Ministry Opportunity - Be A Miracle Mood: not sure Topic: BCM International
Often I am made painfully aware from either the Holy Spirit or my own conscience that I seem to focus a lot on Compassion International and not on my own mission BCM International. It's not that I don't want to promote BCM. It's just that BCM is small compared to Compassion and Compassion seems to have an endless array of videos and other things that are available to post and BCM has a limited budget and, therefore, not as many things are available to put on a blog. I am trying to remember to post more about BCM. It is a mission that Sarah and I truly love - otherwise, we wouldn't still be BCM missionaries after 13 years (boy, it just seems like yesterday ~ but I digress). When I saw this letter from BCM's president, Marty Windle, I knew it was something that I had to mention. Please read it and prayerfully consider what part you can play to help these missionaries in India.
Be a Miracle!
Posted on: 25 Aug 2010 at 9:59 am
Dear praying friends:
We've asked for prayer often for BCM's India field. Not because nothing is happening on other BCM ministry fields. Not even because India is BCM's largest field with a full third of our missionaries along with 1000s of volunteers, 17,000 churches, 400,000 children hearing God's Word weekly. But you've walked with us through crisis and persecution, especially in Orissa, beginning with the 2007 Christmas Day attacks, then 2008's full-out massacre of Christians and razing of churches and homes. You prayed and gave generously to BCM refugee camps that gave sanctuary to Orissa pastors and families. You rejoiced with us when the camps closed, and these precious ministry families gathered up scanty belongings and headed back into Orissa to boldly preach God's Word again. You prayed and grieved with us when Pastor Tuna Digal, the first to return, lost his precious five-year-old daughter this last month to a snake bite as she slept.
Now BCM India has been faced with a new crisis. Due to a sharp downturn in ministry giving, this field is having to discontinue salaries for 106 BCM pastors, of which one-third are such Orissa pastors as Tuna Digal. These are not pastors who can simply pick up a part-time local job. They are missionary-pastors serving mostly in hostile and extremely impoverished areas. While Orissa has been much in the news, many of these pastors in other provinces also face constant persecution and danger.
What grieves us most is that the cost is so small. $65 a month covers an entire BCM India pastor family. Less than $7000 a month is the budget for all 106 pastors. A slow US economy is the official reasoning for a drastic drop in giving, not just to BCM, but all global ministries. Yet in and out of the church we see no lack of funds for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, 4th of July, and other holiday spending.
We believe better than this of the body of Christ and especially of you who are our ministry team. And so we want to offer this opportunity and challenge. Please be a miracle to a BCM India pastor! Consider as a family, Bible study group, SS class, or church, adopting a BCM India pastor. All we need is 106 pledges of $65 to guarantee these pastors' continued support. You can donate online for quick, secure giving. Please share this opportunity as well with family, friends, and churches.
Thursday's Child - On Monday! Mood: a-ok Topic: Compassion International
It's coming! Yep, in two days a new Compassion International blog tour is coming. From Sept. 8-11, four bloggers along with their chaperone's, will be having the trip of their lives in Guatemala. Compassion has asked us to pray for these folks on this mission trip:
PRAYER SUGGESTIONS: 1. Safety: Severe flooding over the weekend and continued heavy rains have caused mudslides in Guatemala that have claimed the lives of at least 100 people and displaced an estimated 110,000. We are altering our travel plans slightly for our own safety. Please pray for the safety of Compassion's families and the whole of Guatemala.
2. Family: All our bloggers are leaving behind friends and family for the week. Please pray for the protection and comfort of these families while apart.
3. Writing: It is very difficult to have your heart broken and inspired so tremendously every day on these trips and then sit down at a computer each evening and put it all into words. Pray for God's guidance and courage.
4. Re-entry: Begin praying now for each blogger's re-entry into life back home. Coming home to the average American life after spending even a short time in the developing world is difficult for many. Pray that our bloggers return forever different and able to bring that difference into the same life they knew before.
