Charity Tuesday: ACT (Against Child Trafficking)

Hello Everyone,

As we all know, spotlighting charities and worthwhile causes is important to SR.

As a group, Elli, Coco, Sere and I are also dedicated to promoting these endeavors. Therefore, we are happy to share a weekly series of posts in order to take a more in-depth look at the various charitable organizations highlighted by SR. You can find a complete list of these charities on our blog by clicking on the "About the Charities" header.

We hope you will find the information in these posts informative and educational.  If you have a particular cause that is close to your heart or you have personal experiences with any of the charities we spotlight, please feel free to contact us about it.

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ACT (Against Child Trafficking)

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=323710075670&ref=ts 

Twitter: @AChildTraffick

Mission Statement: 

ACT (Against Child Trafficking) is a volunteer based grassroots movement based in Australia influencing over 55,000 people worldwide.

We have no paid staff and we do not receive any funding nor intend to. Our role is to facilitate the resourcing of organisations at the forefront of combating child trafficking.

Child trafficking has a become an insidious rampant evil in the world today having now become the most lucrative organised crime activity on the planet. Help us stamp it out.


I'll be absolutely upfront and admit that the plight of human trafficking has only been on my radar for the past couple of years. I am woefully under-educated about this crime and have not participated with any charities that fight against it.  But this is a poor excuse.

During the past few weeks, the local news has been reporting on child trafficking within my home state and I've been truly appalled by the things I've discovered.

I'm practically embarrassed to admit that in my home state the crime of soliciting sex from a minor is a misdemeanor offense.  Anyone caught doing so serves little (if any) jail time and never has to register as a sex offender.  Last week, a bill was put before my state's legislature to change this.

I wish I could say that such lax policy is soon to be a thing of the past, but I was amazed to learn that this bill had to go through a round of compromises in order to be passed.  One of the local representatives (a woman) was quoted as saying "We were able to negotiate a compromise and I feel good about it. It's not exactly what I would like but I think its a doable compromise. The only other option would be no bill at all."

Seriously?

As a woman and a mother of two young children, I was absolutely disgusted.

The law has been amended, but even so it's my strong opinion that the new penalties simply aren't enough:

-- First time a Class A misdemeanor, 30 days jail, $10,000 fine and possibly a sex offender registration.
-- Second time, a Class C felony, 90 days jail, $20,000 fine and a sex offender registration.

The representative quoted above said she hopes to strengthen the law during the next legislative session.

Last evening, while I was researching this piece, I found a few local charities who are fighting to end human trafficking within my region, and I've begun the process of familiarizing myself with their work.  I'll soon make a commitment to one and lend my support in whatever way I can.

It's a place for me to begin and I hope to encourage my family and friends to participate as well.

If you find yourself in the same place I am, take a few moments and research the prevalence of human trafficking in your area. Then look up the penalties for this offense and decide if the laws in place are strong enough. If you believe more needs to be done in your area, then I wholeheartedly encourage you to find a way to help.

I'm highlighting the subject in this week's Charity Spotlight  because our good friend, Kat Bastion, is currently hosting a charity awareness campaign on her website. ACT is just one of many charities she is supporting during this campaign, but I'd prefer to let Kat's elegant and passionate words speak for themselves. Please venture over to her blog for more information.

Rest assured, this is another wonderful opportunity for us to support our favorite charities and do something worthwhile with our time, talents and dollars. Kat's fundraising campaign will be open until June 15th.  Please donate if you can and please help spread the word for a good cause.

Take Care,
Jenn

With Thanks To All...

On June 10, 2012, Coco, Iris, Sere and I opened a twitter account called The GI Series Fans. With the blessing of SR and his publicist, Enn, we set out to provide a positive place for fans of The Professor and his Beloved to gather, swoon and share news about one of our favorite stories and authors.

We had no idea who we would meet or if anyone would even notice we were there, but very quickly we were introduced to some lovely people and our numbers began to grow.  We never imagined that within a year's time we would be running multiple sites and be joined by so many sister sites from all around the world.

