Compassion!

So...can you believe February is coming to an end? These past two months of 2012 have flew by. We have been so busy, but it has been great! Alex and I have recently added a new little buddy to our family! His name is Orlin, he is 4 years old and he is from Honduras! We made the decision to sponsor Orlin through a program called, Compassion International.

Compassion helps children in desperate need grow to be a fulfilled adult. Through our sponsorship of Orlin, we are hoping to help change his life. Orlin will now have the opportunity to thrive spiritually, economically, socially and physically. I am so excited to get to know Orlin a little better! I know we are going to be so blessed over the years as we build a relationship with him through letters, photos and prayers. Maybe we'll even get to visit him someday!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child or you just want to learn a little bit more about Compassion International, below is a little information about the program and a link to the site!

"More than 22,000 children younger than 5 die from poverty-related causes that often are preventable and treatable. You can help turn these numbers around. Your $38 monthly sponsorship helps provide your child with life-changing benefits that include: nutritious snacks or meals, educational opportunities, health and hygiene training, medical checkups, the caring embrace of a local church and the message of God’s love through Jesus Christ."

Compassion International

Homemade Heart Day!

Well...Valentine’s Day 2012 has come and gone! It was definitely one to remember, but probably not for the reasons you would think! We didn’t do the traditional flowers, chocolate, or go out to dinner. Everything we did this year was homemade!

Alex is not a huge fan of always doing what everyone else "says" we should do on a day like Valentine's day. He says, “Why feed into all this commercialization when I could give you flowers on any other day and it would probably mean more.” Some may say that statement is a cop-out, but I kind of agree with him. So, since we (mostly Alex) have such a strong opinion about Valentine’s Day we decided we would make up a new tradition this year, and make everything ourselves! This included dinner and presents, but of course not dessert because we had to make our weekly (or sometimes 3 times a week) visit to Red Mango!

So, Alex made us some homemade dinner and then we opened our homemade gifts. Now, Alex has been blessed with many wonderful gifts, but when it comes to creative artsy things...not so much! With that being said, I was pleasantly surprised with the gift he came up with. I actually kind of love it! Below is what Alex gave me.

Below is what I gave Alex. He seemed to really like it, so props to Pinterest for the idea!

All-in-all, I would say that our new tradition for Valentine's day was a plus. We both had to get our creative juices flowing and saved a little money while doing it! Can't wait to see what next year brings!

Saturday, Shovels, and Snowmen

Hooray for snow!!! I was beginning to think that this winter was not going to happen! Although the nice January weather has been enjoyable, I have missed the normal snowfall that we should be getting this time of year. So to my delight, the long awaited snow finally arrived!

Growing up I loved playing in the snow, shoveling and making snowmen, so we decided to do just that today! With a little help from our nephew, Michael, Alex and I took to the snow with our trusty shovels.

When all the work was done, it was time to have a little fun! Michael decided we needed to make a snowman. For him, “we” meant Alex and Erin, so he just played in the snow and watched us. Ha! It was a lot of fun and something I haven’t done in quite a long time!

Alex was really getting into making that snowman. I think he secretly didn't want Michael to help us because he wanted it to look perfect! His inner child definitely came out today! It was great to be able to get out and enjoy the snow. Now, the next snow just needs to come during the week so there will be a snow day! Happy first BIG snow of 2012!