Flor's Birthday Gift

The search for my camera charger is "in progress", so who knows when I will get any photos of my knitting & other crafting...

So in the meantime I'll post - you guessed it! - more about my sponsor kids. :) I've actually got a back log of photos waiting for me to get a round to post them. That's one of the coolest things about Children International - you get tons of photos. I've got over 350 photos! That's a crazy good number when you consider you probably get one photo a year with other children's sponsorship organizations.

One of my little Honduran girls, Flor, turned eight this past December. That is such a cute age! And Flor wears it well. I love her clumpy, curly pigtails.


Flor with her birthday gifts - December 2008

With her birthday money Flor bought a set of drawers and some clothing. I think the drawers look like a good choice. They look sturdy and easy to clean. Flor's mother Marta told me the drawers are going to be used to keep their clothes in and will help to keep their clothing clean.

Often my sponsor kids and their families choose to buy a bed with the first special needs gift I send them (except for in the Philippines where they almost always have to spend most of the money on groceries). Flor's family information sheet says that there are four wooden beds in the home. So Flor probably shares a bed with her two sisters. There may not be room in the home for another bed - that's often a factor in their buying decisions as well.


Flor and her mother Marta in December 2008

When I was writing up this post I took a second look at the yellow shirt Flor's Mom is holding and I thought I recognized it from somewhere...


Flor - January 2009

Oh yes - Flor wore it for her yearly photo that I got in January! It's so sweet how the sponsor kids are so thoughtful like that. They almost always try to wear something that I sent them or something that they were able to buy with their special needs money. It's their way of saying thank you and showing that they are thinking of me. I really appreciate the gesture! Plus Flor looks really pretty in yellow. :)

I enjoy getting Flor's letters, which her mother usually writes for her. For her part, Flor often draws - appropriately enough - flowers for me. One of her last letters featured a drawing of a bunch tall reddish flowers with little clumpy leaves in a flower pot. Little birds were on either side holding more flowers in their beaks. I thought it was quite artistic.

Marta often tells me about the seasons in Honduras and what the landscape is like where they live. (Despite having sponsor children in countries all over the world I am always impressed with the concept that it is summer time for me and winter time for some of them. What can I say? I'm simple.) :) In the letter I received about a month ago, Honduras was entering winter time. Marta said the weather was cool and that there were many pretty flowers and trees where they live. I often think it is "easier" to be poor in a more rural setting like Flor has. At least Flor can enjoy the beauty of nature which I know she does because she often mentions such things. I feel sorry for my sponsor kids who are poor in a big city. At least in the countryside there is less crowding and some fresh air!

I hope that the recent political unrest that Honduras is experiencing has not affected my two girls there. I have no reason to think that it has but I do keep my eye on the news. It's sobering to think that poverty is sometimes not the biggest problem my kids face. Natural disasters and unstable governments contribute more than their fair share of difficulties to their lives - much much more so than anyone in the USA ever has to go through. Imagine things like Hurricane Katrina happening pretty much every year and that's closer to what it is like for my sponsor kids.

Flor - New Yearly Photo

I love getting the new yearly photos of my sponsor kids. Even though I usually have had several photos in between, it is comparing the yearly photos that really helps me see just how much the kids have grown and changed. I recently got new yearly photos for both of my kids in Honduras.

This is Flor last year at age 8. I love her slightly chubby cheeks, big eyes and shy smile.



This is Flor now at age 9.



She's in what I call a stretching out phase. She is getting taller and losing some of her roundness. I don't know why she didn't smile for this picture - she usually does. I think she is such a pretty little thing.

Flor loves going to school and she helps her Mom at home - sweeping and doing dishes. She has six siblings and her family gets by on around $158 a month. That is actually alot of money compared to most of my sponsor kids!

These are the photos I have of Flor at home with her family.



Their home has adobe walls (mud brick), a dirt floor and a corrugated tin roof.



You can see Flor (in pigtails) and her little five year old sister Mirsa in this picture. Mirsa doesn't have a sponsor as far as I know. Two of Flor's older siblings do though and one has graduated from the Children International program. Her family is of a typical size for Honduras.