During our first year, we were thrilled to learn that The Professor would return; we fantasized about Gandy and Cavill playing the part; we anticipated each and every teaser tweet that SR provided us; we held a fundraiser to benefit the American Red Cross and One Boston Fund; and we've enjoyed every moment of it.

So please accept my personal thanks for your essential support during our first year. It has been a joy meeting so many fans of Sylvain Reynard and his stories. We have so much to look forward to this year and beyond, and we'll hope you will continue to be a part of our world.

Take Care,
Jenn (aka Miss Cranberry)

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Happy One Year Anniversary, Argyle Empire!

It didn’t happen overnight, and wasn’t at all planned.

A year ago, I was lucky enough to be given the honor to start the official fans twitter for the GI series readers and SR’s fans by both SR and his publicist, Enn B. I mean, I like Twitter and tweeting random craps, err.. I mean mundane things in my life, but running a fans twitter for a national best selling series and author is a whole new Star Trek universe (which happens to be one of his favorite...things). And I certainly don’t speak nor understand Klingon language.

I didn’t want to disappoint and (bless my little ambitious heart) I also realized that it’d take a village to run the account, so I started asking around for helps. I approached @RandomCran (Jenn), @SerendipitousMC (Sere/Mango), and @Iris_Elli (Elli) to jump on board because we’ve known each other a couple of years before the GI series hit the worldwide market and readers. And the love and adoration they have for both the series and SR assured me that they’d be perfect fit. They all said yes, and the rest is history.... okay, maybe not that easy and fast.

We began with @TheGISeriesFans and it was a slow start. Mainly because all four of us are, ahem, responsible adults with family, job, and school. It was a lot of going back and forth with Enn, too, as to what guidelines we needed to follow, and without her, there wouldn’t be this pretty and argyled up website. @TheGiSeriesFans received a huge makeover and we changed the name to @Argyle_Empire and operated as the main official twitter for the GI fans in the US.

It’s been a great pleasure to be part of this wonderful series from the beginning with the rest of you. Distance, like age, is only a number. We all live in different places in the world, but thanks to social media that has brought us all closer via the world wide web. There are many of us who love, adore, and admire the series and its author, SR, whom has shown tremendous support of charity that he highlights every Tuesday via @SylvainReynard.

I’d like to thank y’all, the readers and fans of the series, as well as around-the-world sister sites for your generosity, kindness, love, and support. We’re not who we are had it not been because all of you.

Thank you.
Coco

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Happy 1st Anniversary to the blog!

It has been such a fun year to see the evolution of Argyle Empire and I have been glad to be a part of it.  Soon after Gabriel's Rapture was released with Omni, I was approached by Coco wondering if I would be interested in starting a twitter with some of our fellow muses to create a place for fans of SR to meet and discuss SR's books.  We had met and become friends through the earlier versions of the books and were glad to continue in the journey.

SR and Enn gave us the go ahead to get started and from there @TheGISeriesFans was born. Through last summer we got the big news that Berkley had picked up the books and we knew this was going to get even bigger. September 5 came with the big release and Enn coordinated to start our sister sites around the world.  From there we worked to help spread the word and were happy to see SR's name on the NY Times Best Sellers list!  The announcement that he decided to do a 3rd Gabriel book came with Squee's around the world from his fans and even more he had been approved for 2 more books with Berkley~Penguin!  From twitter we moved to Facebook and in January the blog was born.  We fiddled around with names for the blog because we wanted to follow SR into a new era beyond The GI Series, and his and the professors love of argyle gave way to the Argyle Empire!  Now all of the GISeriesFans are SRFans and we can't wait for Gabriel's Redemption and beyond. :-)

It has been a pleasure to work with Cran, Mango, Coco, Enn and SR through all of this as well as all of our Sisters (and a few brothers~Waves to Mog ;-) and other Muses that have lent their hands, talent and expertise.  We have all contributed in different ways. I loved the music in SR's books so I started collecting songs and created the Youtube #LovingJulia and #GIRSL lists, and being a very visual person, Pinterest and Tumblr became my outlets.  I can't wait to see what music and images SR will included and inspire in Gabriel's Redemption so I can continue to add to those lists. :-)

Thank You to all of the readers out there that have participated, asked questions, shared their favorite book moments and the love of The Professor, his Julia and perhaps even David Gandy, Henry Cavill and others we may see when we read.  *sigh* I look forward to meeting more of you and continuing on in this journey!  We are all fans too so every time SR tweets, "I'm writing..." we get shivers of excitement with you!

