Mood:  happy

Yep! Call us crazy, but we've up and done it again!

The other day I was talking to Sarah and said, "Can we afford to sponsor another Compassion child?". Her response was, "If you go out and raise some support then we can." I thought for a minute and then replied "Can we at least have another correspondence child?". Well, needless to say she agreed with that, so I made a call to Compassion to be put on the waiting list for a correspondence child. 

A correspondence child is a Compassion International child who is sponsored, but has no one that is writing to them. Often a company will just donate a block of money to sponsor so many kids, but they don't want to take on the responsibility of writing to those children. Or, an individual may want to sponsor but is unable for some reason to write to that child. That's where correspondence sponsors come in. Writing is a big part of Compassion International's plan. Many times the sponsor is the only one that expresses their love to that child, or who is a Christian mentor to that child.

Usually it takes a couple weeks to a few months for a person to get a Correspondence child, so I wasn't expecting a child yet. However, when I checked my account on the Compassion website today, lo and behold, Ismael was there!

Ismael Jose Arias Narvaez to be exact! He is five years old and is from Nicaragua. God knew what he was doing. We have Marcelo (Bolivia) and Feyber (Colombia) who are about John Allen's age, Somi (Indonesia) who is Joshua's age, Emmanuel (18 from Tanzania) who is like an older brother to the boys, and now Ismael who is around Jacob's age. 

We are so excited to have another Compassion International son. Whenever we get one, the boys always crowd around the computer to see their new brothers picture and hear all about them. Ismael lives with his grandparents. His grandfather works but the grandmother does not. The average monthly income in Nicaragua is just $86 a month! Can you imagine?

Please pray with us as we begin to write to little Ismael. Pray that if he is not a Christian, that somehow through our letters and the work of Compassion he will learn about the Lord. And, while you're saying a prayer, pray that we can raise more support so that we can better help the folks that we work with at Good News Mission, and perhaps even sponsor another child .

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Mood:  incredulous

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Mood:  not sure

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering and injustice when He could do something about it." ~ "Well, why don't you ask Him?" ~ "Because I'm afraid He would ask me the same question." ~ Anonymous

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Mood:  a-ok

Sometimes, however, the outside just isn't possible. There are rainy days even in the summer, and there are always some days, albeit rare, when the kids just don't feel like going out. For those days, have I got a deal for you!

Do you remember the review I did for Mathscore some months ago? Here's the link to it just in case. Anyway, the great people at Mathscore are experimenting with something new - a $5.95/month for the first child promotion! Usually they charge $14.95 a month, so this is almost 1/3 their normal fee!

The even neater (is that a word?) thing is that they have only selected certain homeschool product blog reviewers to promote this offer with and yours truly was one of them. You won't find this offer on their website, you can only access it by using this special link - http://www.mathscore.com/home/signUp.php?ccode=blog595

As far as I know, this offer will even keep going after summer is over, but just in case, you'd better not wait to take advantage! Have a great summer!

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Mood:  don't ask

29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,  30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;  31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. 

Notice it says nothing about homosexuality or anything of the sort here. Now, don't get me wrong, I think that those things are abhorrent, but in God's eyes so are all sins! God hates sin and speaks out about all sin in the Bible. It's society that has put values on sins and not God. We either need to minister to ALL sinners or throw all of us out of churches because we are ALL sinners. John 13:34&35 says this:

³⁴"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

It doesn't say we should only love those who haven't commited some major sin that is way up on the abhorrent sin list according to men. Those verses look to me to include everyone!

Can you tell that I've had my dander raised a couple times this week? Okay! Let me finally get to the topic of the week:

What do you think about my above rant? Am I being to harsh on churches and Christians? Are there certain folks that should not be allowed into a church because of their sinful behavior?

I expect that there are some folks that are non-church goers or have been turned off by this exact behavior that will have one opinion and then there may be church goers that will have another. I want to hear them all. I want a lively discussion! What do you all think?

Here are the rules:

1. This is a man's meme, so the answers must be the answers from a man. Either the man can answer on his blog, or a wife can interview her husband for her blog. However, if the wife puts it on her blog, she must stay true to what her husband said.
2. You are encouraged to put one of the Men's Monday Meme buttons found to the left on your blog. Just copy the code below the button of your choice. The more folks who link, the more readers you may have to visit your blog.
3. You may answer the question any time during the week up through next Monday. After you answer the question, add the address to your post to the Mr.Linky below. If you could, please only add the direct link to the post to make it easier for readers to find the entry.
4. My answer along with a new question will be posted next Monday. The new Mr. Linky will be added at midnight Monday night or sometime within the next couple of days after that .

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