It looks like all of Flor's brothers were not home when these photos were taken. They were probably off working.



Flor's home does have running water - which is lucky! But they use an earthen stove for cooking and a latrine for their sanitary facilities.



I'm so glad that Flor is going to school. I'm hoping that she will soon be able to write her own letters to me but for now it is usually her mother or one of her brothers who help her to write.



Flor turned 9 in December and we sent her a special gift. I'll post the photos we received as soon as I get the chance.

Craty News and the Big (Sponsor Kid) News

Been a few days since I last posted... (sometimes it seems like you have to go to Blogger confessional... "forgive me readers, it has been X days since I last posted...) ;) The transition from school to camp is always a bit crazy but we've reached our tenuous equilibrium again. :)

Crafting is off and on this past week. I'm just super tired. I've been trying to concentrate on sewing up the patches. I counted and I've currently got 31 patches all sewn up. That's about a third of the total I have. It takes me about a half hour to sew one patch up. So lets see...the calculator says it will take me 31 hours to finish sewing up the patches. Not too bad right?

The biggest & best news this week is that since my last post I have gotten letters from 8 of my sponsor kids!! (I'll post photos of the kids I haven't "introduced" on the blog yet.) -

Flor, 7 years old from Honduras who tells me she likes to eat rice with beans and cheese. (Me too!)

This is our latest picture of Flor.



Lesly, 6 years old from Guatemala who says she had a great birthday because her village has a festival around her birthday so she got to go to that.

Carla, 5 years old from Chile who drew me a really detailed picture of a little girl - I think she used every colored pencil she could get her hands on.

This is the only photo we have of Carla so far:



Mary Joy, 12 years old from the Philippines who told me how she got her nickname of "Apple". (So sweet.) I had complimented her on her lovely handwriting and she told me she takes great care to make her letters to me nice and neat. (Isn't that sweet?)

Our first letter from Joey who is 9 and lives in the Philippines. He says his father is a farmer. Joey likes math and has lots of friends.

This is Joey:



(As an aside to tell you how great Children International is - I had noticed in Joey's family report that it was noted that he needed some dental work. I called to CI to ask what the status was with that in case he needed some help and they said they would check on it. A week ago I got a letter from CI with a full report from the dentist on what work Joey had done and what his status was now. I was amazed! Talk about customer service! I have a harder time getting reports from my own kids dentist. So the good news is that Joey's teeth are all taken care of.)

Our first letter from Harry, 13 from the Philippines. He wrote to introduce himself and to thank us for our special donation (He was one of the ones we gave Mother's Day donations to.) We got three more photos of him also! He was able to buy tons of groceries, school supplies, clothes, and kitchen supplies. (Made me so happy!)

My first letter from Ana in Ecuador. She turns 11 this month. She describes herself as a "simple, humble girl". She writes very good English in a beautiful curly script.

This is our latest picture of Ana. We sent her a birthday package. I can't wait for it to arrive!



And we got two letters from Jester! He is 11 and lives in the Philippines. He is the little boy that waited two years for a sponsor. I have to say his letters really touched me. He is a wonderful boy who expresses himself very well. You can tell he has a very sweet heart. He told me about his father abandoning the family and how he feels it is now his duty to step in and take care of them. He promised to work very hard in school so that he could prove to me that he deserved to be sponsored. (Totally made me cry!) We also got another letter with several photos of him. He wrote to thank us for the special donation we had made and tell us about all the things he was able to buy with the money. The sweetest thing was how he described "jumping in surprise" at getting the gift and how happy he was at being able to share that with his family. He's a real treasure - we are so lucky to have him as a sponsor child!

Hubby told me he would get on task and install our scanner so that I can more easily share letters and photos with you guys. There's nothing like getting to see the actual letters. You can tell how hard the kids work on them and the pride they take in using their English skills and writing neatly. I feel so privileged that these kids share their lives with me. I love how different they all are. I will really enjoy watching them grow up. They are such special people!