Nice Day to go to The Park

Introduction

Huck Finn on the Jungle Gym

Swinging with the Roman Empire

Preoccupied Puppy

Big Finish

End Notes: Diocletian was made emperor of Rome in 284 A.D. He divided the Empire and ruled the Eastern half himself and appointed Maximian to rule the Western half.  Maximian was the name Spider Droid and I could not think of in our interview. 

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.