Lesly's Home Repair Project - Completed!!

I just received word from Aura's House that Lesly's Roof Project is complete!

Lesly is my daughter's sponsor child in Guatemala. They are nearly the same age and thick as thieves. :) Lesly's project was the first of my sponsor kids projects to be funded through Aura's House. My daughter helped out by donating her allowance and making and selling candies to raise extra money. But of course the support Lesly received from the donors at Aura's House was key to making this project possible. I can never thank them enough!!

Now the photos!!


Lesly with the supplies for her home repair.

Lesly's family received gravel and concrete to lay down a slab in the courtyard of their home. This will be a great help in keeping the home clean and dry since the courtyard got very muddy and stayed damp all through the rainy season. In the background of the photo you can see the tin sheets which were used to repair their leaky roof.


The new roof for Lelsy's house - keeping them dry!

Ta da! The new roof! Now the roof won't leak all through the rainy season. The family will be able to stay healthy and dry under their new roof.


Lesly stands on the new concrete floor which will help keep the dirt out of her home.

I love this photo of Lesly, proudly showing off the new floor. Lesly's father Hugo was able to do the repair work on his home since he works as a bricklayer. It must have been satisfying for him to finally be able to work to improve his own home! And I'm sure that Lesly's mother Aura especially appreciates the new floor since it will help keep the mud out of her home during the rainy season.


Lesly showing off her new propane stove.

How cute is Lesly in this photo?! I'm constantly amazed at what a sourpuss Lesly looked like in her first Children International photo. Despite that my daughter insisted that Lesly was the one for her. I guess my daughter knows that you can't judge a book by it's cover - Lesly hasn't stopped smiling since we sponsored her! Lesly's smile is so charming.

Aura probably really loves this new propane stove. I hope it has made cooking for the family easier for her. Previously the family cooked over an open fire. Anyone who has been camping and tried this knows how tough that can be. Try cooking like that everyday! So I'm sure this new stove is a huge blessing for Aura. The family also received some water containers to help keep their water fresh and clean. Their water comes from a community faucet so storage is always an issue in that situation.


Lesly with her new bed!

I love this photo too. It makes me think of Alice in Wonderland after she drank the bottle labeled "Drink Me" that made her shrink to "very small". Lesly looks like a little miniature person on that big bed! It's so nice to think of Lesly sleeping in a new bed and not getting dripped on by a leaky roof!


Lesly with her new bedding.

Lesly also got some new bedding. My daughter was really pleased with this because she thought it was "so beautiful".

My daughter wanted to pass her message along to all of the people at Aura's House who helped launch the project and all of the donors who helped make everything possible. She said:

"I felt very good seeing the photos of Lesly. Lesly is a very nice girl to know. I'm proud that I was able to help her. I feel really good about Lesly having a new bed. It means so much to me that you helped Lesly to get all of her new stuff. Thank you so much."

And on behalf of Lesly and her family I thank you too!

New Photo of Nyslin

Nyslin in 2008


Nyslin's new photo 2009

Here's Nyslin's new yearly photo! I just love her sunshiney face. She's such a sweet little girl. I smile every time I think about her. I can see that she has grown up a little in this photo but she will always be a tiny little thing. She looks so pretty in pink.

I'm hoping that the timing of this photo means that she went to the CI office to get her funds for her Income Generating Project and they took her yearly photo at the same time. I'm hoping at least! I can't wait to see those chickens. Did she get the supplies? Was she surprised? Was her family happy? Or maybe she received the little package I sent her with the earrings. I don't know - but I have a feeling more photos can't be far behind!

Lesly's Birthday Presents and Other Updates*

Whew! Summer has well and truly kicked in around here. Mother Nature finally stopped with the incessant rain she'd been pouring on us for literally a month, and now has decided to try to sweat us all to death instead! It's 90 degrees and humid. Ick.

The school to summer transition has settled down so I can catch up on what's been going on since my last post....

