Oh Happy Day!

Yaaa, today was a 4 letter day! I love those kinds of days. This was an especially special 4 letter day because one of my letters included pictures- lots of pictures! 

I went out to my mailbox wondering if the mail person even came on Saturdays anymore. We haven’t gotten mail on a Saturday in at least a month, so I wasn’t too hopeful for a cream colored envelope. Well imagine my delighted surprise when I found 4 cream colored envelopes in my mailbox! I was happy to see a large cream colored envelope, but I didn’t get my hopes up because sometimes those big envelopes just a hold a regular ole letter. 

I felt around on the envelope before I opened it, hoping to feel a staple and a picture shaped bump, and sure enough I did. I ripped into the envelope and found a letter from sweet little Gil Jr from the Philippines. And attached to the letter were a pile of little pictures. Oh what a treat! 

Not too long ago a fellow OCer who was headed to the Philippines to meet her sponsored child, offered to take a gift along for Gil. I excitedly picked out some things at Walmart- a t-shirt, a writing pad, pencils and sharpener, crayons, cars, and a necklace for mom- and sent them along to the Philippines in hopes that he would enjoy these little gifts and know I was thinking of him.

Well today’s letter was a thank you for his gifts. It is too sweet not to share:

Dear Hilary Hopkins,

We received your gift to Gil and it is 1 silver necklace, 5 toy cars, 1 box of 24 crayons, 10 pcs. Pencils, 1 sharpener, and 1 writing pad fundamentals. Ma’am Hilary thank you so much for the gift and you know what Ma’am you help a lot to your family even if as young as you are your mind is set to help those in need. Ma’am Hilary, Gil was so happy upon receiving your gift he wear the shirt right away and specially the toy cars because it is the first time he play with this kind of toy cars. Ma’am Hilary, about Gil, right now he is okay and in fact he attend on their recognition program last Friday(April 27,2012) in the APCDC Center and they have also a snacks. Hope Ma’am that you are in good health always and more blessings from Lord and Divine protection. Ma’am Hilary please include to your prayers that my family will be in good health always. Until here up to our next letters. God bless you always.

Love, Ludivina Otadoy, Gil’s mother 

How awesome, that he loved his gifts! He also sent some pictures of him and his mother receiving his gifts!

I think the man is one of his project workers

What a cutie!! I love seeing these pictures of him and his mom!!

Gifts for the Girls

I have been really excited lately as I have the opportunities to send gifts to a couple of my sponsored girls!

 A nice lady from Our Compassion is going to be visiting Togo on a sponsor tour this July and she offered to take a small gift to my 6 year old Winner. I was thrilled, and immediately ran to Target to pick out a couple fun things for her. I ended up picking out a cute little dress, a drawing pad, crayons, pencils, pencil sharpener, and a pink jump rope. I know she will love these things, and it is fun to get the chance to shop for her!

Another friend from Our Compassion will be going on a sponsor tour to Bolivia in November, and she offered to take some gifts to my new Bolivian girls. I'm super excited about this because I was a little disappointed that I had nothing to give to 6 year old Cecilia and 8 year old Lucela when I decided to sponsor them while in Bolivia. I went out a picked up dresses, hair clips, notebooks, crayons, pencils, pencil sharpeners, and photo albums for my pictures of us together to send to them. The lady at Walmart asked if I was buying for twins!

 

I am so appreciative to these ladies for taking gifts to my girls, and I wish I could see their faces when they open up their little packages!!

A Letter from Indonesia

Tonight, I came home from a weekend with family to find a letter from Omelisa, my 8 year old in Indonesia. Ome was my newest sponsored child before my recent Bolivian additions. This is only the 2nd letter I have received from Ome, so I don’t know much about her at all. She seems like such a sweet girl though and draws adorable pictures.

Her letter was written on April 18th:

Dear Hilary Hopkins,

How are you, Hilary Hopkins? I hope you are fine. Hilary Hopkins, we celebrated Easter joyously. We had some games like: seeking the eggs, crispy eating, then we had meals together. How about your Easter, Hilary Hopkins? I hope you also had thrilling Easter. I look forward to your reply. Here my family and I wish you, Happy Easter. May the Lord bless you. Amen.

