Good News

I had to call CI today about something so I took the oppurtunity to ask them if they know if the direct package I had sent to Lizbeth had arrived. I sent it right after I began sponsoring her in November. A week or so after that we received letters saying customs had changed the way they were doing things and CI may not always beable to retrieve them. So I was a bit nervous. The representative informed me that it WAS received! YEAH!!!!!! LOL So I don't know if Lizbeth actually received it yet but I know eventually I will see the photos and get the letter....so I am a happy camper!

Also I found out another sponsor is planning a trip to Columbia in the next couple months. So if CI can work it out he will get to visit with Brayan! Very excited about that!

Happy Mail Day!!!!!!!!!

After running to the mailbox everyday to check to see if I got anything about my CI kids it finally happened! Patience is not my strong suit. Today I received not one, but two letters. These were my first letters from my first two sponsored kids Lizbeth and Jostin! Lizbeth wrote her own letter and it was short but sweet! Jostins mom wrote his as he is young and he is also disabled and can't write his own! His mom was very detailed which was really nice to read!
Here is Lizbeths Letter:



Her drawing:



And Sweet Jostins Letter:

Jessica will be featured in Journeys!

We just received a draft copy of an article that will be written in Children Internationals Journeys magazine! It is a great article and really pays homage to Chrystal who treated Jessica to a GREAT bday celebration! Can't wait to see the hard copy!

My Newest Child

This is the last one for a while. For some reason she called me, even though I said I wanted to try another country besides Ecuador! Anyway this is Katherine from Ecuador. She is 7 years old and has 4 siblings.

Jostins New Photo

Jessica's Wheelchair has been funded!

Wow I didn't imagine in just a couple days that this project would be funded. She will now be getting both her walker and more importantly her brand new wheelchair! I want to thank everyone from the google group that participated and a very special thank you to Petra (you know who you are) for going above and beyond and donating the rest of the money to get this done so quickly! I cannot thank you enough. I will post photos, etc once Jessica receives her wheelchair!

Link to help Jessica get some wheels!

http://www.firstgiving.com/wheels4jessica

Please use this link if you would like to donate and help Jessica get a wheelchair! All donations made through this link are tax deductable. Right now this is the fundraiser I am most focused on. I want to get this little girl a wheelchair she can use everywhere!

You can also still use the link at the right. I will use any money earned there towards the other special needs gifts!

Fundraising for Some Special Kids!

I know this is not probably the best time of year to ask for help but I will see what I can do! I currently have three kids with CI and would like to do special needs donations for each one of them. For those not part of the CI family these gifts are larger items that will help the family and the children tremendously. I received the requests for 3 kids. All 3 of them have medical conditions. I am going to post about 2 of their special needs to try to make this money for them as quick as possible. I also am waiting Brayans special needs request. If you can help please use the donate button on the right of this page. All money donated will be used to fund these requests. Once the money is raised and I get the photos of the children with the items I will post so you can see what you helped to achieve! The reason why I am taking donations through paypal is because I want to get Jessica these items ASAP. If I set up a First Giving page it takes up to two months AFTER we raise the funds. This is just a personal project I am trying to get done.
JESSICA from Ecuador (She is the girl 2nd from left)

Jessica lives in a very small house with her grandmother, aunt, and young cousin. She has muscular dystrophy/cerebral Palsy (not sure two reports say different things). She recently did receive a wheelchair that is very large and does not fold. They cannot get that wheelchair into the house and is hard to take places with them. Their house has a lot of stairs and a very narrow area to get up to where they live. Their special needs request is:
a wheelchair that folds so she can use it in the house $395
a walker $100.00
a bed and a matress $178.00
As you can see she needs alot! Lets try to make this happen!

Lizbeth is my first child and also the other child I would like to try to fund. She is 9 years old and also lives in Ecuador. She is disabled also. In her request they said there is only one single bed in the house and it is uncomfortable for the three living there to sleep. So they requested:
a twin size bed, mattress, and bedding for $233.00
and a large wardrobe closet for $116.00

Heather from MAC and Google Groups is setting up a fundraiser on Firstgiving for Jessicas wheelchair. I will post the link as soon as I get it!

Package for Brayan

Heather from the google groups is putting together summer reading packages for the kids in each country! This is the package Brayan will be receiving!

Columbia!

Well I added a new child and a new country to the mix. Sadly, my mom passed away unexpectently last week. This was really the hardest time in my life. It happened 3 days before xmas, which was also her favorite holiday, favorite time of the year. This year neither of us were really up for celebrating, she was in a nursing home and I was alone. We buried my mom yesterday and it was very tough. Yet I know she is no longer suffering which is comforting. She had been sick on and off for a year and a half. I decided I wanted to add a child if I could find one that shared the same birthday as my mom. I felt it would be a nice way to keep her her memory and spirit alive. Well thanks to Heather she e-mailed Greg and found the perfect little boy for me to sponsor. His birthday is 1/2/07 and he is from Columbia.

First Package ready to go!

I put together a small package to send off to Lizbeth! It is sort of an ntroduction package. Now I just have to finish my letter and go to the post office in the am. The package has a beautiful shirt that came with a necklace, two small packs of stickers, a purple teddy bear and a small gift for her little sister. I am also inclosing a small scrapbook with some pics of important things to me. And then some blank pages so she can put in future pics that I send! I will take a picture and post it!

UPDATE: So by the time I actually mailed it today I added quite a bit to it! lol I added in addition to the above gifts a play makeup set, a puzzle, 2 folders, a barbi doll, hair bands, and a small cinderella doll! I made the package over the 4 lb mark and it ended up costing me $38 to mail!

Jostin

Well I am very weak when it comes to helping kids. I have already added another child to my family! lol His name is Jostin and he is 4 years old also from Ecuador. He has some sort of disability, I am guessing CP but I don't know for sure. He has a brother and a little sister

Lizbeth!

Well after years of wanting to sponsor a child I finally followed through and did it!! I would like to add at least one more in the future when my financial situation gets better. Honestly now probably isn't the tme to start but it is something I really want to do. I chose to go through Children International for two reasons. One is that the money is not used towards anything religious. Even though I am a christian I do not think when families are this poor that they should use money for that when they sre struggling to even eat. The other is that this is one of the only programs that allows you to send packages to the children. I like that personal connection you can add. I can't go crazy like I would as shipping is ridiculous but will send some small packages.

My first girl is from Ecuador and her name is Lizbeth. She just turned 9 years old and has one sister. I will update this blog with information on her and when I hear from her. In the meantime here is her picture! My goal is in a couple years to be able to go meet her!