Ordinarily Extraordinary

Children in Need

In a few days, author and blogger Matthew Paul Turner will be leaving for Uganda on a trip for World Vision. He will be blogging about his trip while he is in Uganda.

I am very interested in World Vision because we sponsor a child, but I'm also interested in Matthew Paul Turner's view of his upcoming trip. I hope he would not take offense in me saying he has a  sarcastic and sometimes cynical sense of humor & viewpoint., but I enjoy his writing and after reading his recent book I identify with some aspects of his childhood and can certainly understand where the cynicism might come from. So his posts, while still his voice, will be a change of pace from his witty and sometimes sarcastic view of Christianity.

Yes, our family sponsors a child through World Vision. I love opening the mailbox and finding a letter from our sponsor child in Kenya.

I know our sponsorship helps our sponsor child, but honestly I think I get more out of it than he might. Something happens to my heart when I read his letters, when I see his drawings. And I know without a doubt that when my son picked our sponsor child's photo on the World Vision website that God knew he was the sponsor child for us.

When I received his first letter, translated by a World Vision worker, he told us his favorite activity is drawing. He sounded so much like my kiddo who loves art as well. I've now received two letters from our sponsor child and it's time for me to write him back.  My brain is trying to decide what to send him this time. It has to be something small that can fit in a regular envelope like stickers or such.

Matthew has already begun blogging about his upcoming trip and the children available for sponsorship through World Vision. I encourage you to click here to read his post from today. I'll be linking more of his posts he writes while on his trip. You can also click through from his post to sponsor a child.

If you sponsor a child I promise you will not regret it and will receive so much more than you can imagine.

In the effort of full disclosure neither Matthew Paul Turner nor World Vision asked me to write this post. I have written this because I believe in World Vision's work.

P.F. Chang's Rock 'N Roll 1/2 Marathon

My sister is really asking for punishment. She runs 1/2 marathons. Of course she is the one of us that actually enjoys exercise. Me? I do it because I know I need to and I do feel better when I do, still have a hard time motivating myself to do it though.

But back to my sister. She is running in a 1/2 marathon in Phoenix, AZ in January. She must raise $3800 before the end of the year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training.  So we're all doing our part to help her out. I'm selling hand made cards with the profits after the cost of supplies going to the charity. And now she has a fund-raising website. If you feel you could help please take a look at her site by clicking here. All help is greatly appreciated.