The hideous heat hasn't stopped me from working on a ginormous knitted blanket though. I'm always so out of sync with the knitting seasons... sigh.

Last week I knit two (of four planned) large log cabin blocks and of course promptly changed my mind about how I want the blanket to look. So I've switched over and begun a log-cabin-of-many-colors blanket. This one will be a single, huge log cabin block and will hopefully use up most of my stash of Elann Sonata. That stuff is excellent for blankets.

Speaking of blankets - Mike who won the blanket for Nyslin's project requested that I donate the blanket to a charity. I chose Project Linus. I'm sure that my blog friends already know about Project Linus but I'll include the link anyway. I dropped the blanket off with the local chapter last weekend.

And Steve, who won Jester's project blanket, says he has received the blanket it looks good in his apartment.

So it's been happy blanketyness all round. :)

And in more good news my Income Generating Project for Joey over at Aura's House has been fully funded!! Thank you!! Thank you!! Joey's family of six somehow gets by on only $21 a month. Joey's family has the least income of all my sponsor children. And he is the only one of the children that is sponsored so he is the only one that gets the medical, health and educational benefits of sponsorship. Raising and selling hogs will make a huge impact on their income.

And the good news just keeps on coming because Kanika's project is completed as well. One of the other super sponsors, Dana, had the brilliant idea of holding a raffle. She raised hundreds of dollars for Kanika in the blink of an eye! Way to go Dana! I don't know yet how Children International and Kanika's family will use the money. Hopefully they will be able to at least start re-building their house. We will probably have to raise more money for Kanika in the long run but at least the family can get some significant relief right now.

We also recently received these adorable pictures of Lesly showing us what she bought with her birthday money that we sent. I love how she is nearly swamped by all the groceries in the first photo. It's sort of a Lesly version of "Where's Waldo". :)


Lesly with the spoils of her birthday shopping spree.

We should be getting an update on the progress of Lesly's roof project any time now. I can't wait!!


I just love Lesly's Cheshire Cat smile!

I talked about this in my last post but I've been thinking some more this past week about what my next step will be for my sponsor kids after I get all of their Income Generating Projects in place. So far I have funded (or am funding) projects for:

1.Harry
2.Maica
3.Jhonny
4.Lesly
5.Nyslin
6.Joey
7.Hermelinda (2)
8.Zoila
9.Ana
10.Jester

I have proposals in the works for:
1.Jenie
2.Glenn
3.Mary Joy
4.Flor
5.Javiera (special needs)
6.Carla
7. And hopefully and additional housing project for Hermelinda.

I'm also teaming up on a project for Alison with my sister who sponsor's Alison's brother Jhonathan.

I can probably get most of these projects launched by the end of this year. That's my goal anyway! After that, I am thinking I will concentrate on making sure that all the children have adequate bathroom facilities. Some of them do already but most of them share a community latrine. It would be much healthier of they each had their own - can you imagine not having a bathroom? I can't.

I have nothing in the works yet for my three newest sponsor children. I have to get to know them and their families better before I can determine what their needs might be. I'm sure I will end up doing an IGP for those three families as well sometime in the future.

And lastly - I finally feel like my eyes have gotten adjusted to the contacts. Now I can "See the world in HD" just like that annoying TV commercial... I've gotten pretty good at putting them in easily. Taking them out is harder but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

There you go. Those are all the updates I can think of/have time for right now. What have all of you been doing??

*If you are looking for creative blog post titles I'm afraid you are in the wrong place. :)

New Yearly Photo of Joey

This is the first new photo I have had of Joey for probably about six months. He looks so much more grown up to me. He's definitely turning into a pre-teen.

