Celebrate our Fatao Christian Heritage

Last week I received an email to write a blog post about a boy named Fatao who needed emergency heart surgery.  The email was sent to me as a Compassion Blogging assignment.  Fatao is a 6 year old boy from southwest Burkina Faso who has a heart condition known as VSD – Ventricular Septal Defect.  Put simply, he has a hole in his heart.    Read more about Fatao by clicking here. (Spoiler ALERT)

In December 2010 Fatao was registered at a local church into the Compassion Child sponsorship program.  During his first  physical as part of his sponsorship,it was recommended he see a cardiologist.  The cardiologist was able to diagnose the VSD. 

The surgery was planned to take place in India.  Fatao’s parents who work so hard to provide their family had no means to travel with their son.  I could not imagine my 6 year old having any kind of medical work done with out Amy or myself being there for her. 

There was also the matter of paying for the surgery.  The costs involved would be great.  $23,000 dollars worth of great. A heart surgery is not really in the budget of the monthly amount paid by Compassion sponsors.   That is why bloggers like myself were contacted to get the word out to help raise this amount in as short time.  Those who donated would even get the opportunity to write fatao a letter of encouragement that would be read to him prior to the surgery.

Now, I didn’t really get the word out.  I am just getting to it now. However, the word did get out and more than 23,000 was collected and the surgery was a success!  Please pray for Fatao as he recovers from the surgery.

So, why do I even bother to write if the problem has been resolved?  Because there are more kids like Fatao.  Kids like Alexander who had the surgery a few years ago.  More than $10,000.00 was collected for his surgery.  Kids like Rossy from Guatemala and Victoria from Ghana.  In all 4 of these cases, the heart defect was discovered because of a physical that came with the Compassion sponsorship. Physicals that probably would have never been administered if these children were not part of Compassion. 

The $23,000.00 for Fatao has been met.  But by clicking here, you can donate money for the next Fatao, Alexander, Rossy, or Victoria that comes along.  You can also sponsor a Compassion child, insuring that another child will get a physical and perhaps have a rare disorder come to the attention of someone who can help. 

But physical ailments are not the only problem.  Each child in the world, each person in the world, has the same problem as Fatao – a hole in their heart.  The great philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal said (this is a paraphrase), That we all have a God shaped vacuum that can only be filled by him.  Yes ours is a metaphysical hole, but a hole just the same. 

Part of the Compassion sponsorship goes to diagnosing and fixing the sponsor child’s spiritual heart condition.  This spiritual component is why my money goes to Compassion.  There are many organizations that touch the physical need of the poorest of the poor.  Compassion gets to the heart of the matter, by reaching out to the soul at the same time. 
Acts Chapter 2 verse 45  says that in the early church the Christians were  selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.  This tradition continues today in many ways.  One is in cases like Fatao.  Please consider sponsoring a Compassion child and continuing this tradition.

My Name's Bob. I'm a Tomato, and I'm here to help.

Fits Me to A T

My Life in T-shirts

Shortly after Amy and I got married, my sister in law gave us 2 t-shirts.  Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber from veggie tales.  For years we would mix and match the shirts and wear them out together.

A few years ago Larry went missing.  So Bob became my shirt of choice.  He has gone everywhere with me: swimming, filed trips, the library and occasionally even to church or co-op.  Sometimes (especially at the pool) I would forget what shirt was wearing. So I would wonder why kids were talking to me about Veggie Tales.  Then it would dawn on me, walking billboard. 

Bob is now in his teen years. As the above picture attests, (taken for this post) Bob has seen better days. The white of the eyes wearing out gives a certain bloodshot look. But through it all, he keeps that goofy grin on his face.

Now-a-days it's a sleep shirt and an around the house shirt.  I am sure it's also a great shirt to play Mouse Trap in.  You roll the dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt. 

Disney Defrosted Give-a-way

I got an e-mail today from my contact at Feld Entertainment. Those are the great people that put on the Circus, Monster Jam and Disney on Ice. They are putting on a show called Disney Live! Presents! Three Classic Fairy Tales. It will be at the Akoo (Bless You) Theatre aka Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont, Illinois on March 16th through the 18th.

  Mickey, Minnie,and the gang host the stage versions of the timeless tales of

Snow White

Cinderella

AND

Beauty and the Beast

 The show promises dynamic storytelling, award winning music, stunning costumes and glittering special effects.   There are 7 (1 for each dwarf)  big beautiful shows: Friday – 10:30, 6:30 Saturday – 11:00, 2:00, 5:00 Sunday – 1:00, 4:00

Tickets are on sale right now, starting at $15.00!  Feld is offering my readers a chance to obtain tickets for $5.00 less (per ticket) by using the promo code MOM.

