I would love to know more about his country. I asked him about the animals that live near him, and then I told him a little bit about what kinds of animals live near me. I listed things like deer, skunks, cardinals, raccoons, and of course, squirrels. Then I thought that Victor probably didn't know what half those things were, so I printed up a little guide. I found pictures of some local animals and labeled them, then at the top of the page I wrote "Kentucky Wildlife." I even printed it on cardstock so it would last longer. I am thinking about making other sheets like these to show other things from my state and country!

Outgoing Mail

I'm sure it seems like I've been doing quite a few of these posts lately, but I am sending some pretty cool extras in this batch of letters, and I wanted to share! : )

First, though, I wanted to talk about something I learned recently regarding letter-writing. There was a discussion on Our Compassion, sort of a social network for sponsors (it's mostly just forums, but still very handy and a nice way to make new friends) about correspondence kids, and somewhere in the jumble of responses was a question about how often correspondence sponsors are allowed to write. As far as all of us knew, there is no limit (though you can only write one online letter per day), but someone said they remembered receiving a letter a long time ago asking correspondence sponsors to just write once a month. While no one ever came up with any recent proof of any request like this, one sponsor whose family visited Tanzania earlier this year offered up some helpful information. She said that when they visited the field office, the staff said that because of the expense of translation and postage and everything else, it might be best if correspondence sponsors only write once a month or so. And when you think about it, this isn't a bad plan, because it puts less pressure on the kids to remember every letter they've received in a certain period of time when they go to write their responses! Now I don't think that I could just write once a month, but I am going to try a new system for myself- writing twice a month. I've decided to do send my letters on the weekends I get paid (which is twice a month.) That will be an easy time for me to remember to write, and it also works out pretty well for those times I need to send a big envelope via the post office! Right now I'm writing between 2-4 times a month (usually every week and a half or so, actually), so it won't be too big of an adjustment. But I thought I would share my idea for a letter writing schedule in case it helps anyone who might be reading the blog (and I thought the info from Tanzania was interesting- when I go in March I plan on hugging everyone who works at the field office and thanking them for taking care of my letters!)

And now, onto my letters for my kids!

This time around, I wrote three unique response letters for the kids I've heard from recently. The other seven kids are getting very similar letters, with some minor tweaks. I responded directly to Mary and Carlos' letters, asking them some questions and replying to what they wrote to me. I added a little something fun to Victor's that I plan on using for my other kids in the future. Victor told me he wants to know more about my country, so I told him I'd be happy to tell him more, and asked him what he wanted to know. I then told him I would love to know more about his country, Kenya. For starters, I asked him about the animals that live in his area. I then told him a little bit about the animals that live in my area. I said in Kentucky we have squirrels, deer, raccoons, skunks, and many kinds of birds. Then I made a little "field guide" of local animals- just a sheet of card stock with "Animals of Kentucky" printed across the top, and included six pictures of local animals (and labelled them!) I have thought about doing something like this before, but the impetus for finally doing it was the realization that "skunk" is a pretty funny word and I kind of doubt that a lot of my kids have ever heard of them! : ) I saved the document for future use with my other kids, and I hope to make more little "field guides" like this one for other subjects!

For the other letters, I opened with greetings and talked a little bit about the weather. I mentioned that we are enjoying the beautiful weather the change of seasons brings, and that the leaves on the trees will start to change colors soon.

Then I addressed school- I wanted to check in with my kids on how they're doing. I told them they are ALL very smart, good students and hard workers, and that I'm proud of them. I asked them what they have been studying recently.

Before signing off, I talked a little bit about our church service this weekend, which I thought was very good and provided an opportunity to talk briefly and simply (in terms easy to understand) about God with my kids. I also asked what they have learned in church recently, or at the center if I wasn't sure if they attend church.

"Today in church we heard a wonderful message. It was about the importance of showing love to all God's people, because that's what Jesus would do! Jesus was nice to everyone He met on earth, even if others were mean to them or ignored them. And we should follow His example!"