Joey also wrote me a cute letter that I received last week. Joey is not quite as fluent in English as my other Filipino children so his letters are sometimes unintentionally quite funny. Joey had previously mentioned that in the Philippines they celebrate with fireworks at Christmas time. This led to me telling him that we also had fireworks for our Fourth of July in the USA. In this letter Joey told me how much he loves fireworks but quickly assured me that "they are not dangerous for a user like me". Lol! He also told me that he had heard from his "olds" (I think he means elders) that they celebrate fourth of July in the Philippines in order to mark the day called "according to them, the Philippines - American Friendship Day" he goes on to say that "speaking to tradition, I always see to my olds - especially my grandparents". Lol! I'm sure he means to say that when he wants to know about traditions he asks his elders. Too cute.

He also told me, "I have also a youngest baby boy. His was Andre, he was ten months old, he was the cute and beautiful among the four children." Now - I am hoping that he means to tell me that he now has a new baby brother and how cute the baby is. But because of the confusion in tenses have/was, I'm worried that he might be telling me he had a baby brother who died. I hope not! I'll have to ask CI about it. Joey doesn't go on to say that he is sad or anything so I think the correct interpretation is that he has a new baby brother.

Joey's project is sooooo close to being completed at Aura's House. I'm very excited for him! I'm hoping that I will start receiving updates about my other, completed projects soon as well.

In crafting news - I've started a new blanket. That seems to be my "go to" project when I need something easy and stress free. It's a garter stitch log cabin. A good old standby. :)

I've knit the body of a February Lady Sweater out of Cash Iroha and Silk Garden. I love it so far, but put it on the back burner when it came time to do the sleeves. I'm not in the mood for knitting on DPN's right now.

Also - I was thinking about entering something in the fair this year but it turns out that the timing won't work out so I'm kind of bummed. :( Maybe next year -(although that's what I've been hoping every year). Ah well...

Winner of the Blanket for Jester's Project

Today Jester's IGP was fully funded! Thank you to Camille who stepped up and made such a generous contribution to close out the project. And thank you so much to everyone who supported Jester. He and his family now have hope for an improved lifestyle. Thank you all!!!!

Now to choose a winner of the handmade crochet blanket I made for Jester's Project!



I arranged this giveaway along the same lines as the one I did for Nyslin's Project. Every donation from $1-$5 was assigned a number. I came up with 113 numbers.

1-2 Dee
3-6 Efrain
7-8 Holly
9-10 Su
11-16 Kayara
17-26 Jim and Mack
27-31 Heather M
32-37 Steve
38-40 Robyn
41-44 Cherise
45-48 Tamara
49-52 Wilfredo
53-54 bsem130
55-64 Efrain
65-113 Camille

I plugged the numbers into the Random Number Generator and the winning number was chosen.



The winning number is #32 which belongs to Steve! Congratulations Steve! I will contact you and get your blanket to you ASAP.

I can't wait to hear from Jester when he receives the news of his IGP. He will "jump for surprise" (as he said in another letter). Jester waited two years before finding a sponsor and he has never failed to express how grateful he is to finally have that relationship with us. I'm really looking forward to sharing the updates and photos I receive of the progress of his project.

Hexagon Blanket for Ana's Project

As promised - here is the blanket I will be giving away for Ana's Project over at Aura's House.



Ana's Income Generating Project is going very well - slowly but surely getting there!



I've been told that Aura's House is exploring the idea of beginning buying some of the tools Ana's father Luis will need for his workshop rather than waiting for all of the money to come in. I'll let you know if that happens.



In the meantime - about the blanket...



I used hand dyed sock weight yarn from various Etsy artists. The subtle variations in the colors are really beautiful. I especially like the grey because it has so much depth.



And the "green" is also brown, blue and bits of other colors as well.



I had fun crocheting this. I had never tried hexagons before. And the bobbles were new to me too. I like the texture they add.



The blanket is a comfy lap size - perfect for TV watching and otherwise lazing about on the couch. :)



The giveaway will work just like the one I did for Nyslin's Project. Every donation up to $5 gets it's own number. When Ana's Project is fully funded I will have a random number generator choose the winning number.

Good luck!! And thank you again to everyone who has so generously helped my sponsor children. Check back again soon as I have some beautiful new photos of Ana to post!

Winner of Blanket for Nyslin's Project

Okay here we go!