I know that the last Compassion bloggers trip, the Kenya trip, really changed the way I viewed Compassion and the precious children that they work with. Unfortunately I will be a retreat this weekend where I will be without internet access so I won't be able to read their posts until I get back. Please support them for me by visiting their blogs and encouraging them with your comments. Trust me, it will change your life!
Let's Have A Party - A Pizza Party! - And A Giveaway! Mood: a-ok Topic: Homeschool Product Review
Let me tell you, the Tinkel family loves pizza. We love delivery pizza, we love resteraunt pizza, we love home made pizza...it doesn't matter, we love pizza! That's one of the reasons why we were thrilled to receive Download N Go's unit study Pizza Party.
If you remember, the Download N Go unit studies are week long studies that would really take much longer than five days if you did everything that is included. Download N Go's have everything that you can think of...coloring pages, clickable links to fascinating videos and topics, a lapbook to put together, among other things. And, everything is included. There's elements of math, social studies, science, and grammar plus just good old fashion fun.
For example, here are the daily themes for Pizza Party:
Day 1: Pizza—What Is It?
Day 2: The Story of Pizza
Day 3: Types of Pizza
Day 4: The Science of Pizza
Day 5: Let’s Have a Pizza Party
Joshua and I began this fantastic study just this last week, and let me tell you what we did just on our first day. We...
Watched two videos on kids making pizza.
Drew our favorite pizza and labeled the main parts and toppings.
Learned about the history of pizza.
Learned math concepts by dividing a pizza into eight equal pieces.
Located Italy on the map and colored it in.
Discovered that Naples, Italy was the birthplace of pizza and located it on our map.
Learned about the weather in Naples.
Found out what language they speak in Italy and watched a cute video on th Itilian alphabet.
Learned about Marco Polo and watched videos of his great travels to China and back.
Talked about what supplies that we would need to take with us if we ever went on a journey like that.
And, if we would have had time, we could have begun our lapbook, but I decided that our lapbooking would have to wait for another day.
There is also a book list where you can choose books from the library that go along with your study and a list of extras (as if that wasn't enough) that you can do each day after the regular study is done. And all of this is seamlessly put together by the author, Amanda Bennett, so that you can't even tell where you stopped talking about pizza and when you began talking about Italy and Marco Polo.
So, now you can see why I say that you could never get it all done in one day even if you tried. What I do with Joshua, and what I would recommend you do as well, is to just pick and choose the activities that you feel best fit your child's needs and your their learning style. But, be warned, all of Ms. Bennett's ideas are so neat that you'll want to try them all.
So, how much does tis great 112 page unit study cost? Well if you act by midnight tonight, you can get if for $5.00. Otherwise, it's only $7.95. All you have to do is click here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above to find out more about Pizza Party and other great Download N Go unit studies. But, The Old Schoolhouse has given me permission to give away a free copy of Pizza Party to one great person. Here's how you can get an entry in for he drawing.
1. Leave a comment below telling me why you would like a copy of Download N Go's Pizza Party (worth one entry).
2. Subscribe to my blog by clicking on the subscribe button at the end of this post and then leave a comment saying that you did (worth one entry).
3. Subscribe to my blog by clicking on the Networked blog button in the left column and then leave a comment saying that you did (worth one entry).
4. Become a fan on my Families Again Facebook page by clicking here and then leave a comment saying that you did (worth one entry).
5. Follow me in Twitter by clicking here and then leave a comment saying that you did (worth one entry).
6. Twitter or Facebook about this give-away and leave a comment with a link to the post(s) (worth one entry per day. Must make a separate comment each day).
7. Blog about this give-away and leave three comments saying that you did (worth 3 entries).
8. Become a fan of Download N Go by clicking on the Download N Go Facebook button in the left hand column and leave two comments saying that you did (worth 2 entries).
I'm going to be holding the drawing a week from today on Sept. 12, so enter quickly.
To find out more about Amanda Bennett and other great products that she produces, click here. And, last but n least, click here to find out what other Download N Go reviewers thought about Pizza Party. Until next time, have fun making pizza and Happy Homeschooling!