And now, for the fun extras! Mary, Carlos, and Said all have birthdays in November, so I am sending them birthday cards and extra special gifts. Carlos is getting a Spanish version of a little "Experiencing God" devotional booklet, which I found at Lifeway (there are lots of skinny Spanish books in their Spanish aisle!) Mary is getting a pretty notebook with a songbird on it. It has a verse from the psalms on the front that references singing, because Mary loves to sing! And Said will be getting a little origami book with a few sheets of origami paper- I found that at the Dollar Tree and it looks pretty fun! Victor is getting a Kentucky Derby postcard and a scripture card. Tasya is getting a little Dover paper doll book with princesses (and glitter!) Brenda is getting one of the English/Spanish princess storybooks I found at Target a few months ago- this one is about Belle and her horse Philippe! Mishel is getting a paperback storybook about Jesus feeding the multitudes, in Spanish, from Lifeway, of course. : ) Prayer and Jayid will be getting sticker sheets and postcards. And last but not least, Joane will be getting a cute little notebook I found in Target's dollar spot. The cover is made of that brown craft paper, with foil gold accents. They had several different designs and they all come in *exactly* at a quarter inch thick! 

I just love sending fun extra gifts to our kids! What stuff have you found recently to send to your kiddos? 

Outgoing Mail

Yesterday my mom, my mother in law, and I were having a conversation, and the topic of praying for our leaders came up. Whether or not you agree with a politician, you should always pray for them and for their decisions. And as a Christian, you can't ever really say that the wrong person won an election, because if you believe that, then you don't believe God's will is sovereign. Which is hard to deal with sometimes.

Anyway, between that conversation and the fact that Victor's most recent letter said he wanted to know more about my country, I thought I would make a list of different stuff about America that I could turn into letters. I wrote up the first letter this morning. It was about our president.

I opened the letters to all 10 kids by offering the usual greetings. In the second paragraph, I told them that I really like learning about their country. I told them that when I began sponsoring them, or writing letters to them, I read books about their countries from the library (that's one of my favorite parts about getting a new sponsor child- researching their country!) I told them that I also liked keeping up with news stories about their countries, so I can better know what is going on over there. This gave me the opportunity to tell Victor and Mary, who are in Kenya, that I am very sad about the recent terrorist attack there, and that I am praying for them. I told them that similar things have happened in America, and it is very sad, but Americans and Kenyans are strong people and they will work hard to rebuild and prevent something like this from happening again.

Next I told them a little bit about our president. I kept it pretty simple. I basically said the following:
"Our president's name is Barack Obama. He is 52 years old. He has a wife named Michelle and two daughters named Sasha and Malia. Mrs. Obama's mother also lives with them. They have two dogs named Bo and Sunny. Before he became president, Mr. Obama told his daughters that if he won the election, he would get them a dog! That is when they got Bo. He is black and white." I explained to the older kids that in America, presidents are only allowed to serve up to two terms in office, and each term is 4 years long. I said that our president will be president until the end of 2016, when we will choose a new president. I also told them a little bit about Mrs. Obama. I told them that she cares a lot about the children of our country, and encourages them to exercise and play. I said that she also has a project to provide healthy meals in our schools, and that she planted a garden. Then I told all the kids that it's important to pray for the people who work in our governments and take care of our countries.

At the end, I said "I hope you will pray for my president as I pray for yours." I even looked up the names of the presidents in all my kids' countries (Indonesia, India, Peru, Haiti, Tanzania, Kenya, and Mexico.) Then at the bottom I uploaded a picture of the president with his family. I put all of these letters on the world map stationery provided by Compassion with the online letter writing tool.

I'm looking forward to finding out what our kids have to say about this little US Government lesson.  : )

Outgoing Mail

I spent some time this morning writing letters to my kids. It's been a little over a week since I mailed a packet of letters, along with birthday cards and gifts for Prayer and Brenda. This week, I had some fun things to share with them.

Each of our ten kids pretty much got the same letter this week. I started off by asking them how they are doing. I also told them a little bit about our weekend. I told them that the weather is really nice right now, and the weekend was fun. We went to a party for Brandon's uncle. His uncle Charlie recently retired, but that would have been kind of hard to explain. So I just said that there was a party for his uncle and lots of family members were there. And on Sunday we went to church and it was good. I asked the kids what they do on the weekends. I know some of them attend Compassion's program on Saturdays, and others attend during the week.