Love, Omelisa

Isn’t she sweet?! I like how she uses my full name each time she says it. It’s cute. How fun that they also hunt for eggs in Indonesia. I didn’t know they did that in other countries as well. In my next letter, I will have to share about my “thrilling” Easter! I’m so glad to have Omelisa in my life!

Here is the sweet picture she drew:

Love how she drew herself with blonde hair :)

And Now an Ecuadorian Princess

Another photo update!!! I have been obsessively checking my account lately to see if I had a new photo of my 7 year old Alexandra. And it finally came. I have so badly wanted to see how my sweet jungle baby has grown in the last 2 years, especially since the only photo of her shows a sad, poorly dressed little girl with no shoes. When I first saw Alexandra with that red heart on her photo, I just had to sponsor her. It took a couple of days of praying, but I knew I had to do something to encourage this little girl who lives with her parents and 12 siblings. That’s right, 12 siblings! When I started sponsoring Alexandra, she had been in the program for 17 months. She had, had one sponsor who dropped her after a month and a half, and she had never gotten a letter. This is the little girl that my heart broke for:

June 2010

And this is the little girl that I have absolutely fallen in love with:

May 2012

Isn’t she absolutely beautiful, with such a gorgeous smile! Alexandra is now in the first grade, and even though I have only had her for 6 months, I already feel such a deep bond with this precious little girl! I just love her dearly!

Oh, and I was happy to find out today that 5 of Alexandra’s siblings are registered and sponsored in the Compassion program. I am so glad that this family that makes $10 a month has Compassion in their lives!

My Haitian Princess

I found the sweetest surprise Wednesday afternoon when I looked at my Compassion account. My Haitian princess, Giberline, had an updated photo, and my has she grown. And not just in height. She looks more confident and I can see hope. That terrified look of a hopeless little girl has left her eyes. That is what Compassion does. It bring hope to the hopeless by first bringing them Jesus Christ. It’s amazing! And 8 year old Giberline is just gorgeous!

Giberline 2012

Look at how she has grown!

Giberline 2010

This picture came 5 months early, but none too soon. Haiti has been on my heart and my mind, and the significance of this picture update didn’t slip past me.

A Bolivian Birthday

Happy 8th Birthday, Lucela!

I love you and miss you! I hope that you have a special birthday. I am so glad that you are in my life!





A Rosa Letter Kind of Day

Oh I feel like I have been waiting years for this letter! But really it has only been since January 30th. Today I got a letter from my beautiful Rosa. I have been missing her so badly since the moment we said goodbye on April 3rd, that it is so good to see her handwriting and read her words for me again. Rosa usually draws a beautiful picture for me, but today there was no picture. That is because she filled up all the lines with her letter. Here is what she had to say:

Dear Sponsor Hilary Hopkins,

I greet you cordially in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank you for the letters and cards you sent me. I find myself well along with my family. I feel very happy. I have four brothers and my mom. The first one is Tomas. He is now married and has two daughters. The next brother is Rogelio. He is still single. The next brother's name is Samuel, and the one who comes after him is Pablo. Next it's me. They live close to my mom. Thanks to God, they don't have difficulties and are well blessed by our Heavenly Father. To answer another one of your questions, the flavor and kind of ice cream that I like the most is grape with chocolate chips with a chocolate cone. I dream of having a big company that sells ice cream and which has all the flavors and kinds of ice cream for my clients. Last of all I'll say goodbye with this honorable verse that is found in Psalm 31:1.

Your friend who loves you very much,
Rosa

What a sweet letter! I am excited to hear more about her family members because it can be confusing to try to figure out all the siblings. I was able to meet Samuel while I was in Bolivia.

Oh I can so picture Rosa, with a little ice cream shop full of flavors for all of her customers someday! That wouldn't surprise me in the least. Rosa has helped her mom sell ice cream back when her mother's help permitted her to work, and I know that Rosa wants to be just like her mother. All she wants is to be there for her mom. What a precious girl, I have!!