I quit my full time job last December and wondered what I was going to do with my life.     So, about February last year I started a blog.  Mainly, I was going to use the blog for my family because we were taking a trip to Kenya with Compassion International and we wanted to share our experiences with friends and loved ones.  Blogging turned in to more…

So we went to Kenya and blogged. It was a lot of fun for my family to share our trip while it happened.  After that trip a phone call came asking me to help lead a Blog Trip to India.  What a surprise for me… It’s not because I am one of those bloggers with tons of traffic. They wanted me on the trip because of my years of experience with Compassion, my ministry skills and my estrogen.  Seriously, they needed a woman leader and I fit the profile.  So off to India I went with the bloggers.  I learned so much about the blog world, both good and bad.  I saw ugly comments.  One person wrote to one of the bloggers and insisted that the whole trip was fabricated, pictures and all.  Wow, we were impressed that this guy thought we were that good at acting. For the most part we experienced a lot of encouragement and over 1,000 kids got sponsored from that trip. 

 So what goes on behind the scenes on these blog trips?

Blog trips are different than any other types of Compassion trips. Each night these bloggers sit around in a conference room with their computers and snacks and sweat over the words that will be posted.  I think they feel a little pressure to perform (or a lot).  Kind of like an artist.  They have a story and they need to figure out how to tell it.  Our bloggers on the India trip anguished over their posts and cared deeply about communicating correctly.  Sometimes it took them hours to come up with the post that represents their emotions (unless you are Pete Wilson, quick, yet excellent). Keely, the photographer, shares all her pictures with the bloggers and hands out thumb drives so each blogger can use her pictures from the day.  She helps free up bloggers to experience the trip rather than worry about capturing pictures to go with their posts.  Occasionally, technical issues come up and someone with computer savvy has to step in.

Often the group will casually discuss the day.  At the end of the day, each blogger comes up with a post.  Nobody edits these posts from Compassion.  The bloggers have freedom to say good and bad things about Compassion, but it’s hard to be negative with such an amazing ministry.

 When is the next blog trip?

In November we will be going to El Salvador. Again, Shaun Groves, with my help, will lead the trip and the fabulous photographer, Keely Scott, will join us.  These are the amazing bloggers that will be traveling with us:

Kelly 

Dana  

Molly  

Heather

Young moms taking time away from children and family, giving themselves into the hands of people they don’t know. They have stories of loss, stories of hope, stories of answered prayers, humor, and are gifted at writing.  I hope you will follow along on another blog journey. Help us get the word started so we can get some kids sponsored.