Next I shared the fun stuff! Recently I got to go to my friend Ashley's house to see her and have a playdate with my buddy Anell! We took them dinner on behalf of our Bible study group, and Anell and I read books and played. I told our kids a little bit about Anell and how he's doing. I have been telling them about him for months, asking them to pray for him before he came home, and then I told them about the airport party. I told our kids that he is speaking a few English words, like "mama" and "daddy" and "thank you." I told them that he has grown a little bit but he is still small for his age. I also told the kids that even though I'm an adult, I still feel like a kid sometimes! I like to play with toys and read kids' books. I asked them what they like to do with their friends. And I sent two pictures of Anell and I reading books together.

Lastly, I shared a prayer request and our plans for this weekend. My mother in law is traveling to India soon. My mom and I are picking up carry-out from a local Indian restaurant and having her over for dinner, as she's never had Indian food before (Brandon will be there, too, watching football!) So I told the kids that we will be having an Indian dinner this weekend, and that it's fun to try foods from other countries. I asked them if they would please pray for Denise, that she would be safe during her travels. In Jayid's letter, I told him that she will be in a different part of India from where he lives, but that I was really looking forward to seeing the pictures she takes while she's there. Jayid still doesn't know that Denise is taking a bag of presents for him!! That will be an awesome surprise.

Speaking of Jayid, I got his bag all packed. I had hoped to find a mini-backpack to send the gifts in, but I was having trouble finding one. Then this past week I found a mini backpack with the University of Kentucky logo on it! It is little and cute and blue and white. Everything fit in there perfectly. It's just about the same size as a gallon ziploc bag. The only real difference is that I can fit a little bit more at the top since there is a real zipper on the backpack, which will hold everything in. That meant I could fit a taller coloring book in there (it's just a regular-sized coloring book, but the ziploc bag wouldn't quite close with it in there.) I am including a letter for Jayid that says "SURPRISE!" at the top, and in the letter I explain that the bag has the logo and the colors of our favorite sports team, and that we are proud to share a part of our state with him. I am really hoping that they will be able to send a picture of Jayid with his gifts! : )

What have you written about to your kids lately? Have you found any cool extras to send along with your letters?

September Letter Writing Topics

Don't forget to write to your sponsor kids at least once this month! Here are some ideas to get you started!

1. Local holidays. There are plenty of big holidays in Compassion countries this month. Brazil's independence day and Mexico's independence day are both in September. Check out your local library or an online encyclopedia to see what's happening in your child's country this month. 
2. Teachers. Teacher's Day in India is this month. Even if you don't sponsor a child in India, it would still be fun to write about teachers! Ask your child what her teacher's name is. Ask him what his favorite thing about his teacher is. Tell her that you'll be praying for her teacher. Explain to your child how teachers are honored in the United States (for example, bringing them small gifts in the springtime, or the traditional gift of an apple.) Who was your favorite teacher in school? Why were they your favorite? What are some important lessons you learned from your teachers that had nothing to do with academics? For example, one of my high school English teachers was a very kind man who, through his gentleness and good-nature, got respect from all the students without ever having to raise his voice. We didn't want to disappoint him, so we all behaved. I also had another English teacher who was a very good friend to me, and I came back to visit her several times after I graduated, before she moved to another state. When I was upset or stressed about something, I would often go to her classroom, even if I didn't have her classes anymore. Remind your child that teachers work very hard, and it's important to show respect and be grateful for all that they do. 
3. Cousins. My little cousin Deborah is not so little anymore. This month she will turn 15- which makes me feel extremely old. She lives in Georgia. I remember the night of her due date, I was spending the night at a friend's house (I was still in elementary school, maybe 5th grade) and I kept calling my mom to see if she had heard anything about the baby yet. She was born three days later! When she was a few months old, my grandparents and I took a trip to Georgia for a week to visit her and her parents. I had the best time! I have always enjoyed spending time with Deborah, even though I don't get to see her very often anymore. She has grown into a beautiful young lady who has a heart of gold, loves to play soccer, and loves Star Wars (which is awesome.) I'm glad that I grew up so close to my cousins. In many other cultures, cousins are as close as immediate family- cousins are often called "brother" or "sister." This may very well be the case where your sponsor child lives. Ask your sponsor child if he or she has any cousins. What are their names? Do they get to play together? Do they get to spend a lot of time together? Were you raised close to your cousins, if you have any? What did you like to do when you were your sponsor child's age? I spent a lot of time with my cousin Melissa when I was growing up, and have sent pictures of us when we were little to my sponsor kids. Our kids love learning about our families!
4. Harvest. Now that the weather is getting cooler and the year is coming to a close, harvest time is coming. This is the first year that my family has had a proper garden, and I am looking forward to writing about its successes to our sponsor kids. Ask your sponsor child if her family grows any fruits or vegetables. Many of my kids have written to me and described the foods that their families grow, often saying that they grow their own food and take the rest to sell in the market. Said visits his grandmother in Kilosa every year to help her bring in the crops and get things ready for the next planting season. Even if you don't have a  garden of your own, you could still write about nature's bounty, telling your child about your favorite fruits and vegetables, and telling him that it's important to eat healthy foods like these, so he can grow up healthy and strong. In the past, I have even sent fun stickers of fruits and veggies to some of my younger kids, and I write down the names of the produce in English next to the pictures. You can print out coloring pages to send, too. Be sure to mention how thankful you are to God, who planted the original garden in Eden, for the food that comes from the earth.
5. Autumn. Many of our sponsor kids live in areas that don't have the same seasons that we do. The first day of autumn is September 22, and this would be a great time to write to your child about the change in seasons. One of the best things about this season, of course, is the way the trees change colors. Send some photos of the stunningly beautiful orange, red, and yellow trees that are found around the US this time of year. You can find coloring pages on autumn, and I have a ton of fall leaf stickers- some with little happy faces on them! I have never tried to send pressed flowers or the like to my sponsor kids before, but I have thought about laminating a pretty fall leaf (or covering it on both sides with clear tape) and sticking it on some construction paper to send. There are also tons of fall-themed crafts you can find online, which can be especially fun if you yourself have kids. You can do leaf rubbings with crayons or fall leaf pictures with paper, like this one.

