Saturday, January 11, 2020

The Fruit Of The Spirit: KINDNESS (For Younger Kids)


Today I am continuing my series on the Fruit Of The Spirit! If you've missed any of my previous posts in this series, you can find them on the Index page or by looking under the "Labels" heading in the right-hand column. You can also use the search function!



Remember, these letters are free to share with your sponsored children! Feel free to copy and paste, editing the parts in bold to suit your/your child's needs!

Dear (Name),
Greetings in Jesus' Name, my little prince/princess!
Once again, I am happy to be able to share another letter about the Fruits of the Spirit with you. So far, I have written about Love, Joy, Peace, and Patience. So today, I want to talk about KINDNESS.
What is KINDNESS? The meaning of kindness is being caring, helpful, and considerate of others. The best way I can explain kindness, is to tell you about something that happened to me. A few years ago, I got sick and had to go to the hospital. I was allowed to come home the next day, but I was very tired and not able to do very much. I was surprised when I heard someone knocking on my door. A lady from the church had heard that I was sick, and she came to visit me and make sure that I was okay. She brought me soup, biscuits, and also made sure that I was taking the medicine the doctor had given me. I believe that it was because of her kindness to me, that I recovered so quickly. I will always be grateful that she took the time to listen to God and show me kindness. (You can edit this part to tell a story of a time when someone was kind to you!)
The Bible says in Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ forgave you." God wants us to be kind to others, because God Himself has been kind to us!
Not only does God want us to be kind to each other, He also wants us to speak kindly to others as well. Proverbs 16:24 says, "Kind words are like honey: sweet to the soul and healthy for the body."
Today, I have a special mission for you. It's a Kindness Challenge! I am sending you four bookmarks. Use scissors to cut out the bookmarks. If you don't have scissors at home, you can ask an adult at your Compassion center to help you cut them apart. You can keep one of the bookmarks for yourself. Then, my challenge for you is to find three children at your Compassion center who don't have sponsors yet, or who don't get any letters from their sponsors. Give them a bookmark and tell them that Jesus loves them and that someone in (sponsor's country) is praying for them! The next time you write to me, you can let me know if you were able to complete the challenge. I look forward to hearing all about it!
I love you so much (Name)... I am so proud of you and I know that God has given you a kind heart!
Love, (your name)

Along with this letter, I included the Lemon/Kindness coloring page as found at Christian Preschool Printables.

And there's a selection of gorgeous free printable bookmarks at BookmarkBee.com, including some with crosses!

*Note: As always, we recommend that you stay away from Halloween or monster-themed bookmarks for your Compassion children!

Happy Writing!



Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Free Printable Stationery Round-Up!


There's nothing quite like receiving an old-fashioned letter, is there?

I'm incredibly grateful for technology, especially when it comes to writing my Compassion children. Postage is so expensive these days, and I love the fact that I can send photos, coloring pages, mazes, puzzles, bookmarks, and cartoons to my children with just a few clicks of a button.

However, there's something soothing about sitting down with a pretty piece of stationery and a pen or pencil, and jotting down a few words of encouragement. One of the things I love best about Compassion International's letter-writing system, is the fact that we can scan and upload a hand-written letter that will be translated, printed, and sent to our kids. It's the best of both words... handwritten letters AND cutting edge technology!



With this in mind, I wanted to do a round-up of all my favorite sites for FREE printable stationery that's easy to download, print, and use! Pretty stationery comes in handy for a lot of things, not just writing our kids. Maybe a church member is in the hospital and you want to send them an encouraging note. Maybe you want to copy a few favorite recipes for your granddaughter who just went to college. Maybe your son is in the military and you want to send a letter with some photos. Whatever the case, I hope you find these resources helpful!

Remember, this stationery doesn't belong to me. Please be sure to follow the usage instructions listed on each individual website!


My go-to website when looking for lined stationery is StationeryTree.com They have several pages of bright, colorful stationery with different themes such as flowers, animals, music, hearts, polka-dots, and more! The first thing you might see when you click on a sheet of stationery is a price. But don't worry, that's just if you want to purchase an entire bundle with no watermarks. If you scroll down a little, you'll see an option to download that individual sheet (with a small watermark at the bottom) for absolutely free!

Another website I love is PageBorders.org These sheets don't have lines, but you can print them using lined paper if you prefer! Page borders are also great if you prefer typing your letters... you can even use them as borders for photos! These individual sheets also display a price of 99 cents, but don't worry, if you scroll down you will see a place to download them with a small watermark for free!

GraphicGarden.com  has several different types of mostly pastel-shaded free printables, such as bookmarks, recipe cards, labels, etc., but the main draw for me is the stationery! Their teddy bear stationery is so cute and fun, and everyone will enjoy it... children and adults alike!



If you are writing to someone who enjoys cartoon characters, FamilyShoppingBag.com is for you! You'll find everything from Frozen and Doc McStuffins to Paw Patrol and Thomas the Tank Engine. Along with printable stationery, they also have party invitations, bookmarks, shopping lists, and more!

PageBorders.net is another great place to find page borders that can be used for writing letters or using as photo frames! They have several borders that look like certificate edging; comes in handy if you like to design your own "You did it!" or "Congratulations Big Brother!" awards like I do!

Do you like getting your kids or grandkids involved in the letter-writing process? If so, you may enjoy PrintNPractice.com. They have a lot of writing worksheets along with simple, wide-lined stationery for younger writers or hands that struggle with forming letters.

If you like simple, colorful, lined writing paper, you'll probably like PrintThisToday.com. They have a large variety of Valentine-themed and Winter-themed stationery, along with others.

And last but not least, PrintableTreats.com has a variety of cute stationery designed especially for Compassion sponsors!



*Note: Compassion recommends that sponsors steer clear of any themes which might be upsetting or frightening for children. It's best to avoid themes like monsters, zombies, guns and weapons, war and military themes (some children come from war zones and/or have seen a lot of fighting and gun- or gang-related violence), Halloween, and characters wearing skimpy/revealing clothing or bikinis (due to different cultural beliefs about modesty, etc.) Pokemon is also included in the list because of the fact that the characters may be used as symbols of gang affiliation in some countries.

I hope you found this list helpful! Please feel free to share some of your favorite resources for printable stationery in the comments below!

Have fun writing!