The Gift of Sponsorship. . .

Yesterday we had a BIG greeting

Screaming, Music, Jumping. . . A BIG greeting.

There was Dancing. . .

as Steve & Ryan gracefully and stylishly show

There was Music. . .

There was Ventriloquy or Ventriloquism. . .

( I wrote both words because neither has been used on this here blog and i like those words. . .fancy)

There was a drama that told a beautiful story. . .

And of course, there were beautiful kids filling the room

some older. . .

Some younger. . .

Lots of Kiddos. . .

There was a tour of their building. . .

lead by our college students in the Leadership Development Program

a.k.a one of my fav programs

And there were cutieeees like this little guy.

And this little guy, who just happened to be

A Doctor all day.

Why? because he was dreaming of what he WILL be one day.

There was lots of dreaming. . .

And then for Shannon and Mike, from California and a little girl in Colombia. . .

There was a Gift

A

BIG

GIFT

for them. . .

The Gift of Sponsorship!

You must head on over to Shannon to let her tell you the WHOLE story

and its a

b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l

Story!

August 23, 2010 - 9:12 am

shawna - I love this! Your’s are the eyes that I love to look through, I think you are one of the most gifted visual story tellers today, there is something beautiful and organic about you and your work that others try hard to capture, it is natural for you and I love it!!!

August 19, 2010 - 11:50 am

Prairie Rose - Were these pictures taken at Kind Hands, center 321?? My little girl attends there but I don’t think I can identify her in any of the photos. Still if this is her project, I’m excited even to see that.

sweet faces of Colombia

August 19, 2010 - 8:22 am

Greg - Hi! New visitor here. I’m not 100% sure, but the picture of the girl in the multi-colored shirt (who is hugging the girl in the blue jacket) may be my sponsored child. :)

August 18, 2010 - 3:04 pm

Kelly - Your camera captured EXACTLY what my eyes saw…with the same love, I know. Thanks for sharing, Keely. What a gift you have!

August 18, 2010 - 8:35 am

Patricia - Love it. Beautiful! Can’t wait to hang with you again!!!

August 18, 2010 - 8:06 am

Juli Jarvis - You take such wonderful photos! Thanks so much for sharing!

August 18, 2010 - 7:30 am

Jill Foley - and if you see my sweet Lian, give her a hug from me!

August 18, 2010 - 7:29 am

Jill Foley - Your pictures are beautiful. Although, it helps to have such good looking subjects! I’m headed to Peru this weekend and can’t wait to get some pictures of my own.

Blessings to you during this trip.

Hola from Colombia. . .

Hola from Colombia. . .

Bogota , Colombia!

Here’s a little look at our first day AND a look at this beautiful country!!

Can’t wait to share more with you this week. . .

Meet Christian, the cutie in the red!

After each photo I would take of him ( and there were quite a few) he would run over to see the picture on my camera and then exclaim. . .

Bravo… bien…mas photos?

l.o.v.e.d  .  h.i.m

Be sure to follow my fellow tripmates. . .

@ryanoquinn

@jonesbones5 who is blogging over on the jonesbones5 blog

@stephwaldrop

@shawnakirk

@theroyscountry

@kellyburton & @rodburtonmusic

@blainelarsen

@ryanbom

@bigchaff & @solveigmusic

@spimicerio

And @sprimicerio a.k.a Shannon is blogging while we are here too! Check It Out!

We are about to leave for day two here. . .can’t wait to love on some sweet kiddos!

mas photos ( more photos) are on the way!

August 18, 2010 - 6:30 am

Lindsey Nobles - I love it when you blog on your trips. It’s like I get to go with you. Only thing better is when I do get to go with you.

Remembering Haiti. . .

Six Months ago today the Haiti earthquake happened.

Continuing to pray with a heavy heart for the country, the people, the workers, the families. . . .

Senye,

Ala nou kontan

se pa nou k’ap kenbe ou

men se ou k’ap kenbe nou.

Lord,

How glad we are

that we don’t hold you,

but that you hold us.

a Haitian prayer

I was with my friend Clint (aka @difted aka videographer extraordinaire ) last week in El Salvador.

We first met on a trip to Haiti in 2009 with Compassion.

