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I am thankful for the 8.5 months I was able to be an Area Manager for World Vision. With our upcoming adoption time frame uncertainty, I decided to step down to have some more family time. It was a delight serving with the Child Ambassadors in my region. And I am still a Child Ambassador – so I still want people to sponsor kids

The slideshow above was put together by my friend Tiffany with the photos she took on our day trip to Mexico. Click the photo below to see all the photos I took.

A couple weeks ago I went to San Diego for a World Vision conference and on Thursday of that week we headed into Mexico to see one of the WV Area Development Projects (ADP). Mike and I have been sponsors for 15 years now and have never had the chance to see the work ourselves. When World Vision comes into a community the community has to agree to be a part of the work because WV wants to give a “hand up” not a “hand out”. Their goal is to attack the root causes of poverty on all sides to make life better for the entire community.

It was wildly rainy and we were told that Tijuana was experiencing some of it’s worst weather in 26 years. The rain was crazy and at times it was going sideways from the wind. The area that we went to didn’t have paved roads and while we were visiting the road we came in on was flooded out. Getting back to the border was half the adventure of the day and we got to see a lot more of the country.

The people that we met were wonderful. It’s absolutely amazing how many community volunteers this ADP has because the people care about the success of all the families. The women made us a WONDERFUL meal and after we all ate they showed us around the community center.

In the community center they hold classes on pinata making, marshemallow popcicle making, other arts, baking and jello molding. They have a computer center where they teach skills to adults and children. They have a place to teach women beauty shop skills -- hair cutting, braiding, highlighting and nails. A great thing about this is that once the women are trained, they can work from home and take care of their children rather than having to go off to a factory all day. They have music classes and soccer teams. The moms even have a soccer team

On the same land they have a day care, cafeteria for the middle schoolers to come for lunch and a clinic. It was so cool to see that because it was clean and stocked. Doctors come in twice a week. It was mentioned that a special thing about this clinic was that it had a door that closed for the women to have their babies in privacy rather than out in the open. Oh how we take these things for granted in America -- being able to have a baby in a safe, clean and private environment.

I have been trying to put into words all the stuff going through my mind about this special day. One moment keeps coming back to me from that day. Many of the women spoke to us at the end through the translator to tell us thank you and what kinds of things they do in the community. One woman said, “Thank you for helping me take care of my children.” And then I started to cry. All I could think was that these women love their kids JUST as much as I love Nadia, but they don’t have ACCESS to all the stuff I do. They have the same hopes and dreams for their children as I do for Nadia. They just don’t have access.

So when people ask me why I am so passionate about sponsorship through World Vision -- that is why! For just $35 a month you or your family can make a difference to an entire community and especially to your sponsored child and their family. One person can make a difference, I have seen it with my own eyes. And what a blessing to see it with my own eyes after all these years of talking about it.

Do you want to sponsor a child? Just let me know and I will share the picture folders I have with you. Not local? I have a scanner and email Thanks for reading.

I am sure many of you are as heartbroken over what has occurred in Haiti and the overwhelming loss of life as we are. If you haven’t given and you want to I encourage you to donate with World Vision. They have nearly 400 staff on the ground working already to get aid to the people. WV has been working in Haiti for 30 years and is the world’s largest Non Governmental Organization (NGO) I was on a conference call last night and heard that all of the Area Development Projects that they work in are safe and the children are safe because they are in the rural area.

It’s estimated that 1/3 of the populalation needs aid. And so many have died that it’s horrifying, but those who have survived need water, food and basic medical supplies.

If you want to give call 1-800-777-5777 or go to worldvision.org

You can make a difference!

Hello everyone! Did you know that every 13 seconds a child somewhere in the world is orphaned to the HIV/AIDS pandemic? It’s a startling number that breaks my heart. Here in America we are largely isolated from the devastation that many nations of the world are facing on a daily basis due to this virus. In America we have fantastic access to AIDS medication that just doesn’t exist for large portions of the world.

I ask you today for two things.

1)  Take just a moment out of your day to say a prayer or at least think of all these poor children who don’t have access to the great things we do in America.

2) To consider sponsoring a child from an AIDS impacted country. If you want to know more, just ask me. I have picture folders from Zambia and Rwanda with kids of all ages and genders.

You can make a difference and you can offer HOPE in a hopeless situation. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

“To the world you might be one person but to one person you might be the world.”