Day #8

Starting week #2 it was a very busy day. Things to do on a rainy day!

Last night I got a bunch of stuff set to mail. I sent a postcard to the "Send Me a Million Postcards" project and another postcard to a woman in La Jolla, CA through Postcrossing. I mailed some bookplates to a librarian who posted her information on Send Something, I sent some postcards and information about California to the 2011 Letters project, a homeschooling family in Virginia that is trying to get 2,011 letters by the end of the year. And I also sent an introductory pen pal letter to Denise, a 50-something woman in Wales.

In the morning I received an e-mail from Irina. She asks today if I have Skype, but admits "I can only say hello and write at the bottom of the message."

I sent an e-mail to a man named Patrick, who writes from Rising Up Hope for Uganda. Though I do not wish to correspond with men, I went to his web site and would like to learn more, if only to know more about the country where my Compassion sponsored child, Shallon, lives. I heard back from him within the hour, but he just sent essentially a brochure about his project, so I don't think this is going to blossom into anything regular.

I am not really interested in writing to men that I don't know, but I found Rodrigo on the PenPals for Life Facebook page. I also find all the people there much, much too young.

Rodrigo is one of the "older" people in the directory--and he is only 33! But he's Brasilian and I've always been a sucker for a young Brasilian, since so many of them have lived with us over the years (and 2 of our kids went to Brasil, one for a year and one for a summer).

So I decided to write a letter to Rodrigo today, and we'll see if he answers the letter of a 68 year old woman.

As I get into this project, this blog continues to grow in its scope. Today I signed up for the "52 Weeks, 52 Letters--a 2011 Project" challenge. I think it's fairly safe to say I will be able to handle that!

I found a picture of Sophia on "Make a Child Smile." She has rapid onset obesity with hypothalamic dysfunction and a bunch of other things. My heart went out to her. I know about obesity...even without the other medical conditions. I had this nice poster of a kitten which says "you're just purrfect the way you are" and I thought it might make her feel good, so I sent it to her anonymously. I recommend checking out the site if only to give a sick child a smile.

The mail arrived with no letters (I was hoping for something from one of the Compassion kids, but...owell.)

However, I did get a Postcrossing postcard from Elise in the Netherlands. She is the youngest person from whom I have received a postcard--she is 15 and says she likes to play with her rabbits and watch Animal Planet...my kinda girl!

The last thing I did today is to sign up to be a Soldier's Angel, sending at least one piece of mail a week to a soldier named Amanda, stationed in Afghanistan and one package a month.

I think I've done enough for one day!