Sharing Compassion

In April, Compassion International is sending more bloggers on a trip.  This time the destination is India.  5 more bloggers will get to share their life-changing experiences with the online world.  

I truly look forward to reading all about it from a different perspective than my own.  I would love to be able to experience this for myself someday.

One of my sisters is actually making a trip with Compassion Canada this summer to Columbia. The child she sponsors lives in Columbia and she will get to meet him face-to-face after 2 1/2 years of sending letters back and forth.  She will also get to see firsthand the amazing work that is done through this organization.    

Everything I hear about the sponsorship program is wonderful.  Compassion works through more than 4000 local churches in 25 of the world's poorest countries to deliver care to the children that are sponsored.  

Sponsoring a child only costs $35 a month.  I know that times are getting tougher with the financial crisis surrounding us, but think of the cost of your newspaper, your coffee, your TV.  

Currently there are over 12,000 children that have been waiting to be sponsored for over 6 months.

Is there someway that you can make it work?

Wess Stafford, the president of Compassion, made a great thank you video.  He says it more eloquently than I ever could.  Click here to watch the Compassion video on Facebook. 

I have a few links on my blog that will take you to either Compassion Canada or Compassion Bloggers.  Please consider making a positive change to someone's life today!

This Sunday, I am Sharing Compassion with my church.  I truly pray that more people will see the importance of child sponsorship!

Mac Photo Booth Fun

Okay so one really COOL feature of owning a Mac computer is the Photo Booth!

Mac computers come with a built in camera (for those of you who don't know that) and it will take your picture as you sit there.  There are some really fun ways to alter your image before the camera snaps the picture.

Here's the source of our many laughs this past week:

WOOHOO!

I just got a very exciting email this afternoon!

I won tickets to a concert in Saskatoon this April!

I'll give you a hint as to who it's for from this old post.

I guess I will be reliving my childhood afterall!!!!

Piano Progress

I have been taking piano lessons for of all about 3 months now and already I have seen huge progress in my playing!  This song, Chant Arabe, was the challenge I gave to myself at the very beginning, before I even started my lessons.  I told myself that once I could play THIS song, I would be well on my way to becoming a decent pianist.  Other Suzuki songs are easier to play together, the left hand usually plays the same pattern all the way through the song so it's easy to focus on the right hand instead.  However for this song, the opposite is true.  I need to focus on the left hand and I found it was just too complicated to put both hands together.  So I left it for a while without practicing it at all. 

Finally I had to start playing it at my lessons and I would just quit once it got to the second part of the song.  My instructor got me to play both parts individually and told me that I knew the parts well enough that I could just put them together.  How simple, hey?  Actually she encouraged me to play the right hand with my eyes closed to prove that I really could do it.  I highly doubted her confidence in me, but I went home last week and gave it a try.  

And this week?

I can play the ENTIRE song together!  

I know that it needs a LOT of polishing yet, but I'm just thrilled that I CAN do it!

For a 30-year-old, this 'aint bad!  

Definitely a confidence booster.

Pepsi Amp Energy Drink

This past week I was given the opportunity to try out a new energy drink.

The active ingredients in Amp Energy are guarana, taurine, ginseng, B-vitamins and caffeine.

Pepsi Amp Energy comes in 3 different sizes;  250 ml, 473 ml and 710 ml.

It also comes in 6 flavour varieties!

Amp Energy - The original citrus blend

Amp Energy Overdrive - Boost performance with a hit of cherry

Amp Energy Re-Ignite - Restore alertness with a burst of orange citrus

Amp Energy Traction - Improve endurance with this tasty grape blend

Amp Energy Elevate - Enhance focus with a blast of mixed berry

Amp Energy SugarFree - Get energized with a fraction of the calories

You can find this at most convenience, grocery and big box stores.  

My review: I found this to be a helpful drink for the middle of the afternoon when my energy is at its lowest!  The drink is quite refreshing and I did feel more alert even before I had finished the can.  I also like the small 250 ml size...just the right amount for me in the middle of the day.  I am sure that John and his coworkers would really like an energy drink like this to help keep them awake during their long shifts and many on-call hours!  If you like the taste of Mountain Dew, this drink is definitely for you.  

The Lion King

Months ago I found out that the Lion King will be coming to Edmonton this year.  

I have been anxiously anticipating the news of when the shows would be.  

Sale to the general public don't begin until the beginning of April but my lovely sister informed me that AMEX users can use "Front Of The Line" to buy tickets for it already.

How amazing that we just got an AMEX card a few months ago?  (Actually as an aside, this is a Fantastic way to pile up the Air Miles!)

So last night John and I sat in front of the computer with a calendar in hand.  

We have already discussed MANY times the possibility of taking the girls to see this show too.  The Lion King would really be the only Broadway show that I would even consider for them at this young age.  I think it will be a great memory for them as they grow older.  

So we booked 4 tickets for this show in the beginning of August.  We will be sitting in the third row of the first balcony.  So not too close, but not too far away either.  Just perfect for them, I'm hoping!  

The girls really don't understand yet what we are going to see.  They probably just think we're going to watch the movie.  

Hee hee hee, I am really looking forward to their reactions when we get there!

What a fun summer holiday we are going to have this year!

Now I only have to wait 5 months.....

Feeling Dumb

This past weekend we FINALLY (according to John) got our new Mac!

It has some really great features but I'm struggling to understand some of it.

It actually feels like I have to take everything I know about computers and throw it out the window!  

I am currently trying to move my Music Pups files in Excel over to the Mac program Numbers but I am sooooo lost!  It took me quite a while to just figure out how to open up a blank file.  

Here I thought that I was fairly knowledgeable about computers and spreadsheets etc.  Well apparently not because now I can't even underline or bold something that I have typed!  

Yikes.

I know that I will figure it all out in time.  But I currently have 2 computers on and I'm trying to decipher how to use this new one and continually referring to the old one.  

AGH!

I think I might be in trouble.