Clint posted a video this morning ( from that trip in 2009)

that

is

breathtaking.

it so captures the beauty of Haiti and her people. . .

Thank You Clint!

Continue to pray & give to Haiti

Thankful. . .

I just got home from a week in El Salvador!

This was my 4th time there in a little over 6months!

And each time I leave, I go with a new & deeper love for that country!

This week was so refreshing. . .

beautiful scenery.

Breathtaking colors. . .

every door

wall

and window. . .

the excitement of the World Cup was everywhere

walking the streets and finding markets

or being serenaded in the street.

All of these things make my travels exciting but the thing that keeps me going are

these

little

faces.

spending time in their classes

walking in their neighborhoods

seeing what they see

visiting their homes

and meeting their families.

being there with them

And what keeps these little faces going. . .

their sponsors!

This trip I was so moved by the story of sponsors in lives of some of the kids I met

Meet Silvia

As soon as we arrived she had a hot pink journal with letters pouring out and pictures stuck to pages ( some stuck with gum)

Pictures like this one!

So hey there Teresa from Illinois!

Thank You.

Thank

You.

Silvia is bright, beautiful and dreams big dreams because of you!

I know you know this because I read your letters ( hope you dont mind) and

because Silvia told me she wants to be a teacher

just . like . you

And Angela. . .Hello!

I found tons of your family photos and sweet encouragements at Julia’s house in El Salvador

They covered the table

and there were 4 frames full of your pictures hanging on their walls

Julia and her mother were so proud to show them to me

each

and

every

one.

She thanks you for your encouragement in your letters and she loves getting postcards of the places you & your family visit.

She dreams of traveling one day too!

Hi. . .Mr. Soh in Korea,

I met sweet Milagro.

I love that when you heard her story ( in her letters) Her story of how she was in a fire as a baby and has had medical needs you didnt just read

You Lept!

Lept into action.

Milagro is doing amazing and is gaining strength with her new arm each day!

Did you know her name means

Miracle?

Yeah, its okay. . .

I cried at that too!

Our God is Amazing.

To my surprise one of the days I got to see Shaun‘s sponsor kiddo Yanci again!

I first met them on our Compassion Bloggers trip last fall

and I really cant put words into how awesome it was to see these two girls again!

Shaun. . .

The love Yanci and her sister Pamela have for you and your family is so BIG!!

And the gratefulness that Yanci’s dad has is overwhelming.

Did you know he is now a volunteer at their Compassion Project?

He thanks you for your encouragement!

They send Big Hugs.

Thankful.

July 10, 2010 - 12:06 pm

Richard L. - Wow! Thanks so much. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to visit my Compassion sponsored children 6 times in the last few years and I’ve never seen pictures that better capture the heart of El Salvador. What a blessing… (Is that first picture from the overlook at Los Planes? I think I got a very similar shot but it was cloudy the day we were there.)

July 10, 2010 - 8:42 am

Shaun Groves - Tears.

The good kind.

Thanks, friend.

July 9, 2010 - 5:26 pm

lauren - Hello–just discovered your blog somehow this week. Love your story telling ability through images. Still have old posts to look through and will definitely come back for more. Best wishes

July 9, 2010 - 4:15 pm

Rebecca N. - Thank you so much for sharing! I have been wondering lately if my sponsored kids are getting tired of all the photos I keep sending. Now I know better! :) I loved seeing how treasured they are! Thank you!!!!

July 9, 2010 - 7:02 am

Johanna - Oh my. Thank you for what you do.

July 9, 2010 - 12:08 am

Nancy Stroup - Beautiful pictures of the beautiful children many of us are privileged to sponsor. You are using your talent to bless all of us.
Nancy

July 8, 2010 - 6:52 pm

Amanda Williams - Keely, this was stunning. So beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Proud of you. Proud of Compassion.
xoxo
amanda

July 8, 2010 - 3:36 pm

Cheryl Weaver - Absolutely beautiful! Your images and story reminded me of why I sponsor! Compassion is such a blessing to so many children around the world! Thanks for being an instrument to get their stories out and encourage more people to get involved. Blessings to you!

July 8, 2010 - 3:32 pm

Deb Barnett - Keely – these are fantastic… we definitely need to get together and talk shop. After you recover from your trip a little… let’s plan something.

