Priorities and a Day on the River

Every now and then, because of my volunteer work with Compassion, we have conference calls scheduled to discuss various things that I am involved in. During the school year, it is usually pretty easy for me to plan on ‘attending’ these calls since we really should be home making sure school and house work are getting done.

But during the summer, things come up. Like the one day opportunity to save $10 per person to go on a river rafting trip with your daughter and a couple of her friends. The conference call can be rescheduled, but you don’t always have the chance to save money on a day trip like this. Or do you have the opportunity to put your family first like this.

We all had a great time on the trip (a little sore and sunburned though!), but most importantly, I want my daughter to know that she is more important to me than even the ministry that is near and dear to my heart. I don’t ever want her to resent the time I put into helping other people realize the difference they can make by investing into the life of a child living in extreme poverty.

Question for you: How do you balance family and ministry time?

Capture Your 365

So, I have learned that it is a good idea to format a memory card rather than delete photos from them. However, it is a good idea to check to see what is on that memory card before you format it, otherwise you only have two photos to share for the week! Oh well…

something masculine

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/250 sec

Day 167 – Something Masculine: For Father’s Day, my husband just wanted to spend a quiet afternoon at home after church. One of his favorite things to do in the summer time is to BBQ using his charcoal BBQ. So we made sure to plan BBQ hamburgers for our lunch/dinner for that day. Why lunch/dinner? You see, on Sundays, we usually find ourselves eating lunch around 3pm. By 5 or 6pm, no one is hungry for dinner. So on Sundays, we just plan on eating a late lunch/early dinner. If we do find ourselves hungry later in the day, we can always pop some popcorn or make something yummy for dessert.

splash

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/80 sec

Day 168 – Splash: Taking some creative license on this one! We don’t have a pool of any kind at our home. And rather than try to create some ‘splash’ using water of some form, I thought it would be fun to take a picture of pouring rice krispies into the melted marshmallows while making rice krispie treats. Certainly not the same effect as water splashing, but it was worth it later while we were enjoying the rice krispie treats!

Question for you: What do you like to take pictures of during the summer?

Did you travel to Nicaragua last week?

Over the past few days, I have read many inspiring posts from the Compassion Bloggers while they were all traveling in Nicaragua.

Did you have a chance to read any of the posts? I sure hope you did! But if not, here is a chance for you to hop over to read some of their posts:

• the easiest way to find all of the posts is right on the Compassion Bloggers site
• or you can visit Christy
• or visit Edie
• or visit Kelly
• or visit Traci
• or visit Shaun
• or visit Keely
• and let’s not forget Brianne!

Question for you: if you took the time to read some of the posts from the trip, which one(s) spoke to you most? And if you decided to sponsor a child because of the posts that you read, I would love for you to share about that!

We have hit a bump in the road

If you have been reading along on my blog, you know that I have been over the top excited about our upcoming Compassion trip to Mexico to visit this young man. Well, God has other plans…

This morning there was a message on my answering machine letting me know that the Compassion center that Eduardo attends is being closed and that we will no longer be able to sponsor Eduardo, and that I needed to call them back.

After wasting some time (stalling is more like it!), I finally made the call and learned that after many attempts, Compassion has had to pull out of this church because there has not been enough committed volunteers to implement the program. I feel sorry for the poor girl that I was on the phone with because I couldn’t stop the tears. She went onto to explain that the church will continue to run a children’s ministry program that Eduardo can attend. She also told me that Eduardo is a healthy and quiet boy, he just completed the first grade. Then she shared with me the best news that any sponsor would want to hear:

“He accepted Christ as his Savior”

Even though I am so disappointed that we will not be able to continue to sponsor Eduardo, it warms my heart to know that He knows my Savior, that he is my brother in Christ, that I will see him one day in heaven. Through our letters and support, and through the tireless work that so many volunteers gave at the Compassion center, Eduardo has learned about the hope he can have when he has a relationship with Jesus. God knew this would happen, it is not an accident or a mistake.

So where does this put us for our trip with Compassion to Mexico in January? Oh, we are still going!! At this point, there is a possibility that we might be able to sponsor a child from one of the centers we will be visiting on our trip. In any case, we will be sponsoring another child from Mexico, and God already knows who it is.

Will you join us in praying for this new child that we will be adding to our family? Thank you!

Capture Your 365

There are some days when I just get so busy with the tasks of my day, that I find myself at the end of the day and I have not picked up my Nikon even just once. So this week, I thought I only had two photos to share with you, but surprisingly enough, I discovered one photo that I forgot to check off on the list!

star burst

ISO 100, 105mm, f/25, 1/40 sec

Day 159 – Star Burst: Today was one of those days when I almost didn’t take a picture to match the photo prompt for the day. I quickly ran outside and captured this one as the sun was setting over my neighbor’s home across the street.

relax

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/25 sec

Day 163 – Relax: Over the course of two days, I made 7 batches of apricot jam. One of my favorite ways to relax in the summer is with a tall glass of homemade iced coffee and a good book. What is your favorite way to relax?

stars and stripes

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/3200 sec

Day 165 – Stars and Stripes: Last week on Flag Day, I made sure we put up our American flag. With this photo, I wanted to do something a little different, so I captured just a portion of the flag. The breeze was blowing quite briskly on this day, so I had to act quick to get what I had in mind.

Question for you: What photos have you taken over the last week?