All the Best,
Miss Iris~Elli

~~~~~~~~~

Has it really been a year? Time flies when you're having fun reading great books by your favorite author, spreading the word about his writing, and meeting lots of amazing new people thanks to Sylvain Reynard.

My three account admin compadres (Coco, Iris_Elli and RandomCran) asked me last year if I'd like to help out with the Twitter account for SR's books, and I jumped at the chance. His writing has give me so much - new insights into life, love and redemption; new avenues of literature and art to explore, new and creative ways to snark, and most of all, new friends of the highest calibre - so I thought that the least I could do would be to donate Twitter time.

But like so many other things with SR, what you give is far outweighed by what you get back.  I've chatted, laughed, and exchanged photos and joke with dozens of new friends. I've helped people by answering questions and pointing them in the right direction when they're looking for information on the books and their themes and artistic elements. I've found new charities and new ways to donate my time or other resources; and I've found there are many, many people like me who are also eager to do so. It's yet another way SR inspires us, and it's among the more meaningful ways I've been able to connect with an author's writing and messages.

And all this is above and beyond the friends I made years ago, when we first began reading SR's work in a smaller universe. These are people who I know will be friends for life. They're more than just virtual; they're real, and wonderful, and supportive and funny.  SR has given me much more than the sharing of his talents. He's enabled me to connect with some of the finest people I've ever met; and that continues up to this day, thanks to my time on the Twitter account and the AE blog. As the saying goes, it's the gift that keeps on giving.

Thank you to all of you who have said hello to me when I'm on Twitter and shared your thoughts about the books. Thank you to the many of you who have shared photographs, .gifs, and your interpretations of the books. Thanks for being so friendly - even if you don't have more to say than "Hey there!", I love hearing from you. Thank you to my friends Jenn, Elli and Coco, for being so supportive and so incredibly great to work with. I definitely want to add Enn Bocci to that list of friends, too. She's like the "nerve center" for all things related to SR's publishing, and none of this would have been a success without her. We love being a team and being "diplomats" for SR's writing.

And most of all, thank you, SR, for sharing your extraordinary talents and intellect with us; for inspiring us to do good through your focus on charity; and for your kindness and humor. (Parenthetically, it should be noted that I've found the Internet is a boundless source of great experiences, and most of that has involved you and the friends I've made through you.)

Mango

Toss the Bouquet Charity Event and Giveaway

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to repost this entry from Kat Bastion's "Talk To The Shoe" blog. She has published a book of poetry entitled "Utterly Loved". Proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to charity and I'm happy to say it has found a home on my favorite book shelf.

SR was kind enough to write the foreword for "Utterly Loved" and now you have an opportunity to win your own copy. I'll leave it to Kat to explain the details below.

Be sure to check out this fantastic collection of poems, written by a fabulous woman who is dedicated to supporting some very worthwhile causes.

Take Care,
Jenn

PS: If you'd like to subscribe to Kat's blog, you can do so here:


http://talktotheshoe.com/author/talktotheshoe/

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Toss the Bouquet Charity Event and Giveaway

Happy June, my friends!

June is the most popular month for weddings, and a celebrated wedding tradition is the tossing of the bouquet. The bride, overflowing with love and happiness, tosses her bouquet in a symbolic gesture of sharing her good fortune with others.

How blessed are we with our good fortune? Warm Bed. Hot meals. A safe home. Those who love us. … Freedom.

We are all the bride. (Men, if you can be the groom…if you insist.) This amazing life we live with loved ones and choices is our wedding celebration. {whispers} Yes I know, Uncle Ned is making a spectacle of himself on the dance floor, but oh…what great stories we’ll have to tell later. {nods} The budget nearly popped a seam, but we’ve been showered with gifts and we’re about to pay it forward…

Let’s all Toss the Bouquet this June. Join me in making a beautiful bouquet of the abundant blessings we have and toss it out to the world.

