I've been waiting for a letter from Camilo for a long time! It feels like forever since his last one (which was received February 1st, but written in December). And finally on Monday it came!
It was short and sweet and a thank you for the "help" we sent to him for his birthday. I'm so glad we were able to send him a financial gift. It really hits home to me just how needy his family is by what they purchased with this birthday money: cookies, cereal, milk, drinks so that he can have snacks at school. Those are a given here, my daughter takes a snack to school every day and it doesn't require a gift of birthday money to make it possible. We are blessed and it is good to remember that not everyone is so blessed.
Today is Super-Map's birthday and our sponsor daughter Loury's birthday. Again, I'm pretty sure their two days will be quite different and I pray that she is blessed today and has received our gift. I look forward to hearing how she will use it.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
A Compassion Update
It has been a while since my last post about my sponsor children.
Thankfully, I have been more faithful in writing to them than writing about them.
I did write to those I sponsor with Compassion today via e-mail. While I don't get to include goodies like stickers, coloring pages, bookmarks or other surprises, I do get to send out a quick letter where hopefully, the words can make the most impact.
This time round I shared about our visit to the strawberry fields and what we did with the fruit and asked them about the fruit that grows in their country/region. A lot of the time when I e-mail, I will copy and paste the bulk of the info I share with them, but then customize questions for each of them, or mention their families, recent letters we've received, etc.
I always try to close with a verse from the Bible, and today's was Zephaniah 3:17.
Yep, there is a book of the Bible called Zephaniah! Zephaniah is one of the "Minor" prophets (ie. their message is shorter than say Isaiah or Jeremiah). If you're curious and want to see that I'm telling the truth you can find the book of Zephaniah between Habbakuk and Haggai at the end of the Old Testament. Zephaniah is the 4th last OT book. Here's what the verse says:
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
And a neat website I've found is BibleGateway.com which bills itself as "A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages." This has been helpful with the sponsor children speaking a different language than us. I can quote a verse directly in their language!
como guerrero victorioso.
Se deleitará en ti con gozo,
te renovará con su amor,
se alegrará por ti con cantos
Thankfully, I have been more faithful in writing to them than writing about them.
I did write to those I sponsor with Compassion today via e-mail. While I don't get to include goodies like stickers, coloring pages, bookmarks or other surprises, I do get to send out a quick letter where hopefully, the words can make the most impact.
This time round I shared about our visit to the strawberry fields and what we did with the fruit and asked them about the fruit that grows in their country/region. A lot of the time when I e-mail, I will copy and paste the bulk of the info I share with them, but then customize questions for each of them, or mention their families, recent letters we've received, etc.
I always try to close with a verse from the Bible, and today's was Zephaniah 3:17.
Yep, there is a book of the Bible called Zephaniah! Zephaniah is one of the "Minor" prophets (ie. their message is shorter than say Isaiah or Jeremiah). If you're curious and want to see that I'm telling the truth you can find the book of Zephaniah between Habbakuk and Haggai at the end of the Old Testament. Zephaniah is the 4th last OT book. Here's what the verse says:
Zephaniah 3:17 (New King James Version)
17 The LORD your God in your midst,The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
And a neat website I've found is BibleGateway.com which bills itself as "A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages." This has been helpful with the sponsor children speaking a different language than us. I can quote a verse directly in their language!
Sofoni 3:17 (Haitian Creole Version)
17Seyè a, Bondye nou an, l'a nan mitan nou! Se yon vanyan gason. Se li menm k'ap delivre nou. Li kontan wè sa n'ap fè. L'ap mete ou kanpe ankò paske li renmen ou. W'ap fè kè l' kontan. li ap chanteSofonías 3:17 (Nueva Versión Internacional)
17 porque el Señor tu Dios está en medio de ticomo guerrero victorioso.
Se deleitará en ti con gozo,
te renovará con su amor,
se alegrará por ti con cantos
Isn't technology amazing! I do have a NVI Biblia and a French one as well, but I definitely don't have a Creole Bible. We are definitely blessed to have access to these great websites.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Evening entertainment
It seems that though my talents as an actress and singer have never hit the big time, maybe, just maybe, my kids will make it big and support me in my old age...
We seem to have a few of these shows a week. Super-Beautiful will announce during supper that she will be singing for us. We've had to limit it to songs she can actually tell us about, because once she told us she was going to sing 6 songs and mostly she just hmmmed and hawed about what she was going to sing. Tonight, we said she could do one song. She informed us that Super-Map was going to be her "act". "Your opening act?" we asked. "Yes, that" she replied.
