And Michelle Makes Six

As an advocate for Compassion International, I volunteer to work at the Compassion table at local events. A dangerous position for me, to lay out or pass out packets of several hundred children in need of a sponsor, because I invariably find myself wishing I could sponsor at least half of them. But I must show restraint. I have five sponsored children already. I just can't take another.

Saturday I was working an event when a startling picture caught my eye. It looked like my little niece Wendy was laid out amidst all the dark-skinned dark-haired brown-eyed boys and girls on the table. I snatched up the packet to take a closer look. Sure enough, a little girl with blonde ponytails and light eyes looked back at me.

Everyone marveled over her. The official Compassion point person, who travels from one event to another to do this very job, who has seen thousands of child packets, even said she had never ever seen a blonde haired Compassion child before. It was clear that this child was really something special.

I laid her back on the table and said a little prayer that she would find a sponsor that day.

I kept an eye on her even during our busiest times at the table. When people swarmed the table and shoved forms and checks our way and peppered us with questions, still I kept glancing at her out of the corner of my eye. Person after person picked her up. And person after person set her back down.

At lunch, I started to contemplate sponsoring her myself for the first time. I remembered my little Rebecca in Uganda -- a child whose family brings home about a dollar a day to feed their family of ten or more -- who told me that she is praying for God to triple my income. The question of being able to afford to sponsor another child seemed ridiculous in light of that thinking. These kids have nothing. I have so much. Of course I can sponsor one more.

But should I? I prayed again for little Michelle to find a sponsor. If she wasn't meant for me, the right person should take her. But if by day's end she was still on the table, I would know God intended her for me.

Guess what. She's mine.

Welcome to the family, little Michelle from Colombia. I can't wait to see what amazing things God is going to do through you.

Want to sponsor a child?

My Shorts Smell Like Poor People

One day this summer, I'd just gotten home from work and a friend wanted to do something. "Well, give me a minute to change clothes first," I replied. "My shorts smell like poor people."

I said it without thinking for it was entirely true. I can't explain the smell but there is a SMELL of poverty. And when you spend time in the midst of it, especially sitting on the floors of impoverished homes, the smell clings to your clothing. It just does.

My friend just laughed and laughed, thinking the statement the funniest thing she'd heard in a long time. But really, it isn't funny. The sentence has come back to me from time to time, and I've spent some time dwelling on the deeper meaning behind it. For there is deeper meaning. But somehow, it never seemed the time to blog about it.

Today, suddenly, it is. The Compassion bloggers are on their way to El Salvador to see what Compassion is doing in that country, and to share it with the rest of us throughout the week. And you know what? I bet their shorts are going to smell like poor people. And that's okay. Because sometimes you have to get right in the middle of it, you have to wear the smell of poverty, before the need and the compassion to meet those needs can really sink into your heart.

You too can have shorts that smell like poor people. Just dive in. Pour your heart into one of these needy little ones, and carry the smell of poverty proudly. It will change your life.

A Miracle for Rebecca

I've mentioned Rebecca here before. She's a little six-year-old girl in Uganda that I sponsor through Compassion International.

Most Compassion kids at such a young age are still having family members or teachers write their letters for them, or their letters are very obviously form letters. Not Rebecca. Oh, her teacher actually writes the letter, but it is clearly straight from Rebecca's mouth, unlike my other kids where the teacher is just updating me on the child's progress or activities.

And my little Rebecca? She's sweet. She's endearing. She's precocious. She abounds with personality that shines through in every letter she writes -- and she writes a lot!

Well, a few months ago, little Rebecca began asking me when I was coming to Africa to see her.

I can't go to Africa. The reasons are many. I very much want to see Rebecca, and my other boy in Uganda, Milton, also. But it just isn't possible.

But when I explained this to Rebecca, she informed me that with God, all things are possible.

This kid is really something. She really is.

So we agreed we would both pray about it and if God wanted it to happen, He would make it happen, but I also stipulated to her that God might NOT want it to happen in which case it wouldn't and we have to be okay with that, much as we may want things to be different.

She's not given up. Every letter -- every single one -- contains a comment or question regarding the issue of me coming to see her. She is convinced that God will make it happen, and she prays for it constantly.