I sorted out all the donations that were made to Nyslin's project. After subtracting any donations made by my relatives - :) I assigned a number for each of the remaining $1-5 increments. I came up with 101 numbers. I entered the number range into the random number generator and ......

The winning number for the Crazy Colors Blanket for Nyslin's Project was:



#95! which belongs to Mike E.

Congratulations Mike E. I hope you will enjoy your new blanket!



Thank you to everyone who donated. I wish I had a million hands and a million skeins of yarn (my stash is big - but not that big!) to crochet blankets for each and every person who supported Nyslin's project - and my other kids as well.

Stay tuned though because I do have something to giveaway for Ana's project as well!!

Great News for Nyslin and Joey!

Great news! I announced the blanket giveaway for Nyslin's Income Generating Project and the next thing I knew the project was completed!! A heroic donor stepped up and not only finished out the rest of the funding for Nyslin, he also brought Joey's project up to only $87 away from the goal. I'm stunned by the generosity of everyone who has helped out with the Aura's House projects for my kids. Thank you so much!

Here's the latest update on my sponsor kids projects at Aura's House:

Aura's House update:

Ana's Project: $1548/2770 - we're over halfway there!!
Nyslin's Project: Completed!
Zoila's Project: $293/824
Joey's Project: $636/723 only $87 left to raise!
Lesly's Project: Completed!

I will announce the winner of the blanket for Nyslin's project ASAP!

In the meantime, here are some photos of Joey with his summer package:


I think Joey has a cute smile.


Joey loved the postcards we sent, especially those of the sea animals because Joey loves the ocean and loves to swim.


Like many of our sponsor kids, Joey says he likes to take the photos we send him to school to show to his friends and teachers. So sweet!

I also want to mention that Aura's House is celebrating their 5th birthday! That's five years of helping children and their families to be able to live a better life. In honor of their fifth birthday please consider making a donation of $5 to one of all of the projects on their site. They have added two new projects lately, one for Mirriam in Zambia and another for Joselin in Guatemala in addition to the projects for my kids, Ana, Zoila and Joey that are ongoing. Happy 5th birthday Aura's House!!

Crazy Colors Blanket for Nyslin's Project

Aura's House update:

Ana's Project: $1548/2770 - we're over halfway there!!
Nyslin's Project: $414/550 - only $136 left to raise!!
Zoila's Project: $293/824
Joey's Project: $236/723
Lesly's Project: Completed!

The totals for my fund raising projects over at Aura's House continue to creep up. Slowly but surely we are getting there!

To add a boost to the fund raising process and to say Thank You! to the generous people who have donated, I am giving away this blanket:



I hand crocheted this blanket from cotton sock yarn. I love the happy colors!



This picture shows a good idea of the overall size of the blanket.



Do you know a child that would love a cozy blanket for their crib? The blanket is machine washable so it would be perfect as a snuggly blanket for a child. Or keep it for yourself to keep warm while watching TV this winter. :)

The close up photos are an accurate depiction of what the blanket actually looks like. The others are slightly washed out. (My photography leaves something to be desired. Sorry!)



The bright colors make me think of the famous traditional woven textiles and embroidery of Guatemala. So I will be giving this blanket away to anyone who has donated to Nyslin's Income Generating Project.

The giveaway will work the same as the one for the blanket I am giving away for Jester's Project. Every $5 donation to Nyslin's Project will be assigned a number. So if you donate $25 you will get 5 numbers. (I realize that some of the donations are smaller than $5. Any donation from $1 to $5 will also be assigned a number.) Donations that have already been made will count. When Nyslin's Project is completely funded I will have a random number generator choose the winning number. Then I will announce the winner and send them their new blanket!



Nyslin's Project is only $136 away from being fully funded! Let's see if we can get all the way to the $550 we need. I want to give away a blanket! :)

Good luck and thank you to everyone who has been so supportive!

