Six Months (Seis Meses)

In six months, I will be in Perú serving the children who live in the jungle, teaching Vacation Bible School to them and hugging them every chance I get.

Summer is my favorite time of year--I actually get depressed in the Fall and Winter, for which I have been reprimanded and criticized, but it happens.  Because of that, I don't ever wish for summer to go by fast, but I can't wait until October when I will be in Perú with those children.

Besides that, on the last day in the country, I will get to meet Jack.

But six months seems such a long time.

If it seems that long to me, imagine how long it seems to a child.  Not just a child, but a child waiting for help, waiting for a sponsor to love and nurture him or her.

The Compassion US website has 103 children who have been waiting six months or longer for a sponsor.  Imagine the joy you would bring to a child and his or her family if you would choose one to sponsor.

Here's the link--go for it!  Children Waiting Longest for a Sponsor

Amazing Letter from Jack

Jack wrote this letter in January, the day before my birthday.  Kinda cool.  :)

First the bad news.  Jack had his appendix removed.  Therefore, he did not have a good Christmas, and he is not permitted to play the trumpet (mi instrumento preferido) or . . . futbol!  He loves futbol.  So I guess Jack and I have something in common--neither of us can do what we like because of an injury.  I am very glad that Jack is in the Compassion program so that he was able to receive proper care.  

Jack writes to me more than any of the others that I sponsor, but this is the first time he has sent pictures.  In his previous letter he said he would try to send some, and he sent four.  I LOVE them!!  In the letter and with the pictures, he says, "I love you very much, Mindi" three times.  I can NOT wait to meet him.

This picture is of him and his friends who like music.  He is second from the left.  He writes on the back of the picture: "En esto foto salgo y con mis amigos que les gusta la musica."  (If you know Spanish, you will see that his spelling and grammar are not perfect.)  The picture is printed on plain paper, so the quality is not great.

For this one he says that he is with the instrument he plays in school.  Is he a cool cat, or what?  :)  ("En esto [esta] foto estoy con mi instrumento que toco en mi coligio [colegio].)

In a previous letter, Jack told me that his school football team was playing in the championship.  I'm wondering if this is from that championship.  He says it is when he and his friends played in the Olympics.  I love this photo, too.

And this is the best one.  He says this picture was taken of him when he was thinking of Christ and that he hopes I will put it in a frame and think of him when I see his picture.  (Esta es mi foto cuando me tomaron pensando en Cristo.  Espero lo lengo (?) en un cuadro y cuando lo via mi foto piense en mi.)

There are no words for this one.  <3

This is the part of the letter that really gets me (other than the three times that he says he loves me very much).  He says, "I want to know will you ever visit me so I can meet you?  I long to meet you and I hope God will allow me to."

And I long to tell him that I plan to be there in six months, but I dare not say it. Not only have I read Of Mice and Men, but I have taught it several times, and I know about those "best laid plans," although I believe this one will work out.  There is a special bond between us, so we need to meet.  It is so cool to me to think that Jack was originally my correspondent child.  

So that's my awesome letter from Jack.  I hope it brings you some joy.  It certainly brought great joy to an otherwise very tiring day for me.

I can't wait to meet him.  I just want to sit and talk with him . . . and maybe play a little futbol.  :)

La Bota Fea

Yesterday I had to go to the bank, the grocery store, and the dollar store.  Okay, the dollar store was not a "had to," but I wanted to stop there to look for some goodies for my Compassion children.  I had found some card games such as Go Fish and Old Maid with a Biblical theme there a couple of months ago, and I wanted to see if there were more.  There weren't.  Oh well.

I was frustrated because I have to wear the boot you see to the left because I have a stress fracture that resulted from moving many laptop carts (mobile learning labs--very heavy) for about 3 1/2 hours straight at school in March.  My foot hurt afterwards, but I kept thinking it would get better.  A month later, I finally saw a podiatrist who gave me the ugly news along with the ugly boot.  (I like to say that Neil Armstrong let me borrow the boot he wore on the moon.)

In the dollar store, I noticed a display with luau supplies.  I like to invite my friends and their children to my house for a beach party in the summer, so I hobbled over to look.  Another lady reached the display just as I did.  She was on crutches with a brace on her knee and only a sock on her foot.  She told me that she had a broken toe (been there) and that she had also just had knee surgery.  The dilemma she faced is that she is supposed to begin bending her knee as part of her therapy, but she's not supposed to move her foot.  Um . . . . not working.

What I realized, as we all have so many times, is that there is always someone with a bigger problem, and I just need to get over myself and stop whining.  Yes, I need to take care of my foot.  Yes, it is a challenge to do that with my job and my personality.  But it will get better . . . eventually.

Then I went to the grocery store.  And there, as always, I saw the constant reminder of how much we have and how little so many others have.

In spite of my ugly boot and my very painful fractured foot, I am thankful.  And I'm no longer whining.

Birthday Card

Here's a cool idea I got from a post on OurCompassion.  I'm making a birthday card for Nancy, who will be 7 in June.  I added a picture of me when I was about her age.  I think it will give her another sense of connection with me, and I know she will like it because Nancy is so sweet.

I made the background of the card pink only because Nancy loves pink.  I do not.

I was at Cedar Point when my picture was taken.  I'm pretty proud of those saddle shoes and the outfit that my mom made herself.  (My mom made most of the clothes for my sister and me when we were kids because it cost less than buying them and we didn't have much.)

I can't wait to do this for Mindy, whose birthday is in July.  I think it will be funny to have Mindy on the left and Mindi on the right.  :)

Free--Limited Time!! Don't Hesitate!

For the next seven days (ending at exactly 9:59 AM PST, Monday, April 9), when you sponsor a child by clicking this link, you will receive a free (yes, that's right--FREE) tee shirt from Sevenly.  You must use the link to get the free shirt.

Or, if you buy one of the shirts pictured above from Sevenly, $7 will go to buy a mosquito net for a child in Rwanda.

Every year, more than one million people die of malaria, and 3/4 of those deaths are children living in Africa.  Malaria is a preventable disease, so what a tragedy it is that these children die from it--one child every 30 seconds!!

Do your part to help prevent these needless deaths.  Sponsor a child through Compassion and receive a free shirt from Sevenly, or buy a Take Malaria Down shirt from Sevenly in order to contribute to the purchase of a mosquito net.  

Give up Starbuck's and Krispy Kreme for a day to help save a life.  This is one act I guarantee you will never regret.