Educating Leaders - No Conveyor Belt Education Here!

November 14, 2006 - Hands-On Ways to Give at Thanks-Giving

Thank so much to all of you who gave me your ideas on my Christmas survey. They have been a tremendous help to me. I can't tell you everything right now, but I am writing and pulling together some great resources to make your Christmas more
meaningful this year. I'll tell you more shortly.

Before I get to my newsletter this week, I just have to tell you that it was snowing last week while we ate breakfast. It's been raining for about 10 days off and on. The sun comes and goes every 2 or 3 days. Last Thursday started out to be more of the same - rain, rain, rain. When I called everyone for breakfast, Steve said it looked like it was snowing. YEA! It didn't stay long, but it sure was beautiful. I love November and the coziness of family inside together.

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November is also the month to celebrate your thankfulness - thanking God for the blessings He has given you.

Last month I told you I would share a unique opportunity for your children to learn to serve. Also, last month our family discovered a way we can share what God has so abundantly given us.

We heard story after story last month about boys and girls around the world that are coming to know the Lord as their Savior through the outreach of Compassion International.. Often, these children don't have much more than that - their family, a covering over their head, some food and some clothes.

Compassion offered our family a chance to help one of the children in their program. With your donation, these children receive:

Educational Opportunities
Health Care and Supplemental Nutrition
Opportunities for Safe Recreation
Opportunities to Learn about Important Life Skills
Most important of all, sponsoring a child will allow your child to Hear about Jesus and be Encouraged to Develop a Lifelong Relationship with God.

BUT, this is not a completely child-centered program. The child's family is integrally involved. Here's what Compassion says about the family's participation.

   We feel strongly that every Compassion project should "belong" to the people it's intended to serve. That means parents need to be integrally involved in all aspects of their child's development, including:

        * Planning the daily activities
        * Helping to make project decisions
        * Ensuring that money is spent wisely and only for
        the purpose that it was given

   We also give weight to caring for parental needs the parents' well-being directly relates to the welfare of their children. It's often possible for us to include parents in training activities and arrange for special classes in:

        * Parenting skills
        * Literacy
        * Child care
        * Income generation or other useful skills

HOW WILL YOUR CHILDREN BENEFIT FROM SPONSORING A CHILD?

Let me tell you! You get more than you can imagine from sponsoring one of these children. We immediately began praying for Sergio whose picture now adorns our refrigerator (good Bible/character lesson). Besides praying we learned where Bolivia was located, as well as all the other South American countries (good geography lesson for a few weeks). We are taking turns writing Sergio (great writing lesson). I plan to learn more about Bolivia and its history (good history lesson). We are sending pictures of our family (good photo class).

My children are excited to get a letter back from Sergio. We discovered he has a tutor that greeted us "in the name of our Lord and Savior". WOW! He has a Christian tutor that is teaching him on a regular basis.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You can choose the child you want to sponsor when you visit Compassion's website. Take a look at those lovely faces and I'm sure you will want to help them.

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm

WHY DO I BRING UP COMPASSION IF IT'S THANKSGIVING & CHRISTMAS?

If you are truly thankful for all God has given you, why not share it with someone truly in need. Someone who won't ever play with an x-box or other electronic toys.

I am encouraging all the families that read my newsletter to consider sponsoring a child. It is very inexpensive, only $32 per month. As a family, we began sponsoring a child last month and now my children are thinking about sponsoring another child
on their own (all of them contributing towards the $32 each month).

I CAN'T AFFORD 32? IS THERE ANOTHER WAY TO HELP THESE CHILDREN?

When my children were younger and did not have regular jobs, they raised money for a missionary family each Christmas. They took orders for chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin bread during Thanksgiving and Christmas. We set aside a few days for baking and delivery. Once the money was collected, they paid me back
for the ingredients. The proft was set aside for a missionary family.

This is an excellent time to teach your children the power and influence of an entrepreneurial spirit. Most of you think an entrepreneur is only concerned with having their own business and making money. That is not an accurate definition. An entrepreneur is an innovator and manager. Entrepreneurs are creative enough to
develop a plan to make some extra money.

Compassion International is a terrific place to use that money that your young entrepreneurs might make this holiday season. If your children do not make enough money to give $32 a month, they can donate it to Compassion's Christmas Gift Program. Can you imagine what it would be like to not receive a Christmas gift as
a child? Christmas donations are used equally among all sponsored children.

Click here to sponsor a child this coming year:
http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm

Even if you never buy anything from us, PLEASE consider helping these children and, especially, so they can hear about the gospel of Christ.

Blessings,
Kerry

Raising Leaders

category:

Character and Love of Learning
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A place to interact about teaching our kids without following the conveyor belt model of the government schools. Think outside the box and provide a leadership education for your children. Other musings are included on a regular basis :-)

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