Blanket for Jester's Project

This is the new yearly photo we recently received of Jester. He is wearing a shirt that we sent him for his birthday last year. I love it when the sponsor kids wear clothes we sent them for their photos. It's so sweet of them! I think they do it on purpose as a way of saying thank you. I think Jester looks so handsome!

Fund raising for Jester's project has been going amazingly well. We're almost halfway to completion! I'm so surprised and thankful for all the support!

So, to say thank you to everyone who has helped out with Jester's project, I am going to be giving away this blanket:



It is hand crocheted by me out of cotton sock yarn.



I'd call this a good sized lap blanket. It's also suitable for a child to snuggle up in. It is machine washable so you wouldn't have to worry about letting a kid use it. :)



Hubby is holding the blanket up for the camera - gives you a fair idea of the size.



And a close up. This is a better picture in terms of showing the true color of the yarn. I had a hard time capturing the colors in natural light. In real life the colors are much richer.



So here's how the giveaway will work:

Every $5 that is donated will get you a number. (Donations that have already been made will count!) So if you donate $25 you will get five numbers and so on. When Jester's project is fully funded I will have a random number generator choose the winning number. Then I will announce the winner and mail them the blanket. Simple as that!

Here is the link to Jester's Project.

PS - I will also be offering similar prizes/thank yous for the projects at Aura's House as well. So look for those in the next few days. :)

On the Subject of Dogs, Contacts, Charity and the Fugliest Sweater Ever Knit

I haven't had much time for blogging lately. We're in the middle of the inevitable end of the school year frenzy of activity. Every year we are pretty much booked solid for the last four weeks or so of school. It's exhausting but at least it's all nice busyness. :)

So I'll just sum up:

I don't talk about my kids on the blog so all I can say about them is that they are awesome!

Some other things I'm happy about:

1.I got contacts and I'm absurdly pleased. I'm convinced I'm actually better looking now that I have contacts. Maybe I'm just not as blurry? :) The only sad thing is that I can't find colored, daily wear lenses in my prescription. :( Bummer. I totally want to change my eye color everyday.

2.I got an update on my projects from Aura's House. There was a long but unavoidable delay but happily the totals have still gone up!

Aura's House update:

Ana's Project: $1419/2770 - we're over halfway there!!
Nyslin's Project: $389/550 - only $161 left to raise!!
Zoila's Project: $293/824
Joey's Project: $236/723
Lesly's Project: Completed!

Hopefully Hubby and I will have a chance this weekend to complete the quilted placemat sets and get them up in the Etsy shop. We should be able to raise enough money to finish Nyslin's project.

And I got some beautiful pictures of Ana today so I will post those ASAP. She is such a gorgeous girl!

3. My fellow sponsors (and friends!) from our sponsor group are helping me to raise money for yet another one of my sponsor children! Click on the link to see Jester's fundraising page. We have started a fundraising group using a "pay it forward" philosophy that has helped us as a group to raise funds for Special Needs and Income Generating Projects for six children so far! Jester's project is to set his mother Agnes up in a reatil clothing sales business. If she can get this business started she will be able to live with her children rather than her current situation where she has to work and live in another city. If you think you might be able to help with Jester's project that would be awesome. Any little bit helps and, like Aura's House donations, these are also tax deductible.

4. I'm also happy because I was able to make another Kiva loan! I think I have 8 going right now. And I am tickled pink that the one that has been the most successful so far has been the one I made supporting a crafts group in Bolivia. Go crafters!!

5. In non-charity related news - After much thought we decided to get Clementine and Sarah ready for summer with some pretty drastic haircuts. Here they are sporting their new looks:



Clementine had hair that a showdog would kill for. Her feathers were literally down to the ground. But it was a really big pain to keep up with because it tangled and matted very easily. She also gets the typical spaniel problem of ear infections so I thought taking away all that extra hair would help get some healthy air circulation going there.