Outgoing Mail

How sad- another week without letters! Since I don't have any letters from our kids to share, I'll tell you a bit about the letters I've sent the past few weeks.

Last week, I wrote to our kids and told them about Anell's homecoming. I have been sharing my excitement about this little boy with my kids for a while. I have told them in the past that my friend and her husband were adopting, and asked them to pray for them. So in last week's letter, I told them that Anell is now in the United States with his mom and dad, and sent them a picture. I told them that scripture tells us when we become Christians, we are adopted by God, and we are His sons and daughters- and that our inheritance is heaven!

This week I'm doing hand-written letters, since it's early in the month. This month's letters are kind of short, and focus on two main topics. In my intro paragraph, I tell my kids that I would love to learn more about their families. I ask them if they have any brothers and sisters, what their names are, and how old they are. I decided to go ahead and ask everyone for this info for a few reasons. One is that there has been some confusion about the names of some of my kids' siblings, or how many they have (like Tasya only has one sister, but over the years, I've heard two different names for her. It is totally possible that she goes by a middle name- after all, Tasya's name is actually Renica Natasya!) Secondly, some of my newer correspondence kids have skipped the introductory form letter, so I've missed out on some of that basic information. I really do want to know the details about my kids' families, but I also want to know more specifically about Tasya's and Prayer's families, since hopefully I will be meeting these two beautiful children next year!!

In the second part of my letter, I told the kids about our summer reading finale at the library. I have mentioned summer reading several times in my letters these past few months, telling my kids how important (and fun!) reading is. This is the last week of summer reading at our library, so each of the branches is having a party on Saturday. I told my kids a little bit about how we'd celebrate- with lots of games, some crafts, face-painting, and popcorn and snow cones (which I referred to as "flavored ice.") I told them that the library will be very busy that day, but I know it's a lot of fun for the kids, and I'm glad that we do it. I told them that when I was little, I loved to come to the library for the end of summer reading, but these past 8 years I have been working there instead! I still get a snow cone, though. : )

I tried to think of library-themed stuff I could send to my kids, but couldn't come up with anything off the top of my head, so they're getting Louisville postcards instead. When we went to the airport for Anell's welcome home celebration, I made sure to stop by the gift shop and stock up on postcards! The selection has dwindled since the last time I was there, but I still got three postcards for each kid, I think. I got some with the Louisville skyline, some that featured horse farms (the ones with the foals on them are super cute!), a few featuring the Louisville Slugger museum and the giant bat for some of the boys, and some others!

