Flor's Drawing

Picture from Flor de Maria

Compassion International

This is Flor de Maria, the child we sponsor through Compassion International. (Some of the information has been removed in the photo to protect our sponsor information, etc.) We have been sponsoring her for 5 or 6 years now. We started it as part of our homeschool experience. We can not say enough good things about how positive an experience this has been for our entire family.

Now that she is older, we hear from her quite often and are able to ask specific questions. In her last letter, she said she'd pray for Wendy and the baby and asked us to send her a picture when Emily was born. She also asked that we kiss Emily for her. She sends us pictures every time she sends a letter. We pray for and love her and her family just as if they were right here in the states.

Sponsorship is $32 a month and includes their school, meals at the school, health care, health education, materials, etc. You can send monetary gifts for the family up to a certain amount and specify how you want that gift spent.

When you pray for our family, please pray for Flor de Maria and her aged grandparents who are raising three children.

Diaper Organizer

We found the plastic tub from the hospital makes a great diaper organizer for disposable diapers.
We use to use cloth diapers before moving to the farm.
Our mineral rich water ruins the cloth diapers too quickly for them to be economical for us, so we went to disposables.

Brandon Walking the Rope

This is why they won't let Moms go...we'd be repeatedly urging "BE CAREFUL!!!!"

Let's Go Canoeing! (picts)

They canoed out to an island and looked around.

Brandon at the Top of the Rock Wall (pict)

He loved the rock wall. I think they said they climbed three different ones.

Camp Piankatank

Clint and Brandon just got back from Camp Piankatank. Clint took pictures and I will share those in the coming days. They arrived Friday evening and settled in. Brandon took the top bunk while Clint took the bottom. They had planned to swim, but lightning messed that up for them. Then they had worship time with the entire group.

Saturday, they were fed a great breakfast. They rock climbed. Clint was the fastest of all of the Dad's and impressed all of the men. Brandon was very proud of him! Then they canoed to an island, played basketball, swam several times, played ping pong, ate like kings and fellowshipped with the other fathers and sons. Sunday, they had worship then they went down a zip line, a v-swing, etc. They really enjoyed themselves, got to meet some godly men and their sons, were spiritually fed and hope to go back next year with Joshua and maybe Caleb in tow.

"Father/Son WeekendsThis is an exciting opportunity for boys to experience a fun-filled weekend with their father or an adult male role model. Participants will be able to challenge themselves and participate in friendly competition during field games, canoeing, fishing, swimming, and other adventurous activities. Campers will also be ministered to by a dynamic camp pastor and enjoy meaningful worship services. These are action-packed and spirit-filled weekends for fathers and sons who seek to grow closer to one another and to God.
http://www.camppiankatank.org/"

Amanda and I let the housework go a little bit, cooked pizza, watched movies and enjoyed ourselves with the three littles too. Amanda also made her fudge for all of us to enjoy!