You can't tell it from this photo but Clemmie loves her new haircut. It's like we cut off a couple of years of her age rather than her hair! She has been playful and happy and frisky like a puppy. Actually exactly the opposite of her usual self. :) Some dogs act ashamed and embarrassed when they get a drastic haircut. Not Clemmie. She gives her new look two paws up! We will be keeping her hair trim and tidy from now on.

We let Sarah keep her long ear hair. She doesn't have the same tangly type of hair as Clemmie and no ear infection problem. The rest of the fluffy hair had to go though.



Sarah always looked like a fat little muffin with all of her hair. Now she looks like a lowfat muffin. Both of the dogs are so soft and pettable now - they feel like bunny rabbits.

The verdict on the haircuts is: A+.

Sadly, there is also one item on the unhappy list:

I recently knitted the worlds ugliest sweater. I'll try to get a photo to show you (if you think you can hack it) before I frog the beast. It's pretty appalling. Not only did I knit the whole thing, but in defiance of logic I actually sewed it all together too. Shudder.

I had to cast on for a February Lady in Noro Cash Iroha and Silk Garden to try to erase the memory of the fugly sweater. It's really that bad.

Jhonny's Income Generating Project

Yesterday I showed you Hermelinda's story of poverty. It's depressing and sad and as of yet has no clear solution.

Now let me give you some good news! One poor family now has a new source of income, thanks in part to my blog readers!

These are the photos I got of Jhonny's Income Generating Project that I funded through the proceeds of the stash sale I held a few months ago. So if you bought some yarn from me, take a look and see what I did with that money. And pat yourself on the back - you helped give a whole family great hope for their future!

Children International calls these Income Generating Projects. I think they should call them Hope Generating Projects!


Jhonny shows off the new equipment that will enable his family to start their own business. Jhonny was especially grateful for the new refrigerator. He wrote:

"I am happy for your help...We didn't have a freezer and now thanks to you we have one to keep the chicken and the sausages, so that they don't go bad and we don't have to ask our neighbor to keep them for us as we used to."

Can you imagine not having a refrigerator?


Jhonny's mother Fanny was so happy about her new kitchen equipment! She told the field workers that she would "seize the opportunity to to do her best and to be able to support her children in the best way possible". She said:

"I didn't expect this, it is a big surprise for me and I want to thank the sponsor for all the support Jhonny receives. God bless you!"


In addition to the new fridge, Jhonny's family also bought some large cooking pots, a fryer and a propane tank to run the fryer. Jhonny told the field workers:

"My siblings and I will keep helping my mother in everything we can. This is very important to us and I would like to tell my sponsor that we will never forget this. Thank you so much for caring for my family and me."


Check out that fryer!! That thing kicks ass!! Jhonny's IGP plan is for his mother to cook foods such as french fries and fried chicken which they plan to sell at sporting events. I think it's a great idea! It's almost guaranteed to be a success. And it will allow Jhonny's mother Fanny to work from home which is important since she has eight boys to care for. (I'll bet the boys are really enjoying all the fresh food and cold drinks from the fridge and the french fries as well!)

Jhonny wrote:

"These things will serve for us to prepare food to sell. Delicious french fries with sausages to sell!"


Jhonny with his mother Fanny, his twin Joe David and his step-father Pedro. They all look really happy. Jhonny says:

"The money will be used for our education and the family's expenses."

The field workers also emphasized that Jhonny's parents have the goal of saving money for their children's schooling. I think that's fantastic!


Jhonny is twelve years old and lives in Ecuador. His family income is up to $200 a month. I think that is showing a small increase already and will probably get even higher once they really get under way with this business.

Jhonny wrote:

"My mom says she is very grateful and that God bless you and your family always. Thank you so much! God bless you and big hugs to you."

Jhonny and I always say "big hugs" to each other. He's such a sweetheart. I hope I can meet him and his family someday. Jhonny often tells me he very much wishes that we will meet each other someday.