So without further ado: Super-Map opening for Super-Beautiful. (This is actually his second opening act, we didn't have the forethought to capture his first one on camera...)
In case you didn't realize it, the words and music to that song were written and composed by Super-Beautiful. :-)
We seem to have a few of these shows a week. Super-Beautiful will announce during supper that she will be singing for us. We've had to limit it to songs she can actually tell us about, because once she told us she was going to sing 6 songs and mostly she just hmmmed and hawed about what she was going to sing. Tonight, we said she could do one song. She informed us that Super-Map was going to be her "act". "Your opening act?" we asked. "Yes, that" she replied.
So without further ado: Super-Map opening for Super-Beautiful. (This is actually his second opening act, we didn't have the forethought to capture his first one on camera...)
In case you didn't realize it, the words and music to that song were written and composed by Super-Beautiful. :-)
Monday, May 2, 2011
Help Andrew Osenga go to space...
or at least help him record his new space-themed album in a spaceship set, which he and some lucky pals will construct! There are only 4 days left of his Kickstarter Campaign! Here's the promo:
For those of you not familiar with Andy Osenga, he is a fabulous singer/songwriter with a real heart for the Lord and the Lord's people. I say "real" heart, because Andy shares the struggles he has faced through his music and words. A few of my favorite songs include "Hold the Light" (on Caedmon's Call "Overdressed") and "Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates"(Letters to the Editor, Vol. 1) which, in a very few words that won't do them justice, speak to the struggles we can have as Christians.
He has another song which brings me to tears and makes me wonder how he can sing it without breaking down himself: "Memory" which is a song told from the perspective of his grandfather after the death of his wife of many years.
Of course I must also mention the song that my family sings at the tops of our lungs on car rides and waiting to cross the border back into our home and native land: "Canada". Super-Beautiful's favorite line is "I'll be your mounty, you'll be my toque (rhymes with puke :-)... We can eat Timbits until we both... yaks are everywhere in Canada"... to which she has been trained to say "But yaks aren't everywhere in Canada". We took a video, but of course she wouldn't say the line while on tape. And of course, when I try to upload that video here, it doesn't work. Just trust me when I say, it's adorable!
We've seen him several times on Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God tour, but were really blessed to attend a solo Andy Osenga concert in March of this year. Getting to hear more of the stories about his songs and hearing a song from "Leonard, the Lonely Astronaut" was amazing. We may have even convinced him to sing "Canada" south of the Mason-Dixon line with a can of pure Quebec maple syrup :) Or maybe he was just going to sing that song anyway... If you watch "Memory" by clicking the link above, you'll see that he comments about people not liking Rush, which indicates to me that he also sang "Canada" at the Danbury, CT show. Just sayin'... what's not to like about that song, it's so catchy and funny and mostly correct in facts about Canada.
Hope you get all the backers you need, Andy!
For those of you not familiar with Andy Osenga, he is a fabulous singer/songwriter with a real heart for the Lord and the Lord's people. I say "real" heart, because Andy shares the struggles he has faced through his music and words. A few of my favorite songs include "Hold the Light" (on Caedmon's Call "Overdressed") and "Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates"(Letters to the Editor, Vol. 1) which, in a very few words that won't do them justice, speak to the struggles we can have as Christians.
He has another song which brings me to tears and makes me wonder how he can sing it without breaking down himself: "Memory" which is a song told from the perspective of his grandfather after the death of his wife of many years.
Of course I must also mention the song that my family sings at the tops of our lungs on car rides and waiting to cross the border back into our home and native land: "Canada". Super-Beautiful's favorite line is "I'll be your mounty, you'll be my toque (rhymes with puke :-)... We can eat Timbits until we both... yaks are everywhere in Canada"... to which she has been trained to say "But yaks aren't everywhere in Canada". We took a video, but of course she wouldn't say the line while on tape. And of course, when I try to upload that video here, it doesn't work. Just trust me when I say, it's adorable!
We've seen him several times on Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God tour, but were really blessed to attend a solo Andy Osenga concert in March of this year. Getting to hear more of the stories about his songs and hearing a song from "Leonard, the Lonely Astronaut" was amazing. We may have even convinced him to sing "Canada" south of the Mason-Dixon line with a can of pure Quebec maple syrup :) Or maybe he was just going to sing that song anyway... If you watch "Memory" by clicking the link above, you'll see that he comments about people not liking Rush, which indicates to me that he also sang "Canada" at the Danbury, CT show. Just sayin'... what's not to like about that song, it's so catchy and funny and mostly correct in facts about Canada.
Hope you get all the backers you need, Andy!
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