Archive for March, 2010

Mar

2010

Eight Hundred Twenty Two…

I spoke with Compassion International this morning to see how many kids have been sponsored as a result of our blogging trip to Kenya.

822. So far.

Most of us had absolutely no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if our trip would yield 50 sponsorships or 500…I just didn’t know what to hope for. I secretly prayed that I would be able to help our team achieve 500+ sponsorships during our trip.

I had no idea that such an outpouring of grace, generosity, and trust would usher in from a bunch of dweebs with laptops. I guess it had something to do with the infusing of the Holy Spirit that was clearly present during our time in Africa. Pretty much everything to do with it.

822 children sponsored.

Let’s break that figure down a little bit:

* $38 per month per child x 822 children

* Guesstimate 5 years of sponsorship commitment per child (hopefully more)

* 822 x $38 x 60 months = $1,874,160

$ One Million, Eight Hundred Seventy Four Thousand, One Hundred Sixty

Together, we raised nearly two million dollars to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves.

Wait…that’s wrong.

Together, we raised nearly two million dollars to give children the opportunity to fight for themselves.

On behalf of them, on behalf of us…

Thank you.

Posted in Compassion Kenya 2010 | 50 Comments »

Mar

2010

A quick update…

Prints for sale

I was really trying hard to get all the prints shipped that were sold to raise money for the Kenya trip. It didn’t work. But…now I’ve got everything caught up and I am heading out to the post office to send out the final prints. So…if you’ve been patiently waiting (or sending me emails screaming every 5 seconds) you can rest assured that they are on the way. Thank you so much for your purchases!

Confession time: I was completely stupid when it came to selling these prints at first. I didn’t specify that orders must be USA only and I got totally hosed on the shipping for anything outside of the USA. Example: $18 sale – printing costs + packaging costs + $19 shipping = total hosery!! I’ll have to come up with something that works for those of you who are overseas.

Many of you have contacted me to see if I will be selling any of the photographs from my Kenya trip. Let me think…SURE!! It just so happens that I need to raise about $1,400 for a mission trip I’ll be taking to Honduras in April. I’ll let you know when those prints are available for sale, but feel free to contact me regarding any specific prints that you would like to see on the list.

Anniversary

Allison and I will have been married for 7 years as of March 22nd!! Whoohoo…and to think – people thought we wouldn’t make it a month!! Haha. Last year we actually did something fun for our anniversary, but this year we would like to spend less $$.

Any ideas for what to do on a teensy, weensy budget?

Addictions

* Cadbury Eggs – Normal size and the baby ones with the candy shell.
* “Bold” Chex Mix
* Yakisoba – Cheddar Cheese variety
* Coupon shopping – Just started clipping and printing coupons and it’s…fun.
* Swagbucks – I love anything that keeps adding up like this. I need to stop checking it 80 times a day.
* My newest lens, the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 – I got it recently for a wedding I’ll be shooting this month, but it sure was nice to have in Kenya. I’ve been using it for about 90% of my shots lately. Shots like this:

{click image to view the big one}

That’s all for now.

Posted in Uncategorized | 37 Comments »

Mar

2010

Something different: Photos of white kids…

Today is St. Patrick’s Day.

Yesterday was the day before St. Patrick’s Day. Also, the day I found out Allison and I would be arranging some sort of “creative activity” for the pre-school classes where Ava goes to school.

Allison did most of the work. She got up at 5am this morning to pull everything together. I charged the battery for my camera. It was a relatively even amount of work on both our parts.

My wife got the class excited about St. Patrick’s Day by telling stories of that sneaky little leprechaun.

After that, we led the kids outside where we had created a nifty little leprechaun trail and hid goodies.

{note the leprechaun footprints…a classy touch}

The search for that little green menace begins…

SCORE!!

Where could he be??

{note brave boy with net}

Dangit. He’s not in his house.

Back to the class…

He must have been in here while we were outside!! All of our stuff is messed up!!

Oh look…we found a letter from the leprechaun. It reads:

Hello, Butterflies!
Now, what do you think?
I was here and gone
As quick as a wink!

I’m a little leprechaun
All dressed in green,
The tiniest man
That you have ever seen.

I danced in your room
and hid a surprise.
I don’t remember where,
but look around with your eyes.

Mickey O’Maley, The leprechaun

A SURPRISE?? WHERE??