Sponsoring our two children in Burkina Faso and our one in the Dominican Republic has been a life-changing experience. Their pictures are hanging up in a prominent place in our house. Our prayers are filled with their names. Our eyes are drawn to their countries on the map. But sometimes we forget to let those special kids know how much we do love and honor them. We tend to forget that writing letters and sending little gifts is almost as important as writing the $35 check every month.
A few weeks ago I started thinking, “I’m going to have to get my blog involved with my sponsored kids because that’s the only thing that will keep me accountable.” (How horrible is that?!) Then after reading Lisa-Jo’s Lame Sponsors of the World Unite! post, I knew I had to kick it in high gear.
So, here’s my idea…the second Monday {*changed it to Friday!} of every month I will post a craft, gift idea or letter writing idea that my kids and I have done and/or sent to our sponsored kids.
I like to enclose something with each letter because…well, mainly because I just like to give gifts. But also because it gets my non-reading kids involved. Lydia can’t write a letter to our kids yet. But she can spend time drawing a picture or making a craft. And it gives me the perfect opportunity to write the letter as she crafts!
The main thing is you have to be creative on gifts and crafts because they need to be flat and fit into an envelope. There may even be other restrictions based on which organization you sponsor through. {Here are some guidelines for World Vision and for Compassion.} So, all the crafts and ideas I feature will be (or should be) appropriate to send to your child, too!
Once I post my craft or idea, I’ll have a linky up for you! I’m challenging you to commit to writing your child once a month. Then post about it on your blog and link it up below. You can copy me, come up with a new idea, or share something about your sponsored kids. I’ll leave the linky open all month so you can use the posts as a resource for your family and for your sponsored kids! Doesn’t that sound fun? I’m so excited!
So, here we go…
Today, we made ribbon monograms for our kids. It sounds a lot more frou-frou boutique-ish than it really is…but I think it turned out cute.
All you need is some cardstock, glue and a ton of ribbon. I hoarde ribbon off the top of gifts and anything else that comes my way. You can also find remnants of ribbon at the fabric store–they usually sell them in little ziploc baggies for cheap!
Then, cut out your letters. If you want, you could print off some letters and cut them out. Or you could follow my How To Cut Letters Out Of Paper tutorial and do them freehand. Our kids are named David, Alizeta and Mariluz, so we cut out a D, M and A. (I had to really organize those letters correctly so as to not spell any words for you!)
Then we covered our letters with glue and laid ribbon the words. It was easy with the letter D and M. We just laid the ribbon down and then cut it once it dried.
But the letter A got a little confusing. So, I finally figured out I needed to just cut the ribbon first, then glue it! I have to admit, my 4 year old Lydia–she had to work hard on this one. We did about 50/50 on this one. I still have to trim them a bit and I might add another ribbon loop to the back, maybe they can hang it up somewhere.
Even before initials were on every purse and keychain, I always loved my initial. I pray our kids like it and when they see their own initial and realize how special they are–right down to the first letter of their name!
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Now, for our first linky. I know I just sprung this on you, but if you happen to have an old post about writing your kids letters, or even just about your sponsored children feel free to link it up below. And don’t forget to link back to this post so other people can join in and can see the good ideas linked below.
What’s that? You don’t sponsor a child? Well, let’s fix that right now! Please visit World Vision or Compassion to sponsor a child today!
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Subscribers, click here to join in!
linked to Made By You Monday and Making the World Cuter and Craftastic Monday
Oh my goodness, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea!! Thank you so very much for taking such a proactive approach to helping us recovering lame sponsors!!
~Lisa-Jo
Your post spurred me on! Thanks for sharing your amazing journey!
a
Such a great idea–the accountability will be so helpful!! Looking forward to it!
Yay! I knew you’d like it! 🙂
Great idea! Thank you for the inspiration! I definitely needed it. 🙂
Me, too! I’m excited to see what great things we all think up!
Thank you for this! I know part of my sponsor lameness has not been knowing what to say or send. I think your ideas are going to help in a big way! And my daughter loves crafting, so she’ll love to be the one to do this.
That’s it. Sometimes I just feel like, “Really? What can I tell them?” But I think it’s the thought and the connection that matters more than the content!
GREAT idea! I too was lame and immediately (Saturday) got paper and markers out and wrote our boys in Kenya, and had my boys draw pictures for them. I sent them the second we were done and we vowed to do it every month. I’m so glad to see this post for fun things to send them and the accountability!
Markers and paper is perfect! They’ll love it–and it’s setting a precedent for your kids!
Post about it next month!
Well I have no post, but I have letters sitting on my counter waiting for a stamp. So thanks for the reminder.
That’s what usually gets me, too. The stamps.
Love this idea Amanda!! So is it totally lame & defeating the purpose if I copy you?? Because that is super cute!
No! Yes! Copy it! It was fun!
Great idea! I can’t wait to write and link up.
Hi Amanda-
My name is June and I was sent a link to your blog by Chris from Compassion. He let me know about your blog because I started the Virtual Child Sponsorship Letter Writing Night group on OurCompassion.org and host a letter writing night every second friday of the month. Thought maybe we could share ideas or what have you…Hope to talk with you real soon!
I just love the idea behind this post and the project you made! I did hear recently that items with ribbons were being rejected though. You might want to call Compassion and double check with them before you mail those. I look forward to more great ideas!
Just found your blog from 1+1+1=1. I love this idea and will be posting what we do as well. Thanks for the encouragement and motivating us all to do what we should be!!
Awesome! Can’t wait to check it out! Thanks so much for the comment. 🙂
thank you so much for such a great idea! i found your blog from a friend on a homeschool yahoo group! thanks again!! we needed some inspiration!
Yay! Next Monday is the next link up, so if you have an idea to share, please come back and share it! 🙂
What a great idea! I can only imagine the big smiles on those kids’ faces when they get these. They will LOVE them.
Thanks for the inspiration! I’m totally a “lame” sponsor. Until recently, I hadn’t thought about what letters could do for a child. Thanks again!
I can’t seem to add this to my Google Reader, but I am wondering if you have any new ideas for us! I’d love to get inspired!! 😀