Thank You for Visiting! Love, Florianlyn

So by the time I got home tonight it was almost seven, and I didn't even realize we had gotten a letter from Florianlyn. And guys, lemme tell you, it's the sweetest letter ever! Just had to share:


Dear {My Mom}

First of all I would like to thank God so much because He give us time to see each other. My prayer was already answered. Thanks for the opportunity that we have a conversation, even if I can't understand. {Haha, ditto! :P} To my caseworker who was my translator, I thank her.

To my sister {Me} and my brother {My Little Bro} thank you for sharing and playing with me.

Thank you for the things that you gave to us, like dress, doll, ball and book of pictures from your place. I'm so very thankful to God because I have a sponsor who is so kind and generous. I praise God for He is good to me and my family.

God Bless You...

Love,
Florianlyn


I see such maturity and wisdom in her. This is probably my favourite letter we've received from Florianlyn. :)

Thanks for reading!!!

THIS is church...

My church is kinda really amazingly fun. Check out this vid from our 25th anniversary party. [And by party, we mean PAR-TAAAY!!! ;)]

Isn't that just really legit? Haha.

I ♥ my church. :)

Happy Monday, everyone!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!

That's my dad and me. 

But forget me and look at that super amazing guy beside me. 

That's my dad.

And he's the best dad a girl could ask for. 

When I sprained my ankle, he helped me right through it, and woke up early to help me do the therapy I had to do every morning. 

Science homework sucks. Daddy makes it not suck as much.

My dad is a leader and teacher, not only with his voice, but by example. He says you should be a hard worker and just do what has to be done? Well, you bet he'll be doing just that before he says so, after he says so, and probably even while he says so. 

He's got the biggest servant's heart ever, and inspires my to work on mine too. He knows when to back down, bite his tongue not let his temper fly, but he also knows when to stand up for what he believes in, and that has taught me [Ms. Stubborn] to think before I put up a fight: "Is it worth it?"

He's taught me everything and some, and I wouldn't be me without him.

I love you so much, Daddy, happy birthday!!! <3

I've Been Ignoring You Guys!!!

Wow, I've been having trouble keepin' up! :P Sorry! :(

Anyways, the reason I've been ignoring [not purposely, promise!!] is because I'm still trying to get used to the thing... You might of heard of it... School? Yeah. :P

But... When I get used to it I shall get better at blogging more often... :P

So, let me catch you guys up...

My ankle has healed quite nicely thanks to the Ultimate Healer! I made the basketball team from the bench [I'm still wondering how that happened. :$] so I'm now at practice a lot and loving it. I was seriously missing ball so much while I was out for a week, haha. :P

One thing I've been really learning/re-learing this past week or two is that God's always there through the hard stuff, and he is always, always enough. Whenever I found myself asking "Why?" about my ankle or homework or something, I found a reminder of God's grace and love, and a reminder of the beautiful kids in the Compassion program, kids that persevere through much, much more than me with much, much less resources than me.

Which brings me to Compassion kids...

You been thinking you should sponsor through Compassion? Me too.

My mom and I got about 7 or 8 [maybe even 10?] child packs that are connected to a little treasure that needs a sponsor just like you!

There's Juana, Mae, John, Jhunnel and Patrice from the same centre as Julius and Jhon, who y'all know about from these posts: ♥ ♥ ♥

And then there's Eliyah, Kalembe, Ishimwe and Fikadu from the Horn of Africa, which as many of you know is still suffering from a drought. [On a side note, you can still donate to Samaritan's Purse Canada here.]

It's kinda weird as I hold each one of these child packs, trying to understand that each one is connected to a real kid, suffering through a very real nightmare - poverty.

If you want more information about any of these kids, even just a picture... Let me know!!! They all need you! And to be honest, you need them too. You just don't know it yet. ;)

You can email me/my mom here: compassion@mamaof2greatkids.ca

If you can't make the commitment right now, I'd ask you just to pray that these kids would find sponsors.

Which brings me to another thing... I've been kinda "babysitting" Ratthaphum online... Haha. He's been waiting 500+ days for a sponsor!!! :( Imagine waiting that long... I've been hoping he'd get sponsored soon. And like I said on twitter, don't let his name intimidate you. Take it as a challenge. ;)

Have an amazing Wednesday night and Thursday!!!

