Is a Christmas Card!
First thing this morning I read this post on (in)courage...and it struck me right where it counts!
After reading Lisa-Jo's confession...I felt like she outed me as well...
"For those of you who don’t know, I’m a recovering “Lame Sponsor” with Compassion International. I have a checkered past when it comes to keeping up regular correspondence with the two boys we sponsor."
especially after following her link and reading her full "Lame Sponsor" post on her blog, The Gypsy Mama...ouch! I'm so busted!!!
Currently we sponsor two children through Compassion International in Kenya, Africa. Derrick Oduor who is a sweet 8 year old little boy and Linet Atieno who is a young woman now at the age of 19 and in the Leadership program. Last year I was so good about writing on a monthly basis and sending pictures and small trinkets that would fit in the envelopes and then all of a sudden I just STOPPED! Live happens I know and we had alot of stressful things going on and my heart was aching and I just couldn't write without transferring that heartache in my letters and who was I kidding...my issues WERE and ARE nothing compared to what these two face just trying to literally survive!
Well SHAME on me and this was a big SNAP OUT OF IT moment for me today and it has taken me all day to get my head around it and my heart into it and to WRITE this post. But enough about me...AMEN!
Lisa-Jo's message today was about ALL THE CHILDREN that Compassion International serves...those with sponsors and those without! During her recent trip to Guatemala this past September with Compassion she discovered that regardless if a child has a sponsor or not...what every kid really wants is a letter!
"A letter to tell them they are special and loved and beautiful and necessary and that they matter much, much more than their circumstances may tell them. When you’ve stood in a corrugated iron shack that houses a family of five who barely escaped a mud slide and watched them pull an envelope of letters that stretch back for years out from under the mattress pad you know you’re in the presence of something special."
Photo courtesy of Lisa-Jo's post.
So Compassion International and DaySpring would like to offer a way for YOU to send hundreds and thousands of words of encouragement to kids who really need them in this season of Thanksgiving.
From now through November 29th (the Monday after Thanksgiving) Studio DaySpring will be hosting a Christmas Card Drive for the children of Ecuador.
You design the card, Compassion will translate it, DaySpring will print it, and a team from both organizations will travel to Ecuador to deliver it in person in time for Christmas!
Here’s how it works:
- Click here to go to the Studio DaySpring Christmas Card Drive page. Note: at the Card Basket page be sure to design a card for the existing basket named: Compassion.
- Design a card for a super special kid in Ecuador just dying to hear from YOU.
- Tell them what makes them so worth celebrating this Christmas season.
- Include a photo of you and your family and a little bit about you so they know who the card’s coming from – kids LOVE photos!
- Bear in mind that they will need some room on the card to translate your message into Spanish.
- Add to Cart and Voila – you’ve just created a Christmas message that will be hand delivered from you to a child in Ecuador. Our team will be there December 11-16.
- Oh and we’ve got a blog button to help spread the word – you can grab it off their side bars.
Here's another tip...I ordered a box of cards and the shipping was then free ;)
Inside Message: For anyone needing help in writing a message ;)
Hello Sweet Child,
May this Christmas card find you and your family in good spirits. We are so thankful for this wonderful program and we are taking this opportunity to let you know that we are thinking about you!
Our names are Kevin and Roberta and we live in the United States. Both of our boys are all grown up and they live in other cities that are far from us. So Christmas and the holidays are always important for us because we get to be all together as a family again.
It is our wish that you and your family are blessed with each other during this holiday as well.
Fondly, Kevin & Roberta
Just can't wait to read the blog posts and see the pictures of all the children when they receive their Christmas cards. Many thanks to both Compassion and DaySpring for organizing this wonderful project! Now I'm off to write to my kids and let them know that I'm so sorry for neglecting them...I'm such a lame-sponsor ;)
How about you? Do you have it in your heart to be a sponsor...then contact Compassion International today and please leave me a comment and tell me all about your great kids.
OR if you want to make Christmas special this year for so many others, then go have fun designing a card at Studio DaySpring and be sure to share your card and message as well.
Fondly, Roberta
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