Our flowers will burst into millions of petals, raining love onto those who need it the most. Thoughts, prayers, dreams, and donations all transform into something wonderful for another…all because we tossed a bouquet filled with love.

Toss the Bouquet Charity Event

The Toss the Bouquet Charity Event is to raise awareness and help support charities who fight against human trafficking, a pervasive worldwide tragedy that must be stopped. The problem is enormous. And it’s not “over there” … It’s everywhere.

How can you participate in Toss the Bouquet?

Donate any amount to any of the charities listed on the Charity Support and Awareness page from May 31st through June 15th, 2013. Some of the charities, like Not For Sale and International Princess Project, have stores where you can purchase products to support them. You can do that too!

During the event, I’ve also reduced the price of Kindle and paperback versions Utterly Loved. The romantic book of poetry is shared with the world for charity, its proceeds supporting Covenant House and World Vision. Sylvain Reynard, a humanitarian who inspired me to use my author platform in conjunction with charitable causes, wrote the brilliant and inspiring foreword to Utterly Loved. Be sure to pick up a copy…and perhaps a few to share with others.

Toss the Bouquet Giveaway

The Toss the Bouquet Charity Event is all about helping the charities to help those in need. Mr. Bastion and I also wanted to give everyone participating in the Toss the Bouquet Charity Event a chance to win something special.

We are giving away three items to three lucky winners. One e-book copy of Utterly Loved, one signed paperback copy of Utterly Loved…

And…one special gift of jewelry from Pandora as a keepsake from the Toss the Bouquet event: Pandora’s sterling silver with 14k gold Love Bouquet charm on Pandora’s sterling silver bracelet.

To enter the giveaway, email me at giveaways@katbastion.com with your donation receipt of any amount (or a purchase receipt from one of their stores) for any of the charities listed on the Charity Support and Awareness page by midnight June 15th, 2013 and click on the below link to enter the below Rafflecopter giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Other Authors Supporting The Charities

I would like to mention two authors I met through Twitter who also support charities fighting against human trafficking:

Heather Huffman weaves the issue of human trafficking into her stories, is an activist in the cause, and a portion of book proceeds goes toward charities fighting against human trafficking. Read more about her books and human trafficking on Heather’s website.

Sylvain Reynard utilizes his author platform to bring awareness and support to many amazing charities, including those fighting against human trafficking. SR wrote a wonderful post a few days ago on his website… “Why Charity?”

Your purchase of their incredible books supports the authors, who in turn support the charities.

Please share this blog post and/or news of the Toss the Bouquet Charity Event and Giveaway with your social media. Encourage your friends and followers to join us in supporting those charities that fight against human trafficking. Let’s set every one of those lost souls free and show them they are utterly loved.

Thank you for your generous hearts, my friends.

Your humble shoe,

~ Kat

© 2013 by Kat Bastion

Don't Forget!

Hello Everyone,

It's a been a busy and exciting week as the first chapter of "Gabriel's Redemption" was posted online. Now that the dust has settled a bit we just wanted to issue a friendly reminder for you to redeem your goodies for pre-ordering the new book!

In case you hadn't heard already, SR wanted to give something extra to those who pre-order “Gabriel’s Redemption.”

If you've pre-ordered the EBOOK of Gabriel's Redemption from any site, Amazon, BN, iBooks, etc. email the receipt / proof of purchase / screenshot to Enn at EBOOK@sylvainreynard.com

If you've pre-ordered the PRINT of Gabriel's Redemption from any site, Amazon, BN, iBooks, etc. email the receipt / proof of purchase / screenshot to Enn at PRINT@sylvainreynard.com

What do you get for pre-ordering?

Those that pre-order the EBOOK you will get a special Authorgraph from Gabriel with an exclusive bit that isn't in the novel. *****(Please make sure your authograph email / Twitter is listed somewhere so it can be matched up)

Those that pre-order the PRINT you will get a special bookplate from Gabriel with an exclusive bit that isn't in the novel. *****(Please make sure your MAILING ADDRESS is listed so Enn can send you the bookplate)

No, they're not the same 'special' bits.

So, EBOOK and PRINT will have two separate goodies from Gabriel.

Yes, this is open internationally.