What kind of letters have you been sending lately? I'm looking forward to the upcoming change of seasons- I feel like so many of my letters this summer have either been about the library (Tasya says I'm "always there") and the heat! I guess it's because summer is my least favorite season- I'm more enthusiastic about fall and winter, and there's more family stuff going on then, too!

August Letter Writing Topics

How has your letter-writing gone this year? I hope that by now, if you have sponsor kids, you have written to them at least a few times this year! Here are some ideas to get you started.

1. Best Friends. My best friend's birthday is in August. Her name is Kelli. What's your best friend's name? How long have you known each other? Where did you meet? Do you have a lot in common, or are you complete opposites? What do you have in common? What do you like to do together? Do you get to see your best friend very often, or do you just see each other occasionally? Do you know your sponsor child's best friend's name? If not, now would be the perfect time to ask! Ask her about her best friend, and what they like to do together. Maybe you could even send some matching sets of stickers or coloring books for your sponsor child and his best friend! I love to tell my kids about my friends. I always tell them when we get together for my birthday and Christmas. I tell them that we get together to talk and have fun, and share a meal together. 
2. School. Now is the time that most kids in the United States are heading back to school. If you have kids, how are they getting ready? Are they happy to go back? What grades will they be going into this year? Did you enjoy going back to school when you were a kid? Even if it wasn't your favorite time of year, you can still encourage your sponsor child in his or her schooling. Now is the perfect  time to stock up on flat, papery gifts for your sponsor child, too! You can get stickers, certificates, coloring and activity pages, calendars, maps, and all sorts of fun stuff this time of year!
3. Local holidays- Indian independence day. India's independence day is celebrated in August. I personally am very interested in the story of India's path to independence, which of course includes the famous activist Mahatma Gandhi. Have you ever read about this important time in history? Now would be a good time! Even if you don't have a sponsor child in India, perhaps you could write to your sponsor child about peace, which was Gandhi's goal. Do you have a favorite Bible verse about peace? Share it with  your sponsor child! Tell him that you are praying for peace in his country. Explain to her the importance of having a relationship with the Prince of Peace- Jesus.
4. Kids. My husband and I have six or seven friends or relatives who are expecting babies this year, and almost all of them are due in August. We also have some friends who are in the process of adopting from other countries, are about to start the process, or have just wrapped it up! If you are close to someone who has welcomed a child into their family recently, you could write to your sponsor child about that. When Brandon's cousin and his wife had their first baby two months early, I wrote to my sponsor kids and told them that we were going to have a party for the mom and new baby, but the baby came early- the day of the party! I asked them each to pray for baby Alexander, that he would grow up big and strong even though he was born early. I got some really sweet responses from my kids! And earlier this year, I sent each of our kids a picture of Alexander's baby brother! Our sponsor kids love learning about what's going on in our lives- and that includes new friends and family members!
5. Maps. This one kind of goes along with the back to school topic, but I think it would be fun to send a letter with a little geography lesson. You could use a distance calculator to figure out how far away your sponsor child is from where you live, and talk about that in the letter- but be sure to mention that even though you live far away, your sponsor child is close to your heart! You can also send some maps to your sponsor child- binder atlases that are sold with school supplies, the laminated kind you can find at the dollar tree, or you could even print one yourself. Use a marker or stickers to label where you live, and the area where your sponsor child lives. I keep my kids' letters in binders, and on the cover of each I've made a map with clip art. I have a world map with a heart marking where I live and where each kid lives, with a dotted line connecting us!

Outgoing Mail

I've decided to try to make this a semi-regular feature- posting about what I'm writing to my kids about. I know that I also post letter-writing ideas each month, but I thought it would be fun to share a more personal take on letter-writing.

Every month I sent 2 or 3 online letters to my kids, usually when I hear from them (I want to go ahead and respond to what they've written about.) If I have pictures to send, I'll also usually do that online. Sometimes if I have a very special picture, I'll order prints from Walgreen's and send them to my kids (for example, when my mom got a new puppy earlier this year, I took a very cute picture of her cuddling Loki, the pup. I had copies printed for all of my kids, because I wanted them to have a picture of my mama!)