Glad you had a great trip – I’ve only been to Belize in Central America. Let’s talk soon!
Deb

ps…
Here’s a link to my photo site. http://bluehousephotos.wordpress.com/

July 8, 2010 - 3:31 pm

Deb Barnett - Keely – these re fantastic… we definitely need to get together and talk shop. After you detox from your trip… let’s plan something.

Here’s a link to my photo site. http://bluehousephotos.wordpress.com/
Glad you had a great trip – I’ve only been to Belize in Central America. Let’s talk soon!
Deb

July 8, 2010 - 3:25 pm

Shelley - Beautiful photos!

Do You Remember. . .

As I started this blog I could not help but start singing Michael Jackson’s “Do you Remember”

“Remember The Times
Do You. Do You, Do You,
Do You,
Remember The Times”

So then I had to google that song and listen and watch some youtubes and 15 min later I am back!

Speaking of back. . .back to “Do you Remember” .

I started singing this to myself “Do you Remember the times. . .you used to blog keely oh oh keely oh?” I did . no lie. sang it. . .Out Loud and Proud!

Anyways I do remember and I do miss it! Both blogging and reading blogs. I opened my blog reader for the first time the other day and no lie there were 6,976 unread post in there. I marked all as “read” and was excited to see the new ones the next day and thankful I didnt have a weakness in my obsessiveness to feel the need to read through each . un . read . po . st!!

So here I am starting right back up  . . . fresh!

Since we last talked here’s a lil recap of my happenings. . .

Nashville . The flood

Thankful we did not have any damage in the flood ( We live downtown,but on a hill) however our neighborhood and many many others were badly damaged.

Here’s a quick little video from the morning of the flood in our area. . .

It has been so amazing to see the community of Nashville come together! There are people working endlessly on helping their neighbors rebuild!

It is beautiful!

A few of my Nashville Compassion Co-Workers & friends helping clean up a house!

The flood happened the first weekend in May and early that Sunday morning I had to catch a flight to El Salvador.

So after some tricky driving and back roads I made it to the flight!

It was hard to leave Nashville that morning but we had an amazing trip!

So many new friends and new stories!

ooooo AND how is zip-lining through the mountains of El Salvador for a new experience??

I changed my flight home from El Salvador to make a lil stop in The great state of Texas to visit my mom for Mothers Day!

And one of my best friends Cassie ( from Nashville) was in Houston visiting with her husband Nate AND (extra bonus) her parents from Australia!

Sooo We finally got to have our parents meet and hang. . .

The month of May flew by

and before I knew it We were on a plane headed to Texas for an amazing weekend retreat outside of San Antonio, in the hill country!

We floated in the Frio River

photo courtesy of CassieNash

We Read

We Relaxed

We Watched

We. . .

well I could go on and on but I wont today!

There is a whole post about the weekend on my “need to finish this post” list!

So that is To Be Continued!

And now we are at the end of June.

END OF JUNE.

Craziness!

The end of June is one of my favorite times of the year. . .

The 26th is our anniversary ( happy 6th this year!)

It’s also my daddy-O’s bday!

Happy 60th!!!

Thats a Big Time Bday!!

And Then . . .

The 27th is my Gabey’s bday!

Happy 35th!!!

Also a Big Time Bday!!

And now we are Caught Up!

See? that wasn’t too bad! We are all caught up! Did you stick with me?

Caught Up!

Which is also how I feel in life. . .

Caught Up!

well as caught up as you can be!

The last couple months have been so refreshing and such a great time at home with my cute huz and our fun friends!

Loving these moments!

Hope you are enjoying moments this summer!

and speaking of moments & summer & enjoying. . .

It’s crazy hot this year huh?

July 5, 2010 - 4:59 pm

Tracee - Amazing pics! loved the one of the zip line. I would love to do that some day.

You captured all kinds of emotions in this post.
newness of travel, smiles, peace, relaxation, joy of adventure, seriousness…dang! nicely done!

June 29, 2010 - 6:23 am

Lindsey Nobles - Caught up! So glad. Talked to Marcie this morning and she said she read your post and loved it. She’d read it before I got a chance. :D

M o r e   i n f o