more news from birtukan

i must admit, i was quite surprised to get another letter from 21-year-old birtukan in ethiopia so soon after her last letter. however, i have to say goodbye to this wonderful young lady at the end of the year, so this letter is a treasure.

dear miss michelle moore,

health and peace to you! how’re you? me and my family are well, praise God! thank you for your sponsorship since childhood. i’m learning well.

by the 235br Christmas gift i’ve bought shoes. thank you! please read 2nd corinthians 10:13.

i’ve understood that when life seems darker is when the devil seems to be playing with us, and if we sincerley cry out to the Lord, he’ll hear us and make us the way to escape the challenge.

pray that i’d do well on my education. what do you do by your spare time?

till next time. bye.

a very special boy turns two!

today, my sweet irabizi from rwanda turns two whole years old! i sponsored him when he had just turned one, so i’m also getting ready to celebrate a whole year of knowing this precious boy and his family. it’s been such a privilege to watch this boy grow over the last 12 months, and i hope there are many more birthdays that we can celebrate together.

{p.s. aren’t his little baby toes just the cutest thing EVER?!}

pure first-letter goodness

last week {or maybe even the week before…} i was super excited to receive a wonderful first letter from the cutest little girl ever – four year old evis from colombia! it was totally unexpected, because i had only been assigned her as a correspondent four weeks earlier {so the letter is addressed to her financial sponsor, but i don’t mind that!}. she’s such a sweetheart, and i’m so excited to get to know her more.

personal information

name: evis                                             age: 4

my family

rosa (mother) evan (father)

my best friends

mariana (age 4),

valery (age 4),

camila (age 4),

breiner (age 4),

paula (age 5),

my preferences

favourite hobby: dancing and singing

 favourite food: chicken and salad

  favourite subject: math

favourite animal: dog            

favourite colour: pink        

questions for my sponsor: what is your name? where do you live?

bible verse for my sponsor: please read psalm 43

message for my sponsor: may God bless you. i am evis’ tutor. i am writing on her behalf because she cannot write yet. evis is sending warm greetings and big hugs to you. she lets you know that she attends school. she is doing well in her studies. she can already count up to five. she likes to sing and dance. evis enjoys attending the program activities at this compassion-assisted project where she is taught about God. she says goodbye and prays many blessings on you.

my drawing

isn’t this sweet girl just fabulous?!

another wonderful letter from ghana

i recently received another wonderful letter from fourteen year old chelsea in ghana. her letters seem to be coming every other month like clockwork now, which i am so grateful for. as she approaches graduation in just a few short years, i’m becoming ever-more grateful for the opportunities i have to speak into her life and share with her the love of Jesus.

dear michelle moorer

thank you message for sponsor: i thank you for the lovely letter you sent me. i really appreciate it.

child’s response to sponsor’s questions: -left blank-

child’s new experiences at project/home/school/community etc: at project i have learnt how to treat someone who has injured him/herself

question for my sponsor: do you have a brother?

prayer for my sponsor: i pray that God will guide you in everything you do

prayer request from child: i want you to pray so that i pass my exam

memory verse: romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for is in that while we are still sinners, Christ died for us”. amen.

child’s drawing:

i love this drawing – what girl doesn’t love flowers and glitter?! i love the letters i get from my older compassion children, and chelsea is no exception. she was my first ever correspondent child, and i have been so unbelievably blessed by her over the last eighteen months. my prayer is that i will be able to keep corresponding with her until she graduates the program.

 

weekly photo challenge: patterns

i didn’t like this challenge. partly because it’s been ages since i’ve actually participated in one, partly because, from looking at the examples, many who have participated have visited magical places across the world and have got some really beautiful photos of old temples and beautifully tiled buildings. where have i been? manchester. not quite the same thing {although i do still hold a whole lot of love for that place}.

flicking through the photos on my phone from a random road trip to oxford, i found some really beautiful photos of when we walked round the gardens. because patters don’t have to be on a building, right? i’ve decided to embrace more natural patterns for this challenge. because, sometimes, it’s okay to be a little bit different.

 

thankful thursday

if i’m going to be honest, this week is turning out to be long, and not that great. but i’m so thankful that God is not dependent on my emotions, and He isn’t surprised by my angry words and long silences. what a comfort it is to know that He is in complete control. because of this, i knew it was especially important for me to take time and think of all the things that i am thankful for this week.

