Guest post: Compassion Sunday

Hello, it’s me again, Kelsey. So my mom asked me to do a post on Compassion Sunday. I hope I do a good job telling you all about it.

When my mom asked me to do Compassion Sunday, honestly, I freaked out. I have never liked public speaking because I have to talk to tons of people staring at you. And that is just not my thing. But my mom really wanted me to do it so I did a little research to help me prepare and get ready.

I was going to write out my own speech but I decided to do the speech in the Compassion Sunday packet. It took a little while to get a date set but we finally set one. Me and my mom went on to the Compassion website and ordered our packet.

When it came I was pretty excited! I pulled everything out and looked at it. I also looked at all the children. When we get child packets,, I love looking through all of them and reading about where they live, what they like to do for fun, how many children are in the family and all the fun stuff.

A few days later my mom told me that there were some videos that Amy Coddington had made to show you how to prepare before, during, and after. The videos helped me a lot.

As the day was drawing near, I was getting nervous. I kept thinking that I was going to blow it and it was going to be terrible. But I remembered that God says to not worry and to trust in Him. So I prayed and prayed and prayed that I would help these children get sponsors and I wouldn’t get so nervous.

On the day of, my mom and I set up a table in the lobby with the child packets and pens. After that we went to Sunday School and my sub teacher told me I was going to do great and to not worry about it because most people get nervous and it was totally normal.

I had been given a list of when things were going to happen during the service so I knew when to come up to the front of the church. When it was my turn I was shaking so much. I said a quick little prayer and started. Looking at all those people made me nervous. My mouth went dry while I was speaking but once I started getting into it, I was able to talk without freaking out. It went smoothly after that and I was proud of myself. After I went to sit back down I was still shaking a lot, but I had finished and I did it. I thanked God for helping me get through it.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/62272657 w=500&h=281]

Compassion Sunday Presentation from Yvonne Reynolds on Vimeo.

So, after the service my mom, my brother and I went into the lobby and stayed at the table. That day we had three children sponsored. We were so happy! Our pastor let us keep the table up for another week and the next week we had one more child sponsored. So, total we had four children sponsored! Even though it was just four children, four of those lives were changed that day.

Everyone said I did well and I was glad that I did! Well, maybe I will do it next year but I will have to think about it. :)

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed reading about my Compassion Sunday experience! Thank you! :)

A Trip Back in Time

For the past few years, five or six times a year, our family packs up our car with many items from the 1860’s, and we camp out for the weekend, all while participating in Civil War Reenactments. All of this came about when Matthew became very interested in history, especially Civil War history. Being in California, our group really doesn’t reenact specific battles from the Civil War, but during the weekend, we try to make things as authentic as possible for the many visitors that come through our camps and watch the battles.

When we first thought of the idea of participating in these events as a family, my husband was not really excited about the thought. I really felt this was something we needed to do to support Matthew’s interest and mentioned that if Matthew was playing football or some other sport, we would be at some stadium or ball field a lot. My husband agreed, we became ‘official members’ of the 20th Maine, and our journey as Civil War Reenactors began.

At this last event, after spending most of his time in the Union camp over the years, Matthew decided to ‘join up’ with his friends from the 43rd Virginia. He is the third one over from the right in the brown cap.

Participating in these events as a family has given us something to do together. And for this I am really thankful. During the teens years, it seems like so many kids are going off to one thing or another and families don’t spend as much time together as they used to. This has also been a great time of Matthew developing some leadership skills that he may not have been able to gain in other activities. Plus, this has really enhanced his love of history.

Is there something you like to do as a family? What do you do to support your children’s loves and interests?

Capture Your 365

This week, I have four photo prompts to share with you and a couple of bonus photos!

where you sit

ISO 100, 20mm, f/4.0, 1/1250 sec

Day 93 – Where You Stand (or sit): Okay, I added the sit part. Last week, I had already taken a photo of my bare feet and thought you all probably didn’t want to see another picture of my feet. So I changed this prompt up (which we are always allowed to do) and took this picture instead. I have been reading through one of Scott Kelby’s books on Digital Photography. It was a nice warm afternoon, so I poured myself some tea and enjoyed some time outside.

lemon bloom

ISO 100, 55mm,f/5.6, 1/100 sec

Day 94 – Brand New: There are so many blooms on my little Meyer lemon tree right now. I need to remember to take care of it so I can take advantage of all those fresh lemons!