Thanks for reading guys! <3

Water of Life

You might remember my post about the #twakeover contest @compassion was in.

Well, we lost. :P

But hey, that doesn't mean the kids that need clean water have to lose.

Did you have a glass of clean water today? Did you take a shower in clean water today? You brushed your teeth, didn't you?

If you did, you are blessed.

Because millions of children drink water that will kill them.

Imagine. You know the water you have to drink could very well kill you. Give you disgusting diseases. But what other water is there?

Well, there's Compassion's Water of Life System.

Fifty-five dollars.

That's all it takes to provide a child with one of these:

This filter provides clean water for life. That filter will clean over 1 million gallons of water before it dies. A person living to 80 only drinks 14,600 gallons, IF they drink the required amount of water [64 ounces] every day.

So yes, clean water FOR LIFE.

Water Of Life is fairly new to me, and fairly new in general. So, now that you know about this amazing system, will you please pass it on?

And fellow Canadians, I know it's not tax-deductible for us. YET! It's coming so stay tuned! And in the meantime, you can still donate to Kaitlin's Wish, which I blogged about before.

But Americans, get going! Everyone deserves the dignity of having safe drinking water.

I mean, it's so easy! It's like, "Duh! That's all? That all we need to get everyone in the world safe drinking water?"

$55. That's all it takes to save a life.

Please donate, spread the word and pray.

God's doing amazing things through Compassion International! :)

I Feel Like...

...I took a blog break, but it's only been less than a week! But I guess that's just because A LOT has happened in the past few days. I good, the bad and the ugly. Let me tell you about them all:

The Good: I'm LOVIN' High School! :) My Sem's kinda hard [Geo, Science, Math, English], but hey, that means super-easy sem 2 [Phys-Ed, Music, Art, French]! :P I didn't get lost [that much...], and pretty much got everything good with school. :P Teachers, locker, people in my class, love it all, thank you God!

The Bad: Welllll... I sprained my ankle at basketball tryouts. BUT! It's not THAT bad. I'm making WAY faster progress than I thought I would be. I can stand without a brace or anything today, only 48 hours after it happened! And I walked today, all day, without crutches, just my walking cast. :) So it's okay. Prayers much appreciated. <3

And then... The Ugly.

The mood of this post is about to swing drastically, so brace yourself.

On Wednesday, the second day of school, we found out that a Grade 6 boy from my elementary school committed suicide on Tuesday. He was 11-years-old. 

Upon hearing the news, I was numb. Shocked. Speechless. 

Many of the same thoughts from my post about Wade Belak came flooding back into my head. 

No hope. 

The saddest thing ever is hopelessness. 

This boy made it real to me. Kids really, really do struggle with depression. Depression kills. It takes your life away and if you don't fight for it you will never get it back. 

Depression is real.

It brought my attention to the organization To Write Love On Her Arms. Before I had sort of overlooked them, thinking that people struggling with mental health issues don't actually need THAT much help. 

Oh, was I wrong.

TWLOHA are really, for real, saving lives. They are saving lives by giving hope. 

I am so, so, so devastated that I had to blog about suicide TWICE in the last 10 days. Once was already one to many times. I do NOT like blogging about this at all.

But it needs to be talked about. 

Everyone deserves hope. 

What is life, if there is no hope?

So please, spend just even two minutes today, giving someone hope. 

It could be as small as a smile.

Or in the boy from my school's case, it could be as small as standing up for someone being bullied. Befriending them and telling them that they are beautiful, wonderful, amazing. That God LOVES them. That they have a future.

That they should never be afraid to Hope.

Media Matters

Like I said yesterday, just have a listen. This song is amazingly moving. Really, really good.

I LOVE it.

You're not allowed to embed the official music video, but you can see it here.

Such a powerful, beautiful song.

Thanks for reading! <3

Media Matters

Wow... haven't done one of these in awhile.

Anyways, I got another two songs up for you guys today and tomorrow. [Perhaps more, but those are the ones planned. :P]

Tomorrow's is a very beautiful song. You can just listen to it.

Today, allow me to explain myself.

Yup, it's a Beiber song. It made my Facebook and Twitter two days ago. 

For those of you who know me, I'm a sold-out NON-"belieber." 

