Capture Your 365

Ring the bell, I actually have photos for all 7 photo prompts from this last week! Ding, ding, ding!!

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Day 72 – Messy: My freezer was getting a little low on homemade pasta sauce. I usually like to clean up along the way while I am cooking, but who can resist a good photo prompt and an excuse to leave it all a little messy?

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Day 73 – Branches: Many of the nut and fruit trees are in full bloom around here right now. Makes me wish I could drag by camera around with me all the time!

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Day 74 – In A Field of Green: Most pool tables have green felt, but my husband and I had a chance to play pool on this pool table with red felt which dates back to the very late 1800’s. By the way, my husband won the game (re-match for next time!)

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Day 75 – Green: Starbucks stop on our way home from a couple of days in Monterey with my husband! Caramel Frappuccino is one of my favorites, what is your favorite Starbucks drink?

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Day 76 – Wearing of the Green: We had a really good reason for not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day! My daughter did our Compassion Sunday presentation so we all wore our Compassion Sunday t-shirts, which just happen to be one of my favorite colors. You can watch the video of her presentation here. I love that our pastor gave her a big hug when she finished!

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Day 77 – Spots: or marks. This is how I keep track of our homeschool days. I just write in a ‘P’ for days that we did any kind of school work, field trip, or life skills lessons. Daily attendance is one of the very few requirements we have here in California for our homeschools. You can print out a calendar like this one here.

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Day 78 – Play a Game: Today was one very busy day! My morning started off at a MOPS meeting to listen to my friend, Kendra, share with the moms there about the hope we have in Jesus. Then after a quick lunch, Kelsey and I headed on over to our ladies Bible study. We have been going through John MacArthur’s Fundamentals of the Faith book with our pastor leading the teaching and discussion. After the study we were back home again to get a couple of loads of laundry done and throw together a quick dinner. Then my family all went off in different directions for the evening. There was definitely no time to sit down and play a game today! But seeing how many of my bulbs in the backyard are blooming, I cut a few and brought them inside. Great reminder that in spite of the busyness of some of our days, we can still stop and see the beauty that God provides all around us.

Do you love these photo prompts as much as I do? Be sure to visit Katrina’s blog, Capture Your 365, and join in the fun!

Not One, Not Two…

…but three letters in one week!

Cream colored envelopes that arrive in our mailbox with “A Message From Your Sponsored Child” are pretty special around here. And just last week, I received 3 letters! Today I am going to share with you what each one of these special kids wrote.

This first letter is from Lina in Colombia. She will be 14 next month and we have been sponsoring here for almost 3 years now. Here is what she writes:

Dear Yvonne Reynolds

Hello!

God blesses you and allows you to enjoy this New Year close to your beloved ones. I will be praying that it will be like that. Remember that I love you a lot. You know, one day I would like to visit your country because I want to meet you and give you a big hug. It will be also a great opportunity to learn to speak English. I feel grateful to you for the unconditional support that you give me. You are really very important to me. God blessed me with your friendship and I am happy to know that I can count with it in spite of the distance. The letter, stickers, and the tree were really a good present! Did you do that lovely tree? Thank you for answering my questions and from remaining praying for my family but mainly for my father. do you want me to pray for you for something in particular? I also thank you for your Christmas present. I was able to get with it, a painting, a pair of shorts-skirt, a blouse, and a set of skin powder. I want to go to the university, when I grow up to become a vet as I really love animals. I want to help them because it really affects me when people hurt them. I know I will be a very sensible vet, gentle and loving, with God’s support. It won’t be only to my benefit but in benefit of other people, too. Once I go back to the cdi I would like to make a nice card to send you it in the next letters’ season we will have. I send you Romans 8:28. Remember to pray for my studies. Goodbye with love! Sincerely yours, Lina

This next letter is from Eduardo. He is 6, almost 7 years old and lives in Mexico. We have been sponsoring him for a little over a year now. Because of his age, the letters we receive from him are form letters that are filled in. This one is titled ‘My Dreams’:

Someday I would like to visit: Mexico City

Someday I would like to help my family: to build a house

Someday I would like to meet my sponsor because: I want to see her

Someday I would like to be like: Jesus

Please pray for: my nephews

I would like to ask you: Do you play volleyball?

I want to thank you for: your gifts

I want to tell you: Thank you for the gift you sent me (I got one Max Steel toy, two cars and one iron for my family). I like them very much. My special request for you is that you take good care of yourself and please pray for me. I see the rainbow when it rains a lot and the sun is shining.