unlikely pair

ISO 100, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/60 sec

Day 95 – Unlikely Pair: After the nice warm day we had, our spring weather changed again! Substituted the cold drink with a hot one and dreamed about a nice warm beach!

morning light

ISO 100, 22mm, f/4.0, 1/15 sec

Day 96 – Morning Light: One day, I want to be one of those crazy photographers that gets up before dawn in an amazing location with all of the right equipment to get that wonderful sunrise shot. Until then, I will be happy with all the beautiful light that comes through my east facing doors in the morning.

church in the city

ISO 100, 200mm, f/16, 30.0 sec

Bonus Photo Number 1: My husband and I were in the city (San Francisco) on Saturday night. So I brought along my camera and my tripod to try to get some long exposure night time shots. With some help from his co-worker’s husband, I was able to get this shot. The city had quite a bit of fog that night so I wasn’t able to get a lot of shots like I was hoping to.

car lights

ISO 100, 200mm, f.16, 20.0 sec

Bonus Photo Number 2: From the other side of the building, I was able to get this shot of car lights out on the street.

These night time shots were fun to take! I adjusted my settings, pushed the shutter, and stepped back. Now I am dreaming of a night time trip to Yosemite with a full moon. Can you even imagine the awesome pictures you can take of Yosemite at night?

Are you participating in the Capture Your 365? If you are, let me know so I can see what you are photographing in your corner of the world!

Letters from 2 of ‘my boys’!

All of us Compassion sponsors will agree that we find a lot of joy in going to our mailbox and finding that familiar cream colored envelope that says ‘Message From Your Sponsored Child’! Over the course of a couple of days, I received letters from Abner in Colombia and Eduardo in Mexico.

Abner is quite the artist! He is one of my correspondent kids and he just turned 10 in December. Here is what his letter says:

Sponsor Yvonne,

I’m very happy to write again to you and to greet you. May the Lord Jesus bless you greatly. I want to thank you for the letter that you sent me and the lovely photos. I’m pleased to hear that you’re well and I hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas.

I tell you that everyday I get up at 7:00am, I help with the household and I get ready to go to school from 12m to 6:00pm.

In the evening I do my homework, have dinner and I go to bed at 9:30pm. What do you do in a type day? Please pray for my family that the Lord will bless us each day more. I’ll be praying for you and your family too.

I want to send you this bible verse from Lam. 3:25 “the Lord id good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.”

I say bye with a big hung a God bless you,

Abner

Then a couple of days later, I received a letter from Eduardo and I was so excited about this letter!

We have been sponsoring Eduardo for almost a year and a half now. At the beginning, someone from the center or his dad would write his letters. Now he is writing his own letters! Here is what his letter has to say:

My best friends at the project are Brayan, Aldo, Candido and Emi.

I go to my project one day a week.

I get to my project by bus.

My favorite activity to do at my project is physics and baseball.

Please pray for my parents.

I would like to ask you if it is cold.

I want to thank you for the gifts.

I want to tell you that in the Compassion program there will be a festival and they are going to give gifts. I started elementary school.

I just love these boys and their sweet hearts!

Have you heard from your Compassion kids lately?

Investing in us

No, this post is not about where to put your money (because we don’t have a lot of money to put anywhere anyway!). This post is about making time for our spouse. You know, the one who leaves the house early every morning so we can stay home to do what God has called us to do. I know that my husband works hard and he deserves more of my time than sometimes I have to give (or am willing to give, which happens sometimes, just being honest here).

A few weeks ago, Kevin and I took the opportunity that we now have an adult child (who could be left to care for his younger sibling), and we went on an overnight getaway to the coast. This was the first time we had left our kids overnight at our home by themselves. We left in the morning on Friday and came back late Saturday afternoon.

 (In my opinion, not the best picture of the two of us, but had to use the self timer on this one and I know the settings were a bit off.)

I know it is not always easy to get away when you are right in the midst of raising up kids, but I do know it is important for our kids to see a healthy marriage relationship. We have made plenty of mistakes over the years (and our kids know this), but we are really working on helping our kids to see that marriage is a life time commitment. It is a choice.

“Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” – Ephesians 5:33

Need some ideas on how to invest in your marriage? For a while now, I have subscribed to The Generous Wife’s blog posts. Her blog posts are short, but filled with great tips and encouragement to help you to be a more generous wife. She usually shares a few links also if you want to do a little more exploring on the subject. (There is also a blog for The Generous Husband, if you are interested)

Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. - Deuteronomy 15:10

Any tips you would like to share on how you invest in your marriage?