Once a month, I do hand-written letters and send goodies to my kids. This month, all of the kids are getting letters written about three core ideas:

1. In my opening paragraph asking how they're doing and providing family updates, I shared that my grandfather had to be taken to the hospital again this weekend. I told my kids that he has problems with his blood in the past, and now he may have a problem with his heart. I asked them to please pray for him. 
2. I shared that my country's independence day was last week. I told my kids that many businesses were closed so people could have time off work. I told them that many people celebrate the holiday by shooting off fireworks, which are pretty but very loud! 
3. Lastly, I shared my excitement about this weekend. My friend Paul is getting married on Sunday! I shared with my kids that Paul and I have known each other since we were 13 years old. We met at school. Paul is a very kind and very funny guy. Whenever I mention one of my friends to my kids, I always like to tell them a little bit about them (in this case, I told them that Paul knows how to play the drums and he tells funny jokes!) I asked most of my kids if they have ever been to a wedding before. I was able to personalize this section a bit, too. I asked Jayid if he has ever been to a wedding, and told him that I have seen pictures of Indian weddings and they are so beautiful. I have read about wedding traditions in some of my kids' countries when I did country profiles for my blog, so if that is the case with the kid I'm writing to, I'll tell him or her "I have read about weddings in your country. They sound so festive! Have you ever been to a wedding? What was your favorite part?" Tasya wrote me a whole page about Indonesian weddings once!

Finally, the best part about hand-writing letters is that I also get to send treats in the big envelope! I have lots of fun stuff to send this month. 

• Each kid is getting an "animals of Pennsylvania" postcard, which I picked up on my trip last week. Cows are prominently featured, which I thought was pretty funny. But they also have black bears, deer, and birds and stuff. Postcards are fun!
• Victor and Mary are getting planners. I found TONS of fun stuff at Michael's today, a lot of which was on clearance. These planners have holes punched in them so they can fit in binders, if they have them. Mary is getting a planner with a kitten on it, and Victor's has a very manly-looking hot rod on it. They both speak English and are my two oldest sponsor kids, so I thought that the planners would be a fun gift for them. They also have spaces for notes, grammar tips and metric/English conversion charts in them. I hope they like them!
• Mishel, Tasya, and Brenda are getting princess sticker books. I love the Darice brand sticker and activity books that Michael's carries. They have tons of stickers in them (in the case of the princess books, 314!) and often include play scenes. They are also the perfect size for mailing, and are a great price- regularly $1, they are currently half off because they're technically summer merchandise!
• Carlos is getting a "stained glass" coloring book from Dover. Those little Dover books are the best! The stained glass coloring book is filled with dragon pictures printed on what looks like waxed paper. Once colored, they pick up sunlight like a little stained glass window! I don't know Carlos yet as I'm still waiting for his first letter, but I thought this was a pretty cool treat for an older boy. 
• Joane and Said are also getting Darice sticker books from Michael's. Joane's is full of happy faces, rainbows, and positive messages. She's a little too old for the princess stuff and other supplies I have for the younger girls, so I'm going to have to keep an eye out for stuff for her over the next few months! Said's sticker book is "custom cars" themed, full of race car stickers that you can customize with other little stickers. It's pretty cool!
• Prayer and Jayid are getting the last two race car themed "paint with water" books they had at Michael's also on clearance, also regularly a dollar. They are just little coloring books with those patches of color that turn to "paint" when wet. 

I hope all the kids like the goodies I'm sending- and I hope they all go through the mail OK! Sometimes I worry a bit about the extras I send, since I don't always hear from the kids about receiving them. But since they're all acceptable by Compassion's guidelines, I just pray that they get there OK!

What are you writing to your kids about? Have you found any super cool goodies to send through the mail recently?

July Letter Writing Topics

Here are some letter ideas for July!