It's very important that you're accurate with your information so everyone gets their Gabriel treat.

If you have questions, please email Enn at enn@sylvainreynard.com with PRE-ORDER in the subject.

Take Care,
Jenn

Another Forbidden Love: Abelard and Heloise - Guest Post by Terry

Hello Everyone,

We are pleased to share a special guest post with you today.

Terry, whom you probably know as @Terry the Nurse on Twitter, is indeed a nurse, though she also has a degree in History and a graduate degree in Human Communication.

You may have read her Charity Tuesday spotlight on Covenant House, and we were thrilled when she offered to submit another blog post for the Empire.

She's a big fan of SR's writing, and in today's post, she shares her thoughts on comparing Gabriel and Julia with Abelard and Heloise.

Enjoy and Take Care,
Jenn

Another Forbidden Love: Abelard and Heloise and the Parallels to Gabriel’s Inferno and Rapture

If you’ve read Gabriel’s Inferno and Gabriel’s Rapture (is there anyone left who hasn’t?) you already know that the medieval lovers Peter Abelard and Heloise d’Argenteuil are referenced by both Julia (in anger) and Gabriel (in love). In fact, I could argue that the comedy of errors that forces Gabriel and Julia apart, and indeed breaks their hearts --and ours-- can be partly because Julia and Gabriel have very different opinions of these two famous professor-student lovers and whose own fictional experience is not terribly different from this tragic medieval couple.

Who were Abelard and Heloise? Why are they referenced so often in the books? What are the parallels between Gabriel and Julia, and Abelard and Heloise? And what is it about those famous letters to which Gabriel refers?

Let me begin by telling you a little about this illustrative couple and why I think SR makes them relatively prominent in both of the first two books. Likewise, there are countless similarities between Gabriel and Peter Abelard. Indeed so many that I would theorize that much of The Professor is modeled on Peter Abelard. Maybe there’s a deeper reason why Gabriel says to Julia in Rapture “Read my sixth letter. Paragraph 4.” In many ways, Gabriel and Abelard mirror each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Abelard and Heloise are considered the iconic couple of forbidden love. Peter Abelard (1079 – 1142), the better known of the couple, was considered one of the greatest intellects of the 12th century. Brilliant, attractive, and arrogant (especially when writing about himself), he drew thousands to his school in the province of Notre Dame in Paris. (Paris was the intellectual center of Europe in the 12th century.) He could place his roots within the French nobility, but according to some historical sources, Abelard gave up the knighthood that was due him in order to be the philosopher and teacher, a role for which he was much better suited. In addition to his knowledge of Greek and Roman philosophy and logic, he was also a renowned theologian.

While we don’t know exactly what Abelard looks like in terms of physical appearance, we do know that he held himself in high esteem. For example, he says of himself with some hubris:

So distinguished was my name, and I possessed such advantages of youth and comeliness, that no matter what woman I might favour with my love, I dreaded rejection of none. (from Abelard’s Historia Calamitatum [The Story of My Misfortune]) Clearly, he was not suffering from a lack of self-confidence, particularly with women. I know another Professor who could have said the same thing about himself.

Heloise d’Argenteuil (1090 – 1164) was a brilliant young woman of a lower social standing than Abelard and was twenty years younger than him when he became her professor. Very little is known about her family, except that she was in the care of an uncle, Fulbert, who was a Church canon of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Keeping in mind that women of this historical era were not commonly well-educated, Heloise stands out as a learned woman fluent in both literature and ancient languages. In fact, her intellectual acumen is so unusual that by the time she met Abelard she was already known across Europe for her scholarship. Writings about Heloise describe her as beautiful as well as accomplished – for Abelard (and for another professor, it seems) this is a magnetic combination that becomes difficult to resist in a woman.

Fulbert engaged Abelard to further educate Heloise privately, and Abelard went so far as to take residence in Fulbert’s home in order to be closer to her. That’s where the fireworks begin. He promptly falls deeply in love with her, and she with him even in view of a significant age difference. And their love is like fire -- impassioned, fervent, and all-consuming. And…forbidden.