1. an amazing cake date with two very special friends. after having to cancel the trip last week, i was totally ready for an afternoon of eating cake {although my lactose intolerance definitely disagrees with this..!}. it tasted yummy all the same, and we got to have a much-overdue catch up {especially after five hours of new testament study!}.
2. london accents. my london accent seems to have come back full force today! i’m still blaming serena, but it’s caused many, many giggles today {“it’s well quaint!”}. i can’t complain – i’m rather proud of my london roots {and the accent that goes with it!}
3. special messages from special friends. one special friend in particular. this friend, who is amazing, handmade me my very own weekly devotional for my 21st birthday. you don’t get much kinder than that. so, every monday until my 22nd birthday, i have a sweet little reminder on how much God loves me, or what He has planned for me, or something equally as exciting, waiting just for me. there are no words to describe just how much this little book {or the author of said little book} is blessing me. this week’s message was particularly special…
4. sister moves home tomorrow for four whole months! {i’m excited by this now, but i’ll probably want to put her in an envelope and post her back to oxford by this time next week}. i joke – she’s pretty fabulous {especially because she has the oh-so-lovely job of looking after me after my surgery at the end of the month. ick. i’m determined to be a difficult patient }. seriously though, i’m so excited to have her home, especially because we’ve already decided on a carvery dinner next tuesday!!
5. a wonderful sunny saturday in oxford. it was so amazing to be able to spend saturday with sister and her crazy uni friends on saturday, with baby thomas as a special guest! he was, of course, extremely popular {and he flirted like crazy with all the girls. he’s ten months old, for crying out loud!}. the weather held off perfectly, and i got to drive home to the most amazing sunset {and no, i did not take the photos. my willing passenger did. i was most definitely looking at the road and trying not to get into a car crash whilst driving with a sleeping baby in the back of the car}. oxford, you’re pretty cool. i think i’ll come back soon.
6. psalm 40. seriously – if you’ve never read it, you’re missing out. it’s one my new favourites, and exactly what i needed to read when i needed to read it. i rather like it when God does that. what a precious reminder of His unending faithfulness.
7. ordering crazy amounts of fabric so i can have sewing fun days when i’m {supposed to be} recovering from my surgery {please…four weeks without driving is not going to please me very much. i need to keep busy..!}.
8. kind words and prayers from special friends. i seriously know some of the best people in the whole widest world and they are always willing to talk and pray with me when life gets hard. this week,these people have been such a huge blessing to me. i don’t know what i’d do without them.
9. a new compassion correspondent child! {yaaaaaaay}. i had my eye on this sweet boy for such a long time, so i was over the moon when a friend offered to sponsor him for me. thankyou Jesus! {and friend}. sweet rendi is nine years old and was waiting far too long for a sponsor. the added bonus of two precious old photos made this even more special!
10. God’s unending love and faithfulness in my life. this has been a long week for me, but it always amazes me that, right as i’m ready to give up and throw the towel in, God shows up in a beautifully powerful way and gives me gentle reminders that He’s listening to my cries and He knows my heart. there are no words to say how thankful i am for these precious reminders.

my {not so} little girl is growing up!

today, my very first sponsored child, sweet cristin fron indonesia, turns eight years old. i’m in a whole lot of denial about this. cristin was just five years old when i sponsored her just over two years ago, and now she’s turning eight! what is happening?! time is going just far too fast.

Cristin aged 5

Cristin aged 6

i love this sweet girl more than words could ever say. she’s taught me so much over the last two years, and i feel so blessed to be called her sponsor, and to have her call me ‘sister’. my heart is full.

old photos are my favourite

i emailed compassion this afternoon to see if there were any old photos of my sweet new correspondent child, rendi. i was surprised to find two very, VERY cute photo of my sweet new boys. in the first, he’s five, the second was taken just before his seventh birthday and his current photo that was taken last summer, when he was eight years old.

introducing rendi!

this month, it made me very sad to learn that one of my compassion children, sixteen-year-old rosa from colombia, had left her compassion program. rosa had been sponsored for me by a friend, and he very kindly offered to sponsor another child and to allow me to be the correspondent.

i posted rendi on my blog a few weeks ago, because i’d seen him on the compassion website for a little too long and, after chatting to a very lovely lady at compassion, i found out that he had been dropped by his sponsor ten months ago and nobody had picked him up since. this made my heart break, so when my friend offered to sponsor a new child for me, there was no doubt in my mind that rendi had to be the child, especially because he lives in indonesia – a country that has well and truly stolen my heart.

so here he is! rendi is nine years old and celebrates his birthday on the 30th of january. Rendi lives under the care of his parents. His home duties include running errands. There are 4 children in the family. For fun Rendi likes playing football and playing hide and seek. He attends Sunday school & church regularly. He attends school where his performance is above average.

i so love his expression in this photo, and his sweet ears! i feel so incredibly blessed that i get to love on this little guy, and that his really long wait has come to an end!

elizabeth’s holidays

not only did we receive a brand new photograph of elizabeth this month, we also received a wonderful letter from her, telling us all about her holidays!

(for the record, i can’t stop looking at her new photo and smiling from ear to ear – i can’t believe how well she looks, and that she’s wearing the t-shirt that we sent her!!)

my favourite national festival/holy day is: epiphany

my favourite foods to eat during celebration are: fried chicken

at the project we celebrate Christmas on: 18th december

my family celebrates the new year on: 1st january

hello dear sponsors. how are you? i hope you are doing well. i am writing you on behalf of the child, elizabeth. she sais she is very happy to be able to write back to you and she thanks you very much for all your attention and letters. she says she likes epiphany day very much because of the toys they give her. her family and her had a happy new year. she asks, how did you do in Christmas time and new year? she asks for prayers for her father for God to protect him. nos she says goodbye with a big hug.