Mood:  happy

I'm sure that as this year's TOS Homeschool Crew year comes to an end, I will be posting what it has meant to me to be on the Crew, and what I have learned from the Crew. Thankfully, we still have a few more months before this year's term ends. I've been having too much fun.

This has been a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of something like this and I have completely enjoyed it. It hasn't been without it's challenges, however. I have had to meet deadlines ~ I have one tonight . I have worked on my writing skills, improved my editing, learned how to build a blog. It hasn't always been easy, but it has always been rewarding. I have made some great friends, learned many things, and that's all on top of the great homeschool products that we got for free in order to review them.

I have enjoyed it so much that I want to encourage you all to try out for the 2010 - 2011 TOS Homeschool Crew. If you homeschool and have a blog, then why don't you give it a try. Here is the link with the information. Let me know if you try out. I'll be praying for you and cheering you on!

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Mood:  silly

Yes, I know that I'm having way too much fun with Graphics Toolbox, but it is a lot of fun to play with! Here is something I created this evening. I could have done a little better with it, but I was just playing around. It's one of those "Can you spot the six changes from the first picture to the second picture" puzzles. So can you spot them? Some are a little easier than others. If you can find all six, leave a comment. No peaking at what the others answer until you've found all of them !

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Mood:  a-ok

Well, I redid my Thursday's Child badge a little, but I'm still not satisfied with it. I will have to rework it some more. I am adding MckLinky this week so that anyone that has a story about Compassion International can add it to the Thursday's Child Meme. It will be a continuous thing and I will continue to add the same Mcklinky each week so you don't have to keep re-adding unless you have a new story that you want to share.

I got a comment on last week's Thursday's Child post that contained the Compassion International video with the surprise ending. It was from Tania at Larger Family Life. It said:

I hope a sponsor for Mwende comes soon.  

If you're reading this and thinking about it... do it!  You can change the whole life of a child for the equivalent of a few magazines a month or fewer visits to Starbucks.  It doesn't take a huge change in your life to make a huge change in theirs.

Here is my response:

Thanks Tania,

I appreciate the encouragement. Mwende was our Christmas child, and we have been praying for a sponsor for her. We in the US are so fortunate. You are so right that just one meal out with your family would pay for one months support. Why not use that night and have a typical meal from the country of your sponsored child. Mmmm...I feel a blog post coming on .

Tim

Well, unfortunately, I didn't find a sponsor for her by the end of the month. I am going to keep trying, though, and, if I do, I will contact Compassion to see if she has been sponsored or not. If not, perhaps the family would be willing to sponsor another child.

Tania is correct though. The cost to sponsor a child is $38.00 a month. For our family, that is just a little over the cost of a meal at a sit down restaurant or two trips to McDonald's. When I thought about it, I thought that a family could still spend a special evening together but, instead of going out, perhaps they could have a meal from the country that their child is from. It is easy to find recipes on the internet these days.

Then, perhaps you could all sit down to write a letter to your sponsored child. That is the just as important as the money you spend. So many of these kids come from broken homes or from homes where their parents are never there. These children crave attention and love from their sponsors. You can make a big impact in their lives just by writing a letter once a month.

We have made sponsoring Marcelo a family affair. It's not just me or Sarah that is doing the sponsoring it is all of us. The boys will send letters (usually using Compassion's simple email system) and pray for Marcelo all of the time. We send packages down to him every time our friend Kee's goes to Bolivia, but you can also send packages through Compassion. 

I have said this before, but I will say it again. Sponsoring Marcelo has been as much of a blessing to us as it has been to him. And when you realize that such a little amount of money can go so far in a child's life, it is even more worth it. Won't you pray about sponsoring a child through Compassion International? If you are interested in sponsorship and have any questions, please leave a comment below, or check out Compassion's website by clicking here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above. 

Don't forget, if you already are a sponsor, and have written a blog post about your child, please link it to the MckLinky below. If you don't have a blog, please feel free to write a comment in the comment section. I would love to hear from you.

I'm sorry for all of you who are looking for the MckLinky. I have been having problems with MckLinky and had to take it off. If you have a blog entry that you would like to link, please do it in the comment section for the time being. Thanks!

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Mood:  a-ok

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Mood:  a-ok

A pre-review...would that be a preview? I guess not. Anyway, I am so enthused about a product that we are trying out free for the TOS Homeschool Crew, that I am going to brag about it (or maybe brag about John Allen and I) even before I write my review.

Lynda Holler, one of the creators of Graphics Toolbox has been having "Go To Meeting" web classes for any crew members that are interested. I signed up for today's and John Allen and I attended it. I had been working a little with Graphics Toolbox and had watched a couple of the other classes (she has been recording them and offering them to the crew) but for some reason after today, everything began to click! Here is something that I just finished a few minutes ago.

There are some mistakes, but it gets easier as you get the hang of it. I am really excited about this one. 

So is John Allen. He was squealing and kept saying "cool" all throughout the class because of all of the neat things he could do. Take a look at these two pics.

This is the original.

And this is his funny creation.

It's far from perfect, but this is from a kid who hadn't even seen the program before today's class and was just messing around with it! I am super impressed!

Well, more on this great program later. I hope I got your interest piqued!

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