As Abelard describes his passion for Heloise:

Our speech was more of love than of the books which lay open before us; our kisses far outnumbered our reasoned words. Our hands sought less the book than each other's bosoms -- love drew our eyes together far more than the lesson drew them to the pages of our text….. No degree in love's progress was left untried by our passion, and if love itself could imagine any wonder as yet unknown, we discovered it. And our inexperience of such delights made us all the more ardent in our pursuit of them, so that our thirst for one another was still unquenched. [Abelard’s Historia Calamitatum (The Story of My Misfortunes)]

With a passion as evocative as Abelard describes in his confessions, it should be no surprise that their love affair rapidly becomes sexual and Heloise finds herself pregnant. In a devoutly Catholic France, Heloise’s illegitimate pregnancy begins the progression of Abelard’s disgrace and Heloise’s exile following the birth of their son; eventually forcing her to spend the rest of her life in a monastery, isolated from Abelard and her son Astrolabius forever. But it gets much worse for Abelard.

Secretly married following the birth of Astrolabius, the couple left their son with Abelard's sister. When Heloise went to stay with the nuns at Argenteuil at Abelard’s insistence and ostensibly for her protection, her uncle mistakenly believed that Abelard had rejected and abandoned her by forcing her to become a nun. In a planned attack designed by Fulbert, Abelard is beaten and castrated by Fulbert’s minions in what can only be described as an act of ultimate revenge and rage. This is how Abelard describes the attack:

Violently incensed, they laid a plot against me, and one night while I all unsuspecting was asleep in a secret room in my lodgings, they broke in with the help of one of my servants whom they had bribed. There they had vengeance on me with a most cruel and most shameful punishment, such as astounded the whole world; for they cut off those parts of my body with which I had done that which was the cause of their sorrow. [Historia Calamitatum]

Abelard, like Gabriel, is filled with self-loathing and shame, and for very similar reasons. Both feel God has punished them for their “sins” and that redemption is not possible for them. Neither Gabriel nor Abelard can have children again – one by choice and the other by castration.

Abelard writes about his suffering in a parallel to Gabriel when he describes his anguish to Julia:

What path lay open to me thereafter? How could I ever again hold up my head among men, when every finger should be pointed at me in scorn, every tongue speak my blistering shame, and when I should be a monstrous spectacle to all eyes?…First was I punished for my sensuality, and then for my pride. For my sensuality I lost those things whereby I practiced it; for my pride, engendered in me by my knowledge of letters and it is even as the Apostle said: "Knowledge puffeth itself up" (I Cor. viii. 1)

Following the attack and castration, Abelard retreated to a monastery and lived as monk. Heloise, already in the convent and also now forced to live an asexual life, remained there and eventually became a Prioress. Unlike Gabriel (who reunited with Julia following his retreat to Assisi), the lovers were never to see each other again. However, their love for each other never waned, and is fully expressed in their exchange of letters. In my next post, I will further discuss the famous letters and discuss more similarities between the two couples – one fictional, and one authentic.

Julia: “Congratulations, Professor Abelard. No one has ever made me feel as cheap as you did…”

Gabriel: “But Abelard truly cared for Heloise and I care for you. So in that sense, there is a similarity. He also hurt her as I have hurt you. But he was deeply sorry for having injured her…”

(To be continued in Part Two)

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Charity Tuesday: World Vision

Hello Everyone,

As we all know, spotlighting charities and worthwhile causes is important to SR.

As a group, Elli, Coco, Sere and I are also dedicated to promoting these endeavors. Therefore, we are happy to share a weekly series of posts in order to take a more in-depth look at the various charitable organizations highlighted by SR. You can find a complete list of these charities on our blog by clicking on the "About the Charities" header.

We hope you will find the information in these posts informative and educational.  If you have a particular cause that is close to your heart or you have personal experiences with any of the charities we spotlight, please feel free to contact us about it.

