Charity

At the beginning of the month I blogged about the project to send Christmas cards to unsponsored children.  Tonight I made a card on Shutterfly’s website (I got a $20 off card in some software that I bought) and I like how they turned out.  I was able to modify the text how I wanted it and added a personal note encouraging the children on the back that will be translated.  I encourage you to send Christmas cards whether they are extra’s from years past, ones you pick up at the dollar store, or ones that you order online like I did.  It will mean so much to children who are unsponsored to know that there are people praying for them!

(And in the effort of full disclosure, I was going to blog about this anyway because I wanted to get the picture in my blog archives but by embedding the following picture from Shutterfly I also get a $10 credit.  If you order from them and blog about it you can get one too!)

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

As you may know, we support Compassion International.  We feel like it is a solid organization who provides so much for so many underprivileged children around the world.  The connection that you can make with a sponsored child helps you and your children feel involved in a personal way as opposed to just giving money to a general organization.  And Compassion has consistently been ranked very well by organizations who audit non-profits for how they manage their money and how much of donations actually go to the children.

We sponsor a little girl in Rwanda that we sponsored after Charlotte was born.  We chose Ingabire because she and Charlotte share a birthday.  We recently sponsored a little boy in Belize who shares a birthday with James.  We hope that by sponsoring children with such a special connection to our children will help them identify with our sponsored children and learn so many lessons as they are growing up about giving back,  helping those in need, being Jesus to others, and how we have something in common even with someone with as different a background.

In the past I have blogged about ways to help the children of Compassion that don’t involve sponsoring a child.  I have another way that you can do that today.  Compassion is ready to accept Christmas cards to be sent to unsponsored children.  Children could wait for months on the waiting list before being sponsored and these Christmas cards will help those children feel connected during such an important time.


You can Christmas cards for these children to:

Compassion will translate any messages that you write in the cards and then get the cards to unsponsored children.  Because they need time to translate the messages and get them distributed, they must have all cards in hand by NOVEMBER 4th!  Something that takes so little time, effort, and money could make a child’s Christmas.  If you are willing and able, God can use something so simple to make a big difference in a child’s life.

In case you aren’t following the Compassion Bloggers who are in the Philippines right now, you should be.    And if you have any questions about Compassion check out this post from Shaun Groves that spells it all out.

We have been sponsoring a little girl, Ingabire, in Rwanda since Charlotte was born (we chose her because she and Charlotte have the same birthday) and are looking forward to adding a little boy who shares a birthday with James in the fall.  Compassion is a great organization that is doing magnificent work for the kingdom of God around the Earth and they always need more support because there are always more children who need to be sponsored.

Check out the bloggers and their stories and check out some of the children waiting to be sponsored.  Your $37 a month could make a huge difference in a child’s life.

I have blogged before about my passion for the Compassion International project.  Our family supports a little girl in Rwanda that shares a birthday with Charlotte and getting letters and pictures from her are by far the highlights of mail time. 

Many of you  joined with us and made Christmas cards to be sent to Compassion children in Ecuador.  442 cards were created by individuals just like yourself and were hand delivered to children in Ecuador who might not receive a card otherwise.

Another way that you can help these children this Christmas season is by giving a gift through the Gifts of Compassion catalog.  You have the opportunity to make a huge impact on the life of a child with as little as ten dollars!  Gifts in the catalog range from a mosquito net to a goat, cow, or major surgery.  Any gift would be appreciated and I know that I would be so happy to have someone buy one of these items for me this Christmas!

Sometimes Christmas gets so wrapped up in the commercial and the gifts and the parties that we lose sight of the real reason that we celebrate.  We celebrate because Jesus, God’s only son, came to earth to live as a man.  He was born and lived a perfect life and then subjected himself to the most brutal of deaths for me.  For you.  For everyone on this earth so that, if his gift of salvation is accepted, everyone can live for all eternity with him in heaven.  By supporting Compassion with your prayers and your gifts you can help them spread the word of Christ’s love to the impoverished children of the world.  Just think about maybe sacrificing a dinner out or one stocking stuffer and instead buy a soccer ball, a chicken, or a vaccination for a child that needs to know that someone cares for them. 

If you would like to make a more permanent commitment you can click on the Compassion button on my sidebar to sponsor a child for only $38 dollars a month.  Such a little gift but the reaches of that one sacrifice could be exponential with God’s blessings.

I know that the economy is hard right now and some of you might be suffering in your own right.  But if you have extra this Christmas just think about giving a little bit of it back.  You will be thankful that you did.

I never thought I’d say this but I think I’m buying a chicken for Christmas! 🙂

After Charlotte was born last year, Jason and I sat down and searched the Compassion International databases for a child that we could sponsor who had the same birthday as Charlotte.  We wanted to sponsor a child that Charlotte could relate to if in no other reason that they shared the same birthday and we thought we could greatly help the life of a child somewhere else and teach Charlotte a lot of valuable lessons as she grew up.  So we adopted a little girl from Rwanda named Ingabire who was born on May 22, 2003.  And as we began writing her and hearing back from her our hearts were blessed in a multitude of ways.  Reading about how smart she is and how she excels in her studies and being able to encourage her to continue her efforts makes me think that she will be able to advance herself and possibly get out of poverty by the time that she is an adult.  Right now Jason and I are the ones who are blessed by this relationship.  But since we have agreed to sponsor Ingabire monthly until she reaches the age of 18, soon Charlotte will get involved and start feeling like she’s making a small impact also. 

One of the things that Compassion asks sponsors to do is to write their child.  They have a way on their website for you to email your child and they also encourage you to handwrite letters and send your child pictures.  Compassion writes about how much these letters and words of love and encouragement mean to these children who have so very little.  We do what we can to encourage and love on Ingabire as do many others who sponsor a child.  However, there are children that are still waiting for a sponsor.  These children aren’t getting sponsor letters and Christmas cards like the children that are sponsored are. 

Right now Compassion and Dayspring are teaming up on a Christmas Card campaign hoping to provide Christmas cards with words of love and encouragement for 100 unsponsored children in Ecuador.  A team will be traveling to Ecuador December 11-16th to hand deliver these cards to the children who desperately need words of hope.  And you can be involved.

You can read this post on the Incourage website to find out more about the project.  Or you can follow the steps below to make a huge impact in one child’s (or many children’s) life!

1. Click here to go to the Studio DaySpring Christmas Card Drive page.

2. Design a card for a super special kid in Ecuador just dying to hear from YOU (for as little as $1.99).
3. Tell them what makes them so worth celebrating this Christmas season.
4. Include a photo of you and your family and a little bit about you so they know who the card’s coming from – kids LOVE photos!
5. Bear in mind we’ll need some room on the card to translate your message into Spanish.
6. Add to Cart and Voila – you’ve just created a Christmas message that will be hand delivered from you to a child in Ecuador. Our team will be there December 11-16.

You can make a difference in a child’s life!  This takes so little effort and so little money (really! $1.99 is all that it will cost you!) and the effects of this one action can be monumentous.  Please join us in reaching out to these children and helping spread the good news of Christ’s birth and your love to those that need it most.  And if you want to do more and can take $38 a month and sponsor a child, the blessings you receive and the impact you can make will make every sacrifice worth it.