But who can resist this song?

Let's make my stand on Beibs clear: I used to not like him at all. But then I found he's a Christian and prays before concerts and stuff. Then I found this song. And, dude, he's Canadian! So, I like him. Just not his music. 

Well, except this song [Make sure you watch the vid, it makes the song more powerful]:

Sweet, isn't it? Love the quote at the end.

Thanks for reading! <3

Happy Birthday, Bro!

We've both grown since that picture on the right. 

Just a bit.

I remember when my mom was pregnant with my brother, I sat on her lap and felt a small subtle bump on my back. Then another. And another.

"Mom!" I said, "I think the baby's kicking me!" 

I was so excited...

Little did I know he would continue kicking me all throughout our childhood... And I would not be excited about it anymore. ;)

But I love him anyways.

Because my life would not be my life without my little baby brother. 

I would laugh way less. And be annoyed way less. And have fun way less. And know way less about world news and science and robots. 

I would never get beat in math contests and HORSE. I would never play with LEGO or watch Star Wars - The Clone Wars. I would never watch Looney Tunes or hear Looney Tunes, Veggie Tales, and animal imitations everyday. 

My life would just have a big empty hole in it without my little bro.

Happy Birthday, Baby Brother. I love you. A lot. <3

Just Read, Cuz I Have No Title for A Post Like This...

Sad news hits the NHL last night as we heard the news of Wade Belak's death.

The opening line of one report I read sums it up: "Not again."

But really, when I heard about Derek Boogaard's death, it was sad, tragic, shocking, but I'd never really heard of the guy. Then Rick Rypien, a little closer to home because he plays for a Canadian team. But again, sad, tragic, shocking, but never heard of him.

Wade Belak hits home. He's a former Leaf, and like I heard on the radio this morning, with Leafsnation, although you've never met them, you feel like you know the players. That's just the way it is with the most passionate sports fans in North America.

He was a funny guy. My dad and I always laughed when we were reminded of the joke he made: He said he's way better than Gretzky, because every time he scored, his team won. No, it didn't matter that he only scored eight goals in his career, he was 100%. Gretz couldn't say that.

I can't imagine what his wife and two daughters, six-years-old and eight, are going through right now. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Now, I could blog about the fighting and the effects of it. I really could. Everyone's talking about it. And I agree it needs to be talked about. Same as the head shots, and all other violence in the NHL. And maybe one day I will do a piece on it. I mean, the NBA has tough guys, but none of them really fight with their fists.

But let me ask a different question: Why did society let this guy who was so loved by everyone, a guy that made millions, a guy who has "everything," lose hope?

Be hopeless enough to take his own life?

[Before I continue: I've been hoping like never before that Wade Belak did not hang himself. But I'm continuing this post assuming that he did. Some places have reported that. It looks a lot like that. It could come out that it wasn't suicide, and a small glimmer inside me wants that and hopes that is true. But I highly doubt it, so this post continues under the very tragic circumstances and sickening reality, even though I still believe in that 0.00001% chance that it's not true. [Update: It was confirmed soon after this went up that Wade Belak's death was a suicide. Just terrible.] Another "disclaimer": Sorry if this doesn't make much sense, just letting it all out at almost the same time I'm thinking.]

Jeremy Roenick said forget about the money. But I blog a lot about poverty, so I'm gonna talk about it.

Our world - the North American world - says that more money = more happiness = more options/future = hope.

Obviously not. Wade Belak made $9,000,000+ in the NHL, but he obviously had no hope left.

I've seen people living in shacks, with way, way more hope than this.

Wade was living the life. He was famous, rich and "happy." You're not supposed to be hopeless with that kind of life.

So, I come to this conclusion, the one I had years ago, the one I've always had, the one that proves itself to me time and time again:

Hope. True, real hope, only comes from God. I've seen the some bad, bad poverty. But because God was there, there was hope.

And another thought: Economic poverty is terrible. Don't get me wrong. But I think the very worst kind of poverty is the poverty where you have no hope, no faith, no love. That's the worst. Economic poverty is just a very common way to fall into this kind of poverty.

But you don't have to be poor, to suffer from this kind of poverty. In fact, the rich suffer from it just as much. Probably even more.

And the only solution?

It's Jesus.

The difference is Jesus.