Books by Tom Davis

Have you heard of Tom Davis, CEO of Children's Hope Chest? I don't know much about Children's Hope Chest other than it is a child-sponsorship organization. And I know that Tom Davis is a man of God with a heart for the fatherless. 

He's written several books and all the ones I've read are good and worth reading. The Compassion store sells his first book, Fields of the Fatherless. 

The two books I've enjoyed the most are his two novels - novels "on the edge of the world". Scared (pictured below) was the first one published. 

Stuart Daniels has hit bottom. Once a celebrated and award-winning photojournalist, he is reeling from debt, a broken marriage, and crippling depression. Stuart is given one last chance to redeem his career: A make-or-break assignment covering the AIDS crisis in a small African country. It is here that Stuart meets Adanna, a young orphan fighting for survival. What seemed like a chance encounter will forever change their lives.

You can download the first chapter HERE.

Here's the trailer for this book...



The next book in this series was Priceless.

Stuart Daniels’ next assignment carries him back overseas and into the heart of Russia. Once there, Daniels is persuaded by an old friend to help save two girls from a desperate situation. Soon he becomes a key player in a dangerous campaign to rescue helpless women trapped in the sex-slave trade. What Daniels encounters during his journey will shake his faith, test his courage, and even threaten his life.

 You can download the first chapter HERE. You can also read God's Gal's review of this book HERE.

And here's the trailer for this book...


Supposedly Tom will be writing another book in this series which will be set in Haiti after the earthquake. Even though these books are fictional accounts, they deal with real-life situations that some of our sponsored children face every day.

Have you read any good books lately?

One In Spirit

If you have been reading Compassion's blog for a while, you might recognize some of these devotionals written by Compassion employees and staff, representing 41 nations around the world.

These were published on a weekly basis during 2012 and you can find them all right HERE.

This is God

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows - this is God, whose dwelling is holy.

Psalm 68:5

What to Write ~ Write About Your Mom

With mother's day quickly approaching, I thought it might be fun to write a letter about our mothers. In the past when I have written bits of info about my parents, often my sponsored kids respond by asking to know more. So the topic for this round of letters is "all about my mom".

Here's a sample letter....

Dear.....

It is with great joy that I sit down to write another letter to you. How are you? I think about you every day, and when I do, I try to say a prayer for you.

May is an exciting month for our family. We have many birthdays to celebrate and it's also Mother's Day! In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I would take the opportunity to tell you all about my mom.

Her name is Diana Marie and I am named after her (my name is Jill Marie). She was the only child in her family and she has spent her entire life living in the state of Illinois. My mom worked as a nurse for many years. She also was a teacher of 3, 4 and 5 year olds for several years. 

My mom loves Jesus with her whole heart and has taught me to do the same. She loves to eat ice cream and go for walks. She is also a wonderful gardener and has gardens full of beautiful flowers. My mom has always been so supportive of me and what I do. When I first became a Compassion sponsor and advocate, my mom was one of the first people who listened to what I had to say and she quickly became a Compassion sponsor. She now sponsors seven different kids around the world. 


I am so thankful for my mom and cherish the time I get to spend with her. She lives in Illinois and I live in Oregon, so we don't see each other often. Whenever we are together, we like to go for long walks and also like to drink coffee together. She is a wonderful grandma to my two girls, also! Thankfully we are able to communicate regularly through the computer and phone.

I hope you have enjoyed learning a little bit more about my mom. She knows about you and prays for you too. I would love for you to write back to me and tell me about your mom. I would love to know how I can pray for her. (Be sensitive - if your child does not live with his or her mom, leave this part out).

"Honor your father and mother" Exodus 6:2

Much love, Jill



As always, I would love to hear your thoughts! What have you written about lately?

A Dream So Big by Steve Peifer

In his new book, A Dream So Big Our Unlikely Journey to End the Tears of Hunger, Steve Peifer recounts how he and his family found themselves in Kenya for a year of mission work. In an effort to mourn and heal from the loss of their infant son, the Steve and Nancy Peifer and their two young sons went to Kenya. Steve never wanted to go to Africa. Nancy always wanted to go to Africa. Steve sensed God was telling him to "give his wife what she wanted". So off to Africa they went.

What started out as a year long assignment turned into a new life for the Peifer family. Steve had a vision of feeding school children lunch and what started out as one school getting lunch turned into thousands of kids getting a meal every day. Then God gave him another vision - to start computer labs at the schools. Steve and Nancy even adopted twins from Kenya - finalizing the adoption on the anniversary of their son Stephen's birth.

This is a story of how God used a terrible, painful situation and turned it into something greater - for his glory and his purpose. This is a story of a couple - of a family - who said "yes" to God. This is a story of Kenya - a country that is hurting and needs people to step in and feed their children.

I really enjoyed this book and would easily recommend it to anyone who has a heart for Africa and mission work. I did receive a free copy of this book from Booksneeze, in exchange for my honest review.

Mexico - 2013

Last week I woke up in Mexico - at Rancho de los Ninos to be exact.

If you've been reading here for more than a year, you might remember my trip last year. When I came home last year, I felt God calling me to return and to take people from my home church. I was thrilled to be accompained by 9 others from my church and community this year.

For those who don't know about Rancho de los Ninos, it was founded in 2004 by Ed and Carol Barker (pictured to my left above) and Rick and Janet Norquist. By default it became a home for disabled kids. You see, none of the other orphanages want to take care of these kids so they sent them to Rancho de los Ninos. There are some kids who live there that have no disabilities, but the majority do.

So what did we do?

We worked....

built some new walls

built some new benches

We played...

with the kids

at the beach

 violin concerts

We shared God's Word...

We took down several copies of the Jesus Storybook Bible in Spanish and I had the opportunity to read to this cutie several times. She loved looking at all the pictures.

The kids at my home church raised money to buy Spanish Bibles for the kids at Rancho de los Ninos. As you can tell from their smiles, they were thrilled to have their own Bibles!

We went to church....

The boy on the far left playing guitar lives at Rancho de los Ninos

We were blessed to witness the baptisms of four of the kids who live at Rancho de los Ninos!

We slept under mosquito nets...

And jumped and screamed when we saw scorpions!

It was a great week and I'm already looking forward to returning soon!

April Compassion Joys

Counting all the ways He loves me and blesses me through the ministry of Compassion International. 

email from Cilia - LDP student in Honduras

updated photo of Joseph in Tanzania

two new correspondence kids~

Veronica and Antoni  - both from the Dominican Republic

letters from Honday, Cilia, Lian, Ruth, Orm, Yoselin, Jazmin, Emanuel and Luis

Happy 17th Birthday to Rubi in India

Compassion Sunday - April 21st


email and photo from Dominic

sponsor bracelets from Lizzie

Will you join me in taking a moment to note the Compassion related gifts God has given you this past month? Either share them in the comments, or write a post of your own and link up. If you do link up, please leave me a comment so I know to check out your post!