Jhonny with his brothers in 2008. Only two of his other brothers have sponsors, Jhonny's twin Joe David (behind Jhonny in the white shirt) and Anthony (in front on the left). I'd love to find a sponsor for his four year old brother Jhon Michael. He is the little boy in the center of the picture wearing overalls and sitting next to Jhonny. This is a really close, wonderful family and it's been a great experience getting to know them.

Now I am looking forward to the next report which will let me know how their business is going. I've also asked Jhonny to tell me all about it in his next letter. I'll share that with you whenever I get an update.

I'll end this post with a quote from American writer Albert Pine:

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.
-Albert Pine

Happy!

Lesly is getting a new roof!!

Thank you!

Almost As If I've Been to Guatemala! (Another Great Big Ole Post)

So, in addition to the recent visit from Meaghan and Franklin from Children International (which was totally awesome btw!!!) I also have some other great sponsorship news. One of the other "super sponsors", (my name for the group of CI sponsors that I hang out with online - hi all!!) Steve is currently on a trip to Guatemala to visit several of his sponsor children. I think he has somewhere around 25 kids! Anyhow, Steve very, VERY generously offered to meet with some of my sponsor children as well. Hooray - the next best thing to seeing them myself!

Steve was able to meet with Hermelinda:



and Lesly:

He took lots of photos for me (dying to see them!) as well as video!! I'm so thrilled I could burst.

Steve travels all over the world visiting his many sponsor children so he has a unique perspective on poverty and the potentials of sponsorship. His descriptions of his trip have been so thoughtful, entertaining and insightful. I feel like when I go to Guatemala myself someday (please!!) I will feel more prepared for the experience.

Steve sent me the following email about Hermelinda and gave me permission to reprint it here.

Hey Stephanie,

I met Hermalinda (not sure of the spelling) today, along with her 5
siblings and both parents. Your child is painfully shy. Maybe it was
seeing this guy she´s never met nor knows anything about. Her parents
did their best to coax a smile or two out of her. I´ll be sure to
send the still photos upon my return.

I took some video too. Unfortunately, the walk from the town to their
place did not record. I screwed up and feel terrible about it. We
were ready to leave when I realized my error, so I went back and took
video of their home, the family, and their neighbors. Unfortunately,
I was not willing to make the trip from the beginning. Be advised
that their place is on a hillside, and the walk is not for the faint
of heart. There are probably 200 steps to get there. If you plan to
visit, you might want to train on a StairMaster or something!

More importantly, Hermalinda´s home is a metal corrugated shack. The
temperature in there during the summer months must be sweltering.
From what I can tell, they do have some access to electricity. That
family needs a fan badly!

They are poor. Very poor. The trail to their place is strewn with
garbage, and many of the steps are uneven and little more than rocks.
This is no environment for small children. Actually, this is no
environment for anyone. I don´t know how human beings live like
this. I can´t imagine what a predicament they´d be in without your
help. Your are their Godsend. That is their message that I´ve
recorded, and I hope to somehow figure out how to post it for you.
Failing that, I can make a DVD and send it to you.

I can try to fill in some of the blanks later for you if you have
questions. Right now, I´m a little beat and need to grab some dinner
and prepare for tomorrow.

Again, thanks for your efforts with that child. God knows she needs
it.

Steve

This email made me sad but also excited that I have an opportunity to make a difference. Fortunately I had already funded a special needs project at the beginning of April for Hermelinda. The family had requested the following:

1 metal bed
1 chest of drawers
2 sets of bed sheets
2 bedspreads
1 poncho
1 pair of shoes
1 pair of jeans
1 blouse
1 pair of stockings
3 underwear

Now thanks to Steve, I know that they also could use a fan. I will be sending extra money for a fan if they don't purchase one with the money I have already sent. I included some extra money already and asked that they buy something special for Hermelinda since her birthday has just passed. I know that the money has arrived at the field office but I don't think they have had the chance to take Hermelinda's family shopping yet.

Lesly's special needs project is still up over at Aura's House. Only $98 to go!

