Can't believe it's almost 2010

So, can't really say the year has improved. My uncle has cancer, another friend has cancer. A second friend's wife died of cancer in July. So, this is the year of cancer. And I'm getting very tired of it. Oh, and another friend, his father had surgery this week to remove a tumor. Sigh.

Bright spot: I did go on two Compassion trips this year, to the Philippines in June and Brazil in October. My neice went with me to the Philippines and I very much enjoyed spending time with her. I loved both trips!

God bless.

So much for the year improving :(

So this year is truly going to be terrible. And we are only on day 23. One of my close friends put in to be a judge. He would have made an awesome judge. It was announced today that the other guy who put in got it. He's a civil atty who won't be much help to an over burdened criminal calendar. In fact, 5 of the last 6 judges we got in were civil and not criminal. Sigh. My friend had both criminal and civil experience. He would have been the better choice.

Life just sucks right now.

God bless.

09 off to a bad start

I came back from Florida on the 4th of January. I went to work on the 5th. A friend of mine begain IMing me first thing that morning. She told me that a mutual friend of ours, Donna, had passed away on the 2nd. She went to Stanford hospital on Dec. 24th (while I was in Florida) and was diagnosed with cancer....a very rare and agressive cancer. She and her husband prayed that she wouldn't suffer, and she died shortly after that prayer. The good news, her husband felt that his faith in God was justified, because He answered such and important prayer, the bad...a light has gone out of this world. Donna was vibrant, joyous, happy, and always busy with work, family and volunteering at our church and for other worthy causes. She would have turned 39 today and had her 3rd year anniversary on the 21st of this month.

I have been given a small honor. I had made a cross stitch wreath for their wedding, with their names, a Bible verse, the date and at the top it said a fairy tale romance (the words they put on their wedding invites) and had it framed. They are going to display it at the viewing (which is today) I was very touched that it meant that much to Donna and her husband. The funeral is tomorrow.

I have been told that she was the same right up until she went home to God, happy, full of life and her request was that tomorrow be a celebration and a party (there is one scheduled for after the funeral) and no black was to be worn.

I spoke w/ her husband on the phone for several hours Monday night, and went over to his house last night with other friends. He is glad she isn't suffering, but he misses her terribly.

I just can't believe she is gone. I can't believe this year started with the death of someone I loved.

She will be greatly missed.

(this portion posted 90 minutes later)
I just learned that the wife of a coworker had an ultrasound yesterday. It was not good. The baby's (Clara) 18th chromosome didn't split. That means very bad things. Most notable of which is that she will carry the baby to term (due in May) and the baby will die within a few days. Her heart is messed up, she has larges cysts in the brain, and no bones in her arms. I can't even imagine the pain the mother will experience every day for the next 5 mths as she feels her daughter move and kick, knowing that she will never grow up.

I really don't like the way this year is starting.

God bless.

New kids!

On Monday, I felt one of those urges/need to look at photos of kids on the Compassion website. I know that feeling, and it's God telling me that I need another child! I always search by longest waiting. If you do that you get photo's of children that have been waiting more than 6 months for a sponsor. I know, from talking to Compassion staff that sometimes kids drop out of the program because they don't have a sponsor!

Two photos tugged at my heart. Juan from Columbia and Kaio from Brazil. I couldn't decide which one to sponsor. So I thought I'll sleep on it, check the website tomorrow and if only one is left (the other having been sponsored) then that is the one God means for me to have.

On Tuesday, I checked again. Both were still there! Hmm.....I decided to go with Juan and clicked on his picture, which gives you a web page with some information about him and the link to start sponsoring him. But I hestitated. I asked God which child? And the immediate answer was BOTH. Still thinking that 2 was alot to add to my budget, I asked again, and got the same answer. So, I clicked on Juan's sponsor link and was told that another sponsor had signed up for him and I couldn't! I went back to the outer page and his photo was gone! And I felt real loss. I was sad. Not the disappointed you get when an album you wanted is sold out so you buy a different one. But real loss. I went ahead and signed up Kaio and spent some time praying for Juan's new sponsor that it would be a great relationship.

This morning, I felt that tug to look at the photos again. And guess what I saw? Juan's photo!!! I got tears in my eyes that I had a second chance! I don't know what happened with the other person who was trying to sponsor him, and I hope and pray that other sponsor picked another child, but I was so happy, I had my child back. I love that God gives us all second chances in so many different ways!

Oh, and here's the kicker. Juan turned 6 years old today, not yesterday or Monday, today the 29th. And for his birthday, he got a sponsor who will love him and treasure each letter he writes! Happy Birthday!

And on the subject of Compassion, they have a blog with wonderful stories on it, and one story they had awhile back was about a man who rented a bicycle van to transport people around, but most of his earnings went to pay the rent on it. His dream was to own a bicycle van (such a simple dream!) and the folks reading the blog chipped in and today they had a story about him receiving his bicycle van (which is a bike attached to a flatbed cart that people sit on while he pedals and takes them where they want to go!) Here's the link to the story.

God bless!

Compassion International and poverty

I got a widget! Compassion made it easy, all I had to do was copy all the code and then figure out where to put it in the blog code for my page. The first place I put it kind of messed up some of my links, although I don't know why, I didn't put it in the middle of the links! So I moved it. And it looks better now. It's pretty cool.