I researched options. I wanted so badly to make it happen for her, when it seems so important to her. But I kept coming up against one brick wall after another. It simply wasn't going to happen. I understood that, but I implored God to make Rebecca understand. To do something to help her understand and be okay with it.

So do you know what He did?

About a month ago, I heard about a new site Compassion started up, called OurCompassion. It's sort of like Facebook for Compassion sponsors, and you can search by project and find other people who sponsor children in the same project as your sponsored child.

So I joined and almost immediately, I connected with a lady from Australia who sponsors a little girl in the same project as Rebecca. And lo and behold, she was going to visit her child THE NEXT WEEK.

I was all over that one. I asked her if she would look for Rebecca... and if she could find her, if she could tell her face to face for me how much I want to come but how I just can't make it happen. Could she somehow explain it to her?

She said she would ask the staff and meet Rebecca if it was at all possible, and that she was taking some gift bags to pass out to some of the children and would make sure Rebecca got one. Nice.

Even nicer? When she arrived at the project and asked about Rebecca and explained why she was asking, do you know what the staff did? They let my little Rebecca join this lady and her sponsored child for the entire day. This lady went to Rebecca's house and met her family. And her cows. ;) She gave Rebecca a Cabbage Patch Kid on my behalf. She took her out and about and spoiled her rotten for a day. She took tons of pictures, and even a video message from Rebecca and her mother to me, which I am quite anxious to see. I'm also eager to hear from Rebecca about what she thought about this visit!! I know that could take a couple of months though.

But I got some of the pictures last night.

Do you think she was happy about the little miracle God arranged just for her?

Seriously. A lady from Australia visits a child in Africa on behalf of the child's sponsor who lives in America, and God pulls this all together in the span of less than a month after being asked to make Rebecca understand somehow?

Only God.

Processing...

The Compassion Bloggers have been in India this week. Just as with their trips to Uganda and the Dominican Republic, I've followed their blogs closely, learned much, and been overwhelmed by what I've seen through their eyes.

The other day, I was working at a family's house and happened to glance out at the backyard, where the children themselves had built a playhouse. It's a sight... uneven boards nailed up wherever a child happened to place them, and nothing but holes for a door and windows. But it's serviceable. It's just a playhouse, after all.

But the thought crossed my mind as I saw it: This little kid-built shack looks very similar to the homes in these impoverished communities where Compassion kids live. What, in my eyes, is a shoddy playhouse, would be in their eyes, a home.

And then I read about a little girl in India named Kiran, and saw pictures of and read descriptions of the home she shares with her family of five. It's 4' x 6'.

Stop for a moment and really think about those dimensions. Picture it. Their entire house is smaller than my BED.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that one. Try to imagine five people even sitting in the house at one time, let alone sleeping there. (The girl explained that some of them sleep out on the street since there's not room for them all to lie down.) The girl's mother makes $15 a month cleaning homes. $15 a MONTH.

And I thought it was bad that the family of my little Rebecca in Uganda makes about $1 a day. That's twice the amount that this other little girl's family makes.

Just last week, I complained that my two "kid bedrooms" are so small. They may be small by my standards, but to these girls, just one of these bedrooms that looks SO tiny to me is bigger than their entire home.

And while I sit in my enormous-to-them home and complain about my "tiny" rooms while sleeping in a bed that is bigger than some people's entire house, do you know what my little 6-year-old Rebecca is doing? Based on what she wrote me in her last letter, she sits in her Ugandan hut and prays for God to triple my income so that I can come to see her.

A child whose family makes $1 a day is praying for God to triple MY income.

There are no words to describe the thoughts and feelings this knowledge brings.

I read the following quotation on a couple of different blogs this weekend:

“Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it.”

“Well, why don’t you ask Him?”

“Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.”

I'm doing something about it for Staurin, Angie, Milton, Marsabi, and Rebecca, my five wonderful Compassion children. But it still just doesn't seem enough. I can't sponsor any more right now myself, but maybe I can find others who can.

So... want to sponsor a child?

I Bought a Cow

I never thought I would say those words. You see, I dream of living on a farm... but my dream farm has no crops and no animals. ;)

I'm not an animal person. Cute small fuzzy animals are okay, although as of right now, I have not chosen to invite even the most darling little kitten into my home. (But boy, those Holland lop bunnies are enticing, and I may give in yet.) But anything larger than a cat is simply not for me.

