Passions of the Soul

Recent reports on Baby Ali

Go to Bryon's blog, scroll down to the October 18 "Ali Report," read that and then go up to the two posts on October 23.  Such good news! 

Two months??

Goodness!  I can't believe it's been over two months since I last posted anything related to Compassion!  So...what's going on?

This year's campaign for Compassion Advocates is called "Join Me...in the fight against poverty."  One way for people to Join Us is to sponsor a child.  Another way is to join the Advocates Network.

Before I was named to the volunteer leadership role of Area Coordinator (supervisor for a team of advocates), we had some discussion about whether to maintain my team or merge with a larger one centered about 120 miles north of where I live.  The decision was made to maintain the team and work to develop it, to bring new people into it.  I have one new advocate in training, right now, and an application for another in a community southeast of here.  Okay, that isn't remarkable, except for the fact that our team has had no new members come in for at least two years.  But our region is blossoming!  My supervisor, in Colorado Springs, has just been buried in applications, each of which requires a telephone interview, in the past two months.  This is a little like owning a small business that is so overwhelmingly successful that you barely have time to breathe; it's wonderful, it's rewarding, it's demanding, it's overwhelming.  And it's an answer to the prayers of advocates and staff members of Compassion.

Compassion is currently serving some 870,000 children in 24 developing countries, and so many more children need the help.  So many more need the benefits of our Child Survival Program so that they won't die before they're old enough to be registered in a student center of the Child Development through Sponsorship Program.  And in order to complete the break in the cycle of poverty, so many more graduates of the CDSP need the support of the Leadership Development Program in order to become equipped to fulfill their leadership potential and help their communities and their countries.

So how about it?  Do you want to play a key role in releasing a child from poverty in Jesus' name?  You can!  Click here to choose a child to sponsor, or e-mail me with questions.  If you are already a sponsor, consider whether God might be wanting to use you to find sponsors for other children; click here to read about Becoming an Advocate, and please let me know if you decide to apply.

Join me!

Also, while in Maine...

You may or may not have read about the family of six feral horses that were saved from slaughter by a group of very caring people in Maine and elsewhere.  Bruce wrote about it and posted a couple of pictures, here, but the first link will give you the full story.  We were able to visit these horses on the foster-farm where they have been staying.  When the word first went out about their rescue, many people did offer homes, but none could take all six horses.  The scramble is on, now, to find another home for them, where they can stay together.

Bruce's daughter Cathy, whose family we went to see in Maine, has been helping to raise some funds for the care of the six.  Her contacts with the woman heading up the movement to create a good and permanent home for them--and the fact that we had donated some money for the cause--set the stage for our trip to see them while we were in the area.  These horses are not halter-trained; they're carrot-trained.  When they see two-legged critters coming toward them with buckets of food or carrots in hand, they gather in a cluster at the fence, ready to receive.  Until they were rescued and began receiving good care, they were not accustomed to being touched, stroked, or anything else.  Their earlier neglect has left at least one of them with permanent leg and hoof damage that will mean they can never be ridden.  For the others, there is more hope for improvement in their physical difficulties.

At the website, you can also order t-shirts or sweatshirts or make a donation, if you are so inclined.  If, by chance, you live in the area and can help with the actual care of the horses, that's needed, too!

In celebration of "advancing age"

Life offers many moments in which it is probably better to laugh than to cry; I wonder if more of those moments might be expected as we move into our "senior" years.  Given that my vision is deteriorating rapidly in my left eye and my low back has been a royal pain for the last couple of days, I thought I would offer the lighter side of this process.  It came to me a couple of weeks ago in the form of a birthday card from a good friend who is 3 years older, virtually to the day.  I' won't try to duplicate the format of the card:

This is NOT a birthday card!  However, I DO want to wish you a happy birthday.

But I DON'T want to make you mad by reminding you that you are a year older.

And on the other hand, I DON'T want to make you mad by forgetting your birthday, either.

Nevertheless, I DO want you to have a happy birthday...(open card)

But if there's going to be ANY TROUBLE, I DON'T want to get involved (back of card)

...unless you want me to get involved and, in that case, I'll be there but, then again,

if you want to be left alone, I'll just go away...but then...

Thanks, Linda!

The family poet

A week ago today, we were in Maine, visiting grandkids Cassia and Ethan.  Yes, their parents Jeff and Cathy were there, too, along with doggies Dodge and Ace, cats Tinkerbelle, Arielle, Rose (mom and daughters, respectively) and Smiegle (sp?), and guinea pig Camilla.  All together, they are one neat family.  Once I get some pic's transferred from Bruce's computer to mine, I'll stick a few in here and in the Family photo album.  Maybe a couple in the Travel photo album...if I have one!

Anyway...one item Cassia and Cathy were eager to share was a poem written by Cassia, who just started kindergarten this fall.  She will be 6 years old in December.  I don't care how you parse it, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, this poem is pretty amazing even from a child several years older and further along in school; even more so from a child Cassia's age. Her teacher thought it was good enough to be published in the school newspaper, and naturally, I want to share it with you!  So now, I give you "Over the Rainbow," by Cassia C.

Birds flying.

Unicorns racing through the wind.

Mother in back,

Baby in front.

Beautiful girl riding on mother unicorn.

Beautiful sun shining.

Baby bird hatching.

Rainbow stayed for all days.

We also watched Cassia's horse-back riding lesson on Saturday.  She began taking lessons at 3-1/2 years and actually took home a couple of ribbons in competition, several months ago.  We watched her do a running mount, which took several tries because the horse (pony, actually, which I've learned is not a young horse, but a related breed, or something) is so much large than she is and he was trotting.  But she finally was able to grab on with her left hand, toss her right leg up far enough that she could pull up and grab the other handle (don't know the real term) with her right hand, and then pull herself up.  Whew!  On one of her first tries, the instructor ended up letting Cassia stand on her hands to mount; a woman sitting behind us told Jeff, "That's the way most of the adults get up; don't kid yourself!"

I may post more about the trip, but for now, it was a really good visit.  We thoroughly enjoyed being with the family, being in Maine, and have already started plotting how to improve on the travel experience, next year.

Gratitude

Call me ignorant; you wouldn't be the first.  But until last weekend, I had never heard of Operation Gratitude.  Now, in case I'm not the only one, I will tell you that it is a volunteer-run organization that accepts contributions of gifts (and, I'm sure, money) and sends the gifts in care packages to our troops overseas.  We are now in one of only two periods of time during the year when they will accept contributions; i.e., it's not a year-round thing.

So if you support our troops, follow the link, look at their Wish List and choose a few items to send to them in time to reach the volunteers before December 15.  I won't ask if you did, and you don't have to tell me.  But it seems like a small thing to do for those who are laying it all out there for us, doesn't it?