It's not for sponsoring a child thru Compassion, but I'm sure clicking on the widget would get you there eventually. It's for something related. See, I have been listening to people complain about our gas prices and economy and what folks can't buy, and I've complained too. But I still have a car, a safe place to live, a heating unit in my apartment. I still buy books and go see my friends. I still eat out when I want too. Sometimes I don't go to the movies or the beach or something to save money, but really it's not hitting me hard. For those with kids, it's probably hitting them harder. My brother has 8 kids, and they still seem to be getting everything they need. None of them go hungry. But in Haiti and other countries where Compassion works, kids are going hungry. Milk here may have gone up 10 or 15 cents. And we gripe, and pay it. In Haiti, they can no longer afford it. The income made by most folks in third world countries barely kept the family feed before, and now....it's impossible. Compassion Country Offices (each country that has a program has a local office) have requested help feeding the kids and their families and Compassion in Colorado (the headquarters) has a fund to help. And they are trying to raise money. But it seems people here are so afraid of our market and that Christmas will be leaner this year that they are afraid to send the money. We all need to remember that God is in charge and help those who are literally starving. The Compassion blog explains the situation better. Please trust God and click on the Compassion widget!

The opposite of poverty is enough.

God bless

Compassion Advocate

Compassion has a program that people can join and become a Compassion Adovcate. You get training discs and some dvd's and a binder with instructions. Friends, and even an employee from Compassion, have said that I should become an advocate for years because of how passionate I am about Compassion and it's ministry. And I have passed for years. Not because I don't believe in Compassion, but because I am afraid I would fail. You make a commitment to get at least 4 kids sponsored, by other people, every year. Part of why I thought I would fail is that my church is a "world vision" church. They want to support a ministry as a body and they have chosen World Vision. So I can't have a Compassion Sunday, where a booth is set up at your church and you have child packets and get sponsors! I've asked, and my request has been denied. Sigh.

However, I felt that I should become an advocate anyway. I got all the materials late last month including a child packet and I was very nervous and scared. Each child packet is dated. Mine was dated Nov. 7th. So I had a month to find her a sponsor. And the other reason I was afraid I would fail is that I can talk about how awesome Compassion is and how much you as a sponsor get out of it, but showing them a packet and saying please take her, well that part is hard. I'm not good at asking for money for any type of cause, not that directly.

So I just kept praying...please let me find someone and let them approach me! I carried the packet around, hoping someone would see the girl's picture and ask me, but no one did. But last Saturday, after church, I started talking to a woman from a past Bible study group I was in and I just blurted out "so after listening me talk about Compassion, did it ever make you want to sponsor a child?" She said that she had sponsored a child, thru World Vision, and my heart sank. Then she said that the child had graduated and she didn't have one right now and it was good that I caught her before she signed up another kid! I felt such relief.....until I get the next packet and wonder who will I find for that child?

God bless!

Longer than I thought

Wow, I didn't realize that 3 1/2 months had passed without a post!

Mom is fine. My shoulder is back to normal and I am no longer taking the ibuprofin. Indonesia was awesome!

There was a 77 year old lady on the tour. She had a few minor difficulties, but all in all she got around great! Even to the home visits! I think she must have had a stroke because one side of her face was a bit droopy, but she was amazing and I loved getting to know her. And she was inspirational. I hope that when I am 77 I am still going on tours to visit my kids.

I got the best letter ever from one of my kids, Brayan in Ecuador. He wrote that he thought of me as a mom and hoped that I thought of him as my son! I wrote back and said that it was the best thing I ever read in my life and that he was blessed by God because he had two mom's who loved him and that of course I thought of him as my son. Just writing this brings tears to my eyes!

Meeting Arlita in Indonesia was great! She was a bit serious, and a bit overwhelmed when I gave her the gifts, but I told her that I thought of her as my daughter and wanted to give her everything! And she gave me a dress that they bought and a banner she sewed with my name on it. I wrote her when I got back that it made me think of the Bible story of the widow and her pennies. That Arlita gave from her need and I gave from my plenty and all in all, her gift meant more!

It's been a weird mom related summer. First, my mom was ill, then a girl I have been mentoring since 8th grade (she's almost 21) her mom died (I was at the hospital when they took the mom off the respirator...and I had been friends with the mom at one point) on June 27th, three days before my trip to Indonesia. I also learned that another friend's mom had been diagnosed with cancer and she passed away August 19. I have another friend whose mom fell and broke her hip, and sometime this spring/summer had a replacement surgery, where they accidentally broke her pelvic bone! and now she has a blood clot, and is still not allowed to leave her bed. And a fourth friend whose mom was in the hospital. It seems too much to be a coincidence that all these mom's are having issues at the same time. I know my mom is fine, but I have to wonder what God might be telling me.

I have joined a new bible study on Daniel, by Beth Moore, it's part video part workbook. I like it. The drawback......it meets thursday 5:30 AM til 7 am. I have to leave at 6:55 to make it home in time to get ready for work. but to go to the study I have to get up two hours earlier than normal! (1 hour if I go to the gym like I should---but that's too early too!) So pray that God gives me energy! Because Wednesday night is the only night of the week I can't go to bed early, it's my bowling night.

I think there is more, but that will update for now!
God bless.