Back to School with Compassion

One thing I have been learning as a Compassion sponsor and advocate is a better sense of geography!

And I don't feel bad admitting this, because we learned at the Experience Compassion Conference at the end of June, that even Scott Todd didn't know where the Dominican Republic was when he became a Compassion sponsor in college.

As Compassion sponsors, I believe one way we can build a better relationship with our sponsored children is to learn more about the country where our sponsored children live. Compassion's web site has a Where We Work link with access to help us learn more about each of the 26 countries where Compassion is currently working to release children from poverty in Jesus' name.

So I want to challenge you to earn a gold star!! Do a little research and tell me the following in the comments below:

1. What is your sponsored child's name and what country do they live in? You would be surprised the number of times I ask people where their sponsored child lives and they can't tell me!
2. What is the capital of the country where your sponsored child lives?
3. Tell me one unique fact about the country where your sponsored child lives.

See this book? If you answer all three questions above, you will earn three gold stars! Each gold star gives you a chance to win this amazing book, Too Small to Ignore, by Dr. Wess Stafford. 

But in order to be eligible, you must leave your comment prior to Thursday, September 4th at noon Pacific time. Winner will be notified by e-mail, so please leave your e-mail address in your comment so I can contact you if you are the winner.

Tackle It on Tuesday: Photo Wall

This past week, I have still been working on my craft room, collecting up items for our upcoming yard sale, and moving things around in the craft room to make more room to actually get craft projects finished. Phew! Maybe after the yard sale is over, I can share another photo of what the room looks like, but right now, there are still many boxes filled with items for the yard sale.

One project I did finish last week was updating my photo wall. Here is the before picture:

I have been wanting to rearrange the photos on this wall for some time now, but finding those prints last week was just the thing I needed to drive me to work on this project.

First thing I did was to mat and frame the new prints. Then I took down the photos I wanted to rearrange. After that, I cut out paper the size of each photo that would be going back up on the wall and jotted a quick note on the paper so I knew which photo would be going where.

Then with my daughter's help, we arranged the papers up on the wall to get an idea of what the wall would look like with the photos in those spots. Once we had an arrangement we both liked, it was time to put the photos back up on the wall.

Ta da! Now I can enjoy all these memories as I walk by this wall every day!

So what project will I be tackling this week?

My husband and I were up in the foothills this week, and they just happen to have a wonderful yarn shop there. I couldn't resist purchasing some yarn for a new project.

The yarn is nice and chunky, so I have made a bit of progress, even with knitting only a few rows. We will see how far I get by next week!

What project will you be working on this week?

Sing for joy

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ISO 100, 18mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec: taken at Pinecrest Lake, August 2014

"Sing for joy to God our strength:

Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob"

- Psalm 81:1

Our Homeschool Plan

We are nearing the end of August, and most of the kids in our area have already started back to school. Some even started at the beginning of this month! Yikes!

We have been homeschooling since 1999, and because we file our own private school affidavit, we schedule our own school schedule, which works really well for us. This means we won't be starting school until September. And since I only have one student at home now, and she is doing high school work, she is doing most of her work independently.

As you can see, we have quite a full year planned! Here is the list of what she will be studying:

• Apologetics: "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist"
• Math: Algebra I with Teaching Textbooks
• Art: Color and Composition with Artistic Pursuits
• History: British History 
• Science: Apologia Physical Science
• Literature: British Literature with Learning Language Arts Through Literature
• Sign Language: this will be a class with other students

We plan to break up some of our studies with making scones and enjoying lots of British TV over the upcoming school year. Seems appropriate doesn't it? We can even count some of the scone making lessons as Home Ec!

What are your plans for your upcoming school year?

Tackle It on Tuesday: The Craft Room

I have a love/hate relationship with my craft room. What a blessing it is to have the space in our home to have a room dedicated to be filled with many craft supplies, tools, and books to complete the many craft projects that I love to work on.

But unfortunately, I am a Queen of Unfinished Projects! Which leads to piles of projects all over this room, well, because there is room in there to pile them up! Since our trip to Mexico in January, I have really been thinking about how much unused stuff we have in our home.

I love to cook and bake, but when I have two shelves of cookbooks in my home that I haven't used in years, should I keep them?

And as much as I love to sew, do I really need to buy all those patterns just because they were a dollar each? I mean really, how many jumper patterns for little girls does one mom need?

In all of my decluttering tasks, I found these treasures that were printed at least two years ago. Rather than enjoying these photos of my children up on my wall, these have been hiding in one of many piles in my craft room. Really sad, isn't it...

Now don't get me wrong, I do really love my craft room. Knowing that I can go in there and find craft paint, felt, scrap fabric, and many other craft supplies keeps me out of the store spending money that I shouldn't be spending. But when I look at the piles of projects that have not been finished, or some even started, it makes me uncomfortable. As my daughter would say, that money could have been spent on a Compassion child. 

Thankfully, most of the items I have been clearing out of my craft room are still in really good condition, and I am hoping to sell a lot of stuff at an upcoming yard sale with the money to be used toward my upcoming trip with Compassion to Colombia. 

So what am I going to tackle this upcoming week? Getting those precious photos matted, framed, and hung up on the wall, so I can enjoy the blessings that God has given me here.

What will you be tackling this week?