WATER DAY! - Day Camp 1
Mood:  silly
Topic: Ministry

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I'm a Trippin'
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Blog Carnivals!

 

No, I'm not trippin on some drug from the 60's , I'm going on a field trip. A meme field trip. Okay, I know it says a Blog Carnivals in the topic, but Meme's and Carnival's are very similar. Maybe I should change my topic to say Blog Carnivals and Memes.

Anyway, this meme is a field trip meme. It is a great meme to go to if you're looking for a cool place to take your kids on a field trip or just to live vicariously through someone else's adventure and learn about a new and different place. Now, I know that the field trip that I mentioned really isn't a learning field trip, but it was adventerous. Click on the button at the top of the page to find out what my adventure was and to see all of the great fun that some of the others went on. Have fun!

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Blog Hopping? Hey I needed something to do in my spare time!
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: TOS Crew Blog Hop

 

After all, I don't bar hop, so I have to meet new people somehow .

Just kidding!

Actually, I had no idea what blog hopping was until a few months ago. Even, then, I didn't really get into it. Just this past week, however, one of the new TOS Homeschool Crew members suggested doing a "Blog Hop" to get to know all of the other crew member's blogs. 

You all know that I am an FM (First Mate) this year on the homeschool crew. That means that I have 5 new crew members that I am kind of mentoring and helping along ~ at least at the beginning until they get their feet wet. Well, the new crew members just began about a week ago and they are a lively bunch. Not only do they like to talk, but there are twice as many folks on the homeschool crew since last year! So, we have twice as much chatter. But, that also means twice as many good ideas. 

One of the great ideas that was recommended was to do the Blog Hop. Then, someone suggested publishing the weekly list on our blogs in order for our readers to get to know all of the great homeschool blogs that the folks on this years crew write. I thought it was a great idea and so decided to participate. 

I'm a little behind the times, the first list was put out a few days ago, but it really doesn't matter when it is published as long as it is done every week. I'll try to do it around the end of the week every week, though it may not be on Thursday's. Thursday's are generally set aside for my weekly "Thursday's Child" post about Compassion International. If you follow my blog at all, you will know that I am notorious for not posting things on the days that they are supposed to be posted on, and, true to form, I've already posted my Thursday's Child post for the week so I decided to post my TOS Homeschool Crew Blog Hop today!

So, without further adieu, here are this week's great blogs -

1.  Reaping a Harvest
2.  Pink & Orange Coffee
3.  Live, Laugh, Learn!
4.  Mrs. Mandy's Musings
5.  The Fantastic Five
6.  Refined Metals Academy
7.  Just A Moment in Time
8.  Providence Farm
9.  My Journey
10. Petra School

Check them out, I think you'll find that they are well worth the read!

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More Day Camp Pictures - Thanks for Your Prayers!
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Ministry

I am slightly upset! But just slightly. I've worked for a couple of hours trying to get our day camp pictures into an album format where I can paste them on my blog and it will be like a slide show. Well it hasn't workd. But for now, here's a link to the pictures on Sarah's facebook page.

 http://bit.ly/aibg5T

Oh, by the way, the picture above is from our faithful games person Brandon Colson. I've known Brandon since he was around 5 or 6 years old going to Cedar Lake Camp. Now he's in his early 20's. Thanks Brandon, for all that you do! We love you.

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Thursday's Child - A couple things have happened recently...
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Compassion International

 

Okay, so I know it's not Thursday, but as I said, a couple things have happened recently concerning Compassion that I really wanted to tell you about.

The first was that we have gotten three yes THREE letters from Marcelo since last Friday! They are coming fast and we are excited. We really love Marcelo. He is the first Compassion child that we got and the only one that we actually support financially. The others are just correspondence sponsorships. Anyway, we have sponsored Marcelo for over a year now, and he has been nothing but a joy. His letters are so full of love for us that it makes us wonder what we have done to deserve such affection. He is also very encouraging. Of course, I have told him about our ministries, and he recently encouraged us to keep teaching the kids in our area about God because "it is very good for them to know about Him." The most recent letter also tells us that our letters make him very happy. It is such a pleasure to write to our Compassion kids.

The second big Compassion thing was that we received Ismael's sponsorship packet today. It is so much fun and always really interesting to receive the sponsorship packets. They contain all sorts of information on the child, the area where he lives and the country that he lives in. And, of course, it has the valued pictures that we get of our children. Ismael, as I said before, lives in Nicaragua. It has been a real eye opener to read about his country. The average worker in Nicaragua makes only $86 a month. I realize that the cost of living is a lot less there, but $86! Is it any wonder why there is such poverty in our world?

And speaking of sponsorship. I was quite shocked to hear recently that Compassion International is NOT a "child sponsorship program". After getting over my shock I read further...It is a "child development program". I loved it. It was a post on Compassion International's blog, so I can't reprint the whole article here, but I can share the link. Just click here to read the post in its entirety. It's a fascinating look at what Compassion International is all about.

 

Have you ever thought about supporting a child through Compassion International? There are hundreds of kids on their site for you to choose from, or just sign up and Compassion will give you a child and surprise you. It really costs only pennies a day ($38 a month) and your financial help and faithful letters of encouragement and love can make a world of difference to a child. Just click here for more information on how you can sponsor a child. If you decide to check out the website and begin to look at the kids pictures, pray about sponsoring a "red heart" child (the ones with a red heart in the corner). They are the children that have been looking for a sponsor for the longest. Won't you think about sponsoring today?

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