This last letter is from Victor. Victor is 14 years old and lives in Ecuador. He is one of 2 correspondent kids that I am writing to. I have been writing to him for about 1 1/2 years now and he is really starting to share more of his heart:

Dear Yvonne Reynolds,

I greet you in Jesus’ name. Thanks for the letter and the sticker that you sent to me. I always think of you. I’m your friend. You are as good as Jesus is, and so is your family. Please send blessings my way. You are my friend and so is Jesus. I like to play soccer with my friends and classmates. I had a beautiful Christmas with my family, but I wanted to have you by my side too. I always pray for Jesus to bless you. You are Jesus’ sister. Please pray for me. My siblings and I pray for you and your family. I just want to be friends with you forever. Well, that’s all for now. I say goodbye to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with all my love. Thanks for the letter and all the gifts.

I don’t know about you, but these letters always are a blessing to me and remind me of how special these relationships are that we are building with these kids. I may never have a chance to meet any other them, but to know that they are my brothers and sisters in Christ, brings joy to my soul.

Have you received letters from your kids recently?

His Favorite Day of the Month

My husband has a new favorite day of the month.

What day is that?

The first day of every month!!

On the first day of every month, I set a reminder in our Cozi calendar to set time aside for our monthly date night planning.

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This month’s date involved a mystery gift shopping challenge! But when Kevin read the instructions and saw that we would be going to the mall, I could see panic start to kick in. So rather than insist that we stick to the ‘rules’, we changed the rules a bit and decided to shop together for this one. Our March calendar was filling up, so rather than a date night, we headed out for an afternoon together after church one Sunday. We ended up going to Target and did a little clothes shopping for each other.

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Before heading home, we stopped for a treat which gave us a chance to spend even more time together, just the two of us.

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And here we are with our shopping choices for each other!

I know Kevin is probably counting the days until our next date night planning!

What fun thing have you done with your spouse this month?

Capture Your 365

Time for another week of photos!

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Day 66 – In The Morning: About a year ago, some somewhat local friends and I joined up with the Hello Mornings Challenge. It was very inspiring and motivating to get my mornings started with God’s Word. I am not following the Hello Mornings current Bible study, but I still strive to start my day soaking in Truth. Currently, I am working my way through Romans chapter one. Writing out all the verses, all the cross references, and looking up all the Greek words gives me a better understanding of what Paul is teaching us in this book.

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Day 67 – A Hobby: part of my sewing area, with a pile of baby blankets and wash cloths that need hand stitching

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Day 68 – Me: As the photographer, I am usually not in very many pictures. When the daily prompt arrived in my inbox, I loved the photo that was shared. Here I am copying that photo using a cute mirror that Kelsey has in her room. Are you receiving the daily prompts? If not, be sure to sign up for them here!

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Day 70 – Liquid: While many of my online and blogging friends have been suffering under inches and feet of snow, God has blessed us with an incredible week of beautiful weather here in California! It was time to start brewing some iced coffee for our warm afternoons.

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Day 71 – Shamrock: Here is where creative license comes into play. I don’t have any shamrocks growing in my backyard and my house is not decorated with shamrocks either. But we do have quite a few bulbs in the backyard that are just waiting to burst forth with beautiful spring colors! Can’t wait to see these tulips!

Be sure to join up with the Capture Your 365 challenge! I would love to hear what you photographed this past week!

Working With My Whole Family!

One of my favorite things to do as a Compassion Advocate is to work at different events, being able to answer questions of potential sponsors, and encourage them as they begin their journey as a Compassion sponsor. Up until the past weekend, I have not been able to work at an event with my whole family. But now that Kelsey is a Compassion Advocate also, we were able to work at the Rock and Worship Roadshow together!

The Roadshow stopped in Sacramento on Saturday night, so we all put on our Compassion shirts and made the drive up to work the event.

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This picture was before the concert started, this place ended up being completely packed with thousands of people!

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I had to have Kelsey help me with this picture! Hadn’t taken a selfie with the new phone yet. We were getting ready to do the child packet pass during intermission.

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I know you can’t see him all the way down there on the stage, but that is Jeremy Camp down there. Other than helping to get Compassion kids sponsored that night, his performance was my favorite part of the concert. And he is a Compassion Artist which gives him brownie points in my book (wink).

While we were waiting inside the stadium for the child packet pass, I was able to listen to Kutless. I didn’t realize that I knew so many of their songs! They were selling their CD for $5 a piece at the concert, so I have a little giveaway for my readers since I bought 2 of their CDs!

Giveaway: One new Kutless CD

Giveaway rules: In the comment section below, tell me who your favorite Christian artist is. I will give you a bonus entry if your favorite artist is also a Compassion Music Artist. Deadline for entries is Friday, March 15th at midnight pacific time. Limited to readers in the continental US. Winner will be announced next Monday, March 18th.

I can’t wait to hear who your favorite Christian music artist is!

Update: Congratulations to Jill for winning the Kutless CD!