As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Download N Go review team I was given a free copy of Pizza Party to use and review on my blog.
It's One of Those Nights! Mood: spacey Topic: Family
Please pray for the Tinkel's...especially me! It has been a wonderful day. Joshua's football game was this morning and grandma came all the way from Oak Ridge to see it! Although his team lost, Joshua did great. Afterwords, we all went out to McDonalds and some of Joshua's teammates showed up. They had a fantastic time playing in the play place. This afternoon, we went to a birthday party at the state park and again Joshua played with friends for about an hour before we had to leave for yet another party (this usually does not happen to us - what a day). This time it was a pool party/barbecue. And mmmmmmmm was it great! Our host is a professional chef and gets things on wholesale. How about pure Angus beef hotdogs for the kids and lamb steaks...yes I said LAMB steaks and vegetable Kabobs for the adults. Joshua had a fantastic time in the pool. Overall it was a fabulous day and Joshua, on his new (actually old) medicine was our sweet Joshua once again...until we got home.
He is tired out and having a meltdown. As I write this he is yelling that he hates his life and that this is the "worstest" day ever. Typical, tired, busy day, medicine has warn off, Joshua. And I have a review to write that was actually due yesterday! Thankfully we have a three day period that we are allowed to post it so I have until tomorrow. I am tired, I can't think straight - especially with a child that is having a meltdown, and I am just not going to try right now. I'm going to set my alarm and try to get it done before church.
So, pray for me. Sunday's are always long days anyway and we are planning on going to Grandma's after evening service for a couple of days to celebrate labor day. Please pray that I will get it done tomorrow morning. Actually, compared to the last three weeks, life is pretty good, so I can't really complain. It's just one of those things that happens. It's just another one of those nights!
Last year I had the great pleasure of reviewing Time4Learning's preschool program and Joshua loved it. One of the first things that he covered was shapes, so instead of "Time4Learning", Joshua wanted to play "Shapes" all of the time. Of course, he learned much more than shapes. You can read my review of Time4Learning preschool by clicking here.
This year I got to review Time4Learning's elementary program and, although Jacob wasn't too thrilled, John Allen and Joshua enjoyed it! It was everything that we expected and more. I put Joshua to work on math right away because that is where he is very deficient. He is still learning about money and they had some great lessons on identifying coins and their value, then on adding different coins together. Later he really enjoyed some of the science activities such as learning about magnets. Time4Learning always makes learning fun. Joshua loved the animation. Much of it was hilarious and even Jacob wanted to watch some things over and over again. That's what makes Time4Learning such a great program. They do excellent teaching in very entertaining ways. When the two go together, you can't lose.
Even the older grade sections are great. John Allen worked on pre-algebra, and, although such topics have to get down to brass tacks a little more and not use as much animation, it was still well done with excellent teaching. You really can't go wrong with Time4Learning.
Now, don't get me wrong, Time4Learning has much more than math and science. It has social studies, history, grammar...almost anything you can think of. And, it has printable worksheets to reinforce the online interactive teaching and, for those reluctant learners, there are reward games that you can play. The games are links to some of the best educational and fun game sites on the internet. It's all easy to use with detailed reporting, lesson plans, teaching tools for parents, and it all meets state educational standards. Time4Learning can be used as a stand alone homeschool curriculum or as a supplement to your existing studies.
Now with everything that I've mentioned above you probably think that this must cost an arm and a leg but you would be wrong. Time4Learning only costs $19.95 for the first child and $14.95 for each additional child! Still not convinced? If you go to there website, Time4Learning has free lessons in all grade levels that you can try out. You can get to their website by clicking here or on any on of the hi-lighted links above. And, don't forget, you can access the reviews of the other TOS Crew members by clicking here. Give it a try, I don't think you will be disappointed. Happy home educating!
As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given a free 30 day membership of Time4Learning's elementary edition in order to try out and to review on my blog.
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