You can read about other "super sponsors" at these blogs:

Heather runs a sort of "super sponsor collective" blog at Children Are the World where she posts about her own sponsor kids as well as those of other "super sponsors" like Efrain, Mack, Victor, Alice and Barbara. (Did I miss anyone?)

Heather has also set up a fundraising site for small projects for the families at: Firstgiving where she has just finished funding the very first project!

Heather also gets her children involved in sponsorship and you can read about her little sponsor Jaden here.

Skye blogs at Life, Love and Happiness - when she isn't on the Children International's homepage that is!

Robyn shares stories and great photos of her sponsor kids at robynapplause.

The official Children International blog is at here.

You can see and read about all of Steve's sponsor children here.

And of course my Hubby blogs at our crafting site Flaming Lotus Creations and posts updates about our sponsor kids as well. He just sold his first set of coasters for our sponsor kids! (And I was serious about him taking requests.) :)

I'm sure there are more great "sponsor blogs" out there... (and you all thought I was the only one!:) )

Phew! Another huge long post. What has gotten into me? :)

Maica's IGP and Other Updates...

These pictures aren't great - maybe they were taken with a disposable camera?- but they will give you a good idea of Maica's IGP project in action.



Here's Maica and her mother posing at their food vending site. They sell the food they cook as street vendors. The umbrella makes the job more comfortable and attractive.



Man that food looks good! I don't even know what it is but I would totally eat that! I hope that if I ever get to go to the Philippines I will be able to sample some of Maica's mother's cooking.


Serving a customer.

Maica says that she helps her mother serve the food in the morning before school and then she helps after school. She also helps by washing the dishes. I don't think she has to work there all the time. I think she just helps out as much as she can. It sounds like the whole family pitches in together.



Maica's family income has doubled since I started her IGP. I can tell in her letters that she feels happy and proud of her mom and in how she helps out. Maica was always a good letter writer but I think this project has also brought us closer together. I think she sees me as a "real person" now and someone who is a friend. That makes me happy!

Aura's House update:

Ana's Project: $1100/2770
Nyslin's Project: $169/550
Zoila's Project: $230/824
Joey's Project: $200/723
Lesly's Project: $295/393 (only $98 to go!!)

Fundraising is getting there - slowly but surely. I'll be very excited when the first project is fully funded!

In other fund raising news...

My Hubby has been making some things to sell in our Etsy shop in order to raise funds for our sponsor kids and their Income Generating Projects. He's made some coffee/tea mug sized quilted coasters and who knows what he'll do next. He will probably take requests if you ask him. :) I know some of you have been hoping he would turn some more pens and nostepinnes. The weather is finally warming up so maybe we can convince him to get back out there and fire up his lathe!

In health news...

Turns out that the mystery virus that felled me and my daughter last week was Fifth Disease. The tell-tale rash has appeared and now my poor daughter has super pink cheeks. (It actually looks kind of cute on her. But then, doesn't everything?) Fifth's is no fun to have as an adult. I don't recommend it. The joint pain can be severe - in my case I really felt like I had been hit by a mack truck. And this effect can linger for months. Months! Cripes! So I guess that explains why I just don't feel back to 100% yet. Bah!

In crafting news...

In my continuing quest to finish projects that have been lingering...I have finished the sleeves on my Debbie Bliss sailor coat. Now I just have to sew it together and knit the collar. Which I will do just as soon as I can get the pieces blocked. Which I will do just a soon as I can find my double pronged pins that I like to use for blocking. Drat! Where have those little buggers gotten to?

I'm nearing the end of the pile of "to be finished" projects (otherwise known as UFO's). :) Pretty much everything that is left has been put in a timeout while I consider frogging. I'll probably frog all of it it. So many things were started when I was a new knitter. So at this point, I either no longer have any interest in the project or my knitting has improved so much that it would come out looking like it was knit by two different people and cobbled together. Yuck.

So there you go. Now you are all caught up. Pat yourself on the back if you made it this far with this long, long post. You are obviously a trooper - or maybe just really really bored at work? Whatever, I thank you for hanging in there. Lol!