Reading about this show, it seems a lot like Disney on Ice.  Which is one of the reasons I called this post Disney Defrosted.  Watching the below video, gives me the idea that the stage adaptation will be every bit as good as the escapades on ice.  Don't get me wrong. I'm a Roller, I love skating.  It's just the Rosemont is a great theatre for children's productions.  I saw Veggie Tales Live there years ago when Bunny and SD were younger that Puppy is now and we all had a fantastic time.  I think this show is going to be great.






I am giving away 4 tickets to one of the 3 following shows March 16th 10:30 a.m., or the 11am or 5 p.m shows of March 17th.

Here is how to enter.

Comment here or on my FB page.
Also, I will give 1 entry for each of the seven dwarfs you can name.

The contest will end Sunday at 10 p.m. central.

Puppy;s Pets on Display - Epilogue

I mentioned at the beginning of last month that Puppy's pillow pets and Webkinz were on display at our local library.

Here are a few tidbits and pics from the experience.

Puppy was a little panic stricken concerned with the idea of leaving her pets at the library for the whole month. So to keep her from the psych ward help her I . . .

1. Let her keep some of her favorites at home.

2. Bought her a new Webkinz cardinal at Target after we set the display up


3. Let her visit her animals often including visiting her turtle George Washington on February 22nd, which is George Washington's birthday.

After the month was over while we were picking all the pillow pets and Webkinz up, the children's librarian called Puppy over. She told Puppy that about 6 months ago, a child had left a pillow pet behind at the library and never claimed it. Little Miss memory chip said she remembered seeing it at the desk in her visits to the library . The librarian continued, saying that since Puppy took such good care of her animals, they thought that she could give the orphaned pillow pet a good home.

Puppy was so pleased that she named the Pillow Pet after her self and takes her every where. 

George Washington and comapny

A Bird in the hand is worth 20 in the display case



Puppy II



Happy to be home.

Thanks again to the Dundee Township Public Library for their fine program.

Sponsor A Waiting Child

Today is my first official post as a Compassion Blogger. Today we're going to talk about children in poverty. And I'm going to get specific.

Before we do let's talk about waiting. Waiting has changed a lot in my lifetime. When I was a kid, if I wanted to watch an old movie, I had to wait until they aired it on television. Then the VCR came along and if I wanted to I could record the movie or buy or rent a copy and watch it at my leisure.

Waiting in the past few years has been mostly obliterated by smart phones and the phrase "there's an app for that." I bought myself an Ipod touch with Christmas money and since then many things I used to have to wait for are available in moments. I don't even have to type my posts anymore. I just speak into my Ipod and 2 taps later my thoughts are shared with the teeming masses.

But today let's talk about children in poverty who are waiting. They are waiting for a sponsor. A Compassion sponsor. Imagine it this way . . .

You are a child growing up in poverty.

A local church announces a new program coming to your village.

A program that will provide you with

*educational opportunities that you would not receive other wise.


*health care and health related instruction that you would not receive otherwise.


* food, clean water, and sustainable nutrition


* life skills and spiritual training.

A church volunteer takes your picture and gets information about you and your family. You are registered. You begin to receive the benefits of the program. But there is one thing you are missing a sponsor.

A sponsor is the person who donated money to Compassion so you can receive the benefits of the program. They do so much more than that. They write to you, they pray for you. They take that picture that was taken of you and put it in a prominent place in their house. On your birthday and Christmas they have the opportunity yo send you a special gift for you and your family.

You see when you went into the program, your whole family benefits from your sponsors contributions, letters and prayers.

But you don't have a sponsor yet and there is not an app for that.

So, you wait,

and wait,

and wait.

Some children in the program wait 180 days or more without a sponsor. Click here to see a list of children who have been waiting for a sponsor for more than 180 days.  That's 1/2 of a year.

You might be thinking "So what? They don't have a sponsor.  But they are in the program.  As long as their needs are being met.  Why do they need a sponsor?"

That's a great question.  Here are a few good reasons:

1) While these kids are having their financial needs met, their lack of sponsors is keeping Compassion from moving onto the next village and staring the program for other children in poverty.  Remember when I say children in poverty, I really mean families in poverty as the entire family benefits from the program.

2) The opportunity to communicate with your sponsor and to know your sponsor and be known by them is one of the best parts of Compassion.  Knowing that a real person is providing money, prayer and love makes a difference in a child's life. 

This video really captures the heart of how we can help a waiting child.

Sponsor a Waiting Child from Compassion International on Vimeo.


On A Personal Note

When we pick a child to sponsor we look for something that will tie him or her into our family.  Our first compassion child had Spider Droids exact birth date down to the day and year.  He also had Spider Droid's first name.  We never forgot his birthday!  When that boy's families situation improved (due in part to the program) so much that he didn't need to be sponsored anymore we found a girl Puppy's age who was born on Bunny's birthday

Please click here to see if you can find a waiting child to sponsor.  You can make a difference in a  child's life right now and you don't have to wait!