1. Independence Day. Not only does the United States celebrate Independence Day in July, but Colombia and Peru do, too! What does your family do for Independence Day? Do you go on a picnic? Do you have a meal with your family? You could tell your sponsor child that many families cook their meals outside on a grill for this holiday (cooking inside is not a foreign concept to other countries.) Write about fireworks! Do you set off any fireworks of your own? Do you go to a fireworks show? Tell your sponsor child how many people decorate with red, white, and blue decorations for this holiday, as they are the colors of our flag. Ask your child about independence day celebrations in his country. Even if it isn't celebrated in July, I believe that all the countries Compassion works in have an independence day holiday. 
2. Staying cool. I'm not a huge fan of July because it's usually nasty hot outside. Chances are, your sponsor child lives in an area where warm weather is a regular occurrence. How do you stay cool in the heat? Do you go swimming? Several of my sponsor kids like to swim! Ask your sponsor child how she cools off when it's hot outside. 
3. Halfway Point. Now that it's July, 2013 is halfway behind us! This would be a good opportunity to provide your sponsor child with an update on how your year has gone so far. Did you tell your child about New Year's resolutions? How are those going? What do you hope to accomplish before the year's end?
4. Vacation. Sponsor kids sometimes go on vacation. Many of them do not, but they still like to hear about the trips we may take. Are you taking a vacation this year? You can tell your sponsor child about it! For sensitivity reasons, it's a good idea to keep things vague. For example, instead of saying "we are flying to Orlando, Florida, so we can visit Disney World and all the theme parks there, and we are staying in a lovely hotel", you could say "this summer our family is taking a trip to another state. The state is called Florida. Florida is in the southern United States, and it has many beaches and natural habitats for lots of animals. I hope it's fun!" Don't forget to pick up a postcard or two for your sponsor child while you're on your trip!
5. VBS. Many sponsor children have the opportunity to attend Vacation Bible School activities. It would probably be a good idea to explain what VBS is just in case. You could say that during the summer break, when children are out of school, many churches have activities for children to learn about Jesus and have fun. They have snacks and make crafts, read Bible stories, and sing songs. If you have a Christian bookstore in your area (or a Christian owned store like Hobby Lobby), you can even check out VBS materials that might be good to send to your sponsor child, such as activity booklets, coloring sheets, and other flat, paper crafts. 

Binders Full of...Letters

I have been working on a little project. Actually it's kind of a big project, and I'm still working on it. I have been trying to figure out a better way to store my letters from my sponsor kids, other than folding them up and putting them in a pretty box. We have too many kids and too many letters to keep doing that. It's also impractical when you want to go back and look through old letters. So I have been working on making binders for each of my kids! I'm pretty much done with Tasya's, so I will use hers in photo examples in this post (sorry for the poor quality of the pics!)

I started out by picking out different colors of binders for each of my kids. Tasya's happens to be pink, as that is her favorite color, and she was our first sponsor child.

I created covers for each binder in Microsoft Word. Tasya's name is across the top. I left space for her picture, and at the bottom, I created a map. I found a nice world map clip art on Google, and a cute heart clip art. I placed a heart over Kentucky's location on the map, and a heart over north Sulawesi, where Tasya lives. Then I connected them with a dotted line.

Inside the binder, I have extra-long pocket dividers. I say extra long because the tabs actually poke out from between the pages, to where you can actually read them. The first tab is labeled "Info."

Inside this section, I have a page for Tasya's information, which I got from Michelle over at Blogging from the Boonies. There is a spot on this document for a photo, too!

The second page is also from Michelle- a page for prayer requests. Tasya hasn't sent me any prayer requests since I started putting her binder together, but I plan on keeping track of them here, so I will have an easy reference when she asks me to pray for specific things, and I can go back and ask her if she has any praises to report!

Also in the Info section, I have both pastor letters I have received from Tasya's project. One is from a guy who works there, and I think we received it the summer before last. The other one is from the pastor of the church where her child development center is located, and we received it a few months ago. I will also place any country updates from Compassion in this section.

After that, I have a divider for each year we've been sponsoring Tasya, with more to go! We started sponsoring her in July 2010, so we have lots of letters from her! It's so much fun going back and reading the older letters. She even included her fingerprint on her first letter!

The good thing about including pocket dividers is that you have a place to store any extra things your sponsor child sends. This can include artwork, Bible verses, extra photographs, or anything else you receive. A few months ago, Tasya made me some bookmarks with Indonesian scripture verses, and a heart-shaped card. This is where I keep them!

I hope someday I am able to go to Sulawesi and meet this precious girl. She means so much to me, and I would love the opportunity to take my binder to her and show her how much I value each letter she sends to me!

It's a big pink binder full of love!

How do you store letters from your sponsor kids? The binder thing seemed like a good idea until I realized that with 9 sponsor kids, plus a binder for those kids we have lost, I would need to clear off a shelf on one of my bookcases! : )