~~~~~~~~~

World Vision

Website: www.worldvision.org 

Twitter: @WorldVisionUSA

Mission Statement:

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

My husband and I became personally involved with World Vision in the summer of 2011 when we made the decision to sponsor a child. At the time we set up our account, we weren't sure how to go about selecting one child over another. The prospect was daunting, so we simply decided to sponsor the first child presented to us by the website.

This is how we were introduced to Nsondo.

Nsondo is currently 10 years old and lives with his parents, 1 sister, and 1 brother. His parents struggle to provide for the family.

Nsondo is growing up in a poor area in Zambia. The HIV and AIDS crisis has severely damaged the social fabric of the entire community, leaving many children without parents. Many families live in small homes made of bricks and mud with thatched roofs. A typical diet consists of maize, vegetables, fruit, and fish when available. The climate is tropical though the area is prone to dry-spells and drought.

Nsondo is in primary school and he enjoys studying the national language. He helps at home by caring for the animals. He likes to play soccer. He is in satisfactory health.

My husband and I have been pleased to receive communications from Nsondo over the past two years. We've smiled as we looked at his drawings, read about his progress in school, and received the occasional photo of him.  What has pleased us most of all, however, is knowing that our sponsorship commitment radiates out into Nsondo's community. Our monthly donation has not only contributed to Nsondo's basic care needs, it has also provided his community with improved healthcare and support, emphasizing assistance to those affected by HIV and AIDS. Our support ensures that children will attend school and farmers are offered seeds and training on new farming methods, improving their health and incomes.

We felt so blessed by our involvement with World Vision that this past Christmas we decided to experiment. We took the money we normally spend on small (and most likely forgettable) gifts for numerous people and instead donated to several projects in their names. Specifically, we gave a custom-fit wheelchair to someone in need along with an additional gift for resources for people with disabilities; we provided art and music instruction and supplies for impoverished children; we donated one small business loan for an impoverished woman, which will be paid forward to fund future loans for other women; we gifted a beehive and beekeeping supplies to a family who can now generate sustainable, year-round income with their bees and honey; we gifted Bibles printed in the recipient's native language to nourish souls; and we provided vaccinations to protect infants and children from killer diseases. Our relatives were thrilled with their gifts, and some of them were even moved to tears over the gesture. My husband and I were pleasantly surprised in January when one family member joined World Vision and donated livestock in our name to a family in need.

In the months since we've joined World Vision, our eyes have been opened. We have come to realize just how significant our modest gift is. Although we live comfortably, we are by no means wealthy. The amount we set aside each day isn't even enough to cover my daily coffee habit, and yet it's ability to deliver tremendous good to this little boy and the place he calls home cannot be denied. While we are more than happy to make this contribution to Nsondo, we are also sobered by the fact that there are still 390 children within Nsondo's community waiting to receive this same support.

I'm sharing my experiences with World Vision with you today because our good friend, Kat Bastion, is currently hosting a charity awareness campaign on her website. World Vision is just one of many charities she is supporting during this campaign, but I'd prefer to let Kat's elegant and passionate words speak for themselves. Please venture over to her blog for more information.

Rest assured, this is another wonderful opportunity for us to support our favorite charities and do something worthwhile with our time, talents and dollars. Kat's fundraising campaign will be open until June 15th.  Please donate if you can and please help spread the word for a good cause.

Take Care,
Jenn

Chapter 1 of Gabriel's Redemption: Your Thoughts?

It's an exciting day in the Empire!

SR has posted the first chapter of Gabriel's Redemption on his website.

The anticipated release of the third book in the Gabriel series may be six months away, but we'll certainly have something to keep us occupied in the meantime.

What were your impressions?

What new questions are already driving you crazy?

Will be the Professor become even more sexy now that he's a married man? (I vote Hell, Yes)

Let's get the discussion going and see where it takes us...