Compassion Bloggers in Ecuador

Can I admit something?

I am a tiny (well, actually a lot!) jealous right now...

Why?

There is a group of bloggers in Ecuador right now!!

Before I had gone on a Compassion trip of my own, I followed along with these bloggers trip, reading every detail, soaking it all in, 'knowing' that I would never be able to do what they were doing.

God had other plans though.

I have walked the streets of poverty in neighborhoods unlike any other. I have held the hand of my Compassion child. I have been in homes smaller than my kitchen. I have been loved by children who I may never see again here on earth.

If you already sponsor a Compassion child, these trips give you an opportunity to 'experience' what you may never have the opportunity to experience on your own. 

If you do not sponsor a child with Compassion, you will be amazed at the work the local church is able to do to provide for these children and their families. In fact, you might even feel the need to sponsor your own Compassion child!

I invite you to join in this week, follow the Compassion bloggers. And if you have a tender heart, you might want to have a box of kleenex handy...

My Week of Photos

What did I capture this week?

ISO 400, f/2.2, 1/400 sec with 50 mm lens

The prompt for this day was 'under'. I am sure I could have been a little more creative with this one, but this seems to work.

ISO 1600, f/2.5, 1/60 sec with 50 mm lens

I am in the middle of a big quilt project right now, two twin size quilts. I spent the weekend cutting out lots and lots and lots of squares.

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/80 sec

Most of the time, my 50mm lens lives on my camera. But when I saw all the little birds flying around our backyard, I put on my 55-200mm lens and tried to capture a few of these busy little guys. Boy, they are quick. As soon as I would focus on one, they would fly away. I cropped this one in so you can see the bird a little better, but it is not as crisp as I would like. He is cute though.

ISO 400, f/2.5, 1/125 sec with 50 mm lens

Learning that it was 'Pie Day' gave me an excuse to bake. I was hoping to make a lemon pie, but since I didn't have any lemons on hand, cherry was a welcome substitute.

ISO 400, f/10, 1/50 sec

We have gotten quite a bit of rain lately, and with all the clouds, I knew the sunsets have given us lots of colorful sunsets. I took my camera and drove down the road, but wasn't finding exactly what I was looking for. Until I saw all those pink clouds at the end of the orchard.

ISO 800, f/4.0, 1/500 sec with 50 mm lens

My bulbs are blooming!! Whenever I see this in the middle of winter, I wish I had taken the time to plant more bulbs in the fall. Now to be on watch for those first blooms...

ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/80 sec with 50 mm lens

I know, two food photos in one week. But I didn't pick up my camera at all during the day yesterday, so dinner it was. This is Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce from The Pioneer Woman. Pretty easy to throw together, even on a weeknight.

What did you capture this week?

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 6

Moving right along here on Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse...next up: Kitchen Drawers!

I have four main drawers in my kitchen, and yes, they needed a bit of decluttering. My daughter is a big help to me when I am going through this process. We tackled one drawer at a time and took everything out of each drawer. With everything out, it was easier to look at everything and decide what could stay and what needed to go.

I was able to let go of quite a few things I never use, or that I had duplicates of.

Once we finished, the drawers looked like this:

Overall, I ended up removing 41 items from my kitchen drawers, and I sold some of the items to help raise funds for my next Compassion trip!

I have to say, I am really happy with how well this Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse has been going. Are you ready to join in?

Bake for Brazil

I love to bake. In middle school, I took a whole year of home ec and learned to bake so many things. And I am thankful to have a kitchen, many tools, and access to lots of ingredients that allow me the pleasure of baking pretty much any time I want to.

My love of baking allowed me to use that talent as one way to raise funds for both of my Compassion sponsor tours. I would bake cupcakes, pies, cream puffs, and people would buy them to help me realize a dream of meeting our sponsored children.

In Brazil, there is a little boy who has a dream of being a pilot. His name is Jesus Gabriel. He lives with his single mother and seven siblings in one small brick home in a community where a large percentage of the population lives on less than $35 per month.

$35 per month.

We spend more than that when all four of us go out for dinner.

I want to help Jesus Gabriel and other children like him be able to realize their dreams.

And I am asking 20 of my friends to partner with me.

Do you like to bake?

Yes?

Here is how you can help...host a bake sale and donate the earnings to my Bake for Brazil fundraising campaign.

I have a goal, and it is a big one.

20 bake sales at $50 each equals $1000 

20 bake sales by March 20th

20 bake sales that will help more children be encouraged to dream

"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them." - Lady Bird Johnson

Can I count on you to Bake for Brazil?

My Week of Photos

This past week, I didn't have a chance to pick up my DSLR as much as I would have hoped to, but I did manage to play around with three prompts from the Capture Your 365 daily prompts:

f/7.1, ISO 100, 1/400 sec

Day 13 - Mostly White: Yes, we live in California, where everyone thinks are days are filled with blue skies at all times. But we have been receiving such much needed rain this month. So we have seen our fair share of cloud filled skies. These cloud filled skies usually produce some pretty spectacular sunsets, but I just haven't made the time to venture out of my warm house to capture those sunsets...yet.

f/5.6, ISO 1600, 1/13 sec

Day 14 - Black And White: this little spot was just screaming to be a black and white photo! This clock and stack of books sit on a little table next to our couch. By focusing on the clock, the stack of books is slightly out of focus, which was precisely the look I was going for. I tried moving things around a bit, but this composition looked the best to me.

f/5.6, ISO 1600, 1/8 sec

Day 16 - Sepia: a big storm blew through here the other morning, so I lit a few candles to brighten up the room a little. I tried shooting this one vertical, but I liked the horizontal better. And because all the book covers are different colors, I like the way this looks in sepia.

So, what have you captured this week using your camera?

Linking up this week with Black & White Wednesdays