So why, you may ask, did I buy a COW?

First, let me show you the cow:

I bought the cow not for me, but for Rebecca, my sponsored child in Uganda. (She's the smaller of the two girls shown.) She is the dearest little thing, by the way... her letters are so sweet.

For Rebecca's family, the cow means milk, not only for Rebecca and her siblings to drink, but to sell. For a family that only makes a dollar a day, when they can find work at all, a cow means more money than they've ever had. Not a lot of money still, but more than they have now.

What astounds me most is when I take into account the price of the cow, and Rebecca's family income. They would never, ever, have been able to purchase a cow. It costs more money than they earn just to keep their family fed. They have no opportunity to make their lives better, because it takes money to make money.

And yet, the money I sent for this cow equates to the amount I'm paid for an hour and a half of work.

Yes, that's an hour and a half of sitting on the floor with a two-year-old and teaching them how to play with toys, how to say sounds or words, how to match pictures or sort colors. Some sacrifice, eh? Such a little bit on my end becomes so much on theirs. It sort of reminds me of Jesus with the little boy's lunch, feeding thousands of people. Such a small gift, but it went so far.

This cow is the perfect example of what I love best about Compassion. I get to see the impact my dollars have. I see how they're spent, and what difference is made. I have given to other ministries that do similar things, and I have nothing bad to say about any of those ministries nor do I discourage supporting them in any way, they too are making differences like these. But I sent off my check and hoped it made a difference in someone's life and never really knew what happened as a result. With Compassion, I know. I know whose life it impacts, and I see the long-term results, as I get to keep Rebecca for another 15 years or so.

You can't change the world -- but you can change the world for one child.

I sponsored Rebecca as part of the Compassion Bloggers' trip to Uganda in February. I'm thrilled to announce that tomorrow, a new group of Compassion Bloggers is going to the Dominican Republic. I encourage you to follow their trip, and to pray to see if God is leading you to sponsor a child through Compassion. Click "Compassion" in the list of labels in the sidebar to read my other posts about my Compassion kids.

And while you're at it... sponsor a child. ;)

How You Can Change the World

This post is part of the 40 Day Fast, a collaborative effort by 80 bloggers to draw attention to the world's great needs hosted by Inspired to Action. Be sure to also check out Charley's post today.

There are so many needs in the world. It hurts me to see people suffering, and my instinct is to want to jump in and "fix" it all. But the fact is, I can't fix it all -- I can't even fix all the things that are actually fixable. The needs are too great. When I read about people who are dying or suffering unnecessarily every day from starvation, from water-borne illnesses, from preventable or treatable diseases, and more... I am just overwhelmed. If I gave everything I had, my contributions would still be but a drop of water in a vast ocean of need.

Perhaps you've felt this way. Maybe you give what you can anyway but wonder if it's really doing any good. Maybe you feel so helpless that you just try to push it out of your mind and go on with your life. In the past, I've dealt with it both ways.

But this all changed for me when I was introduced to Compassion International. I realized that although I cannot change the world, I CAN change the world for one child. That concept was so eye-opening to me. It means that my small contributions aren't just a drop in the ocean anymore -- they make the difference between poverty and enough for one little boy or girl. And not just some nameless faceless child across the ocean that I'll never know about, but a child whose face I see on my refrigerator every day, a child who writes regularly so I can see for myself the impact my contribution is making in his/her life, a child who grows up to be a mommy or a daddy that is able to support his/her children and break that no-longer-endless cycle of poverty. Now my small contributions have significance and meaning.

If you're like me, if you've been so overwhelmed by the needs of the world that you wonder if you can really make a difference, I encourage you to consider sponsoring a child through Compassion. Your money provides for the child's physical and mental needs (this varies according to the needs of the family, but may involve food, clothing, medical care, education, vocational training, etc.) and your personal involvement provides for the child's emotional and spiritual needs as you offer love and encouragement through your correspondence. By meeting the full spectrum of need, you effectively change the world for that child. You break the cycle of poverty for that family. The far-reaching effects of this are astounding -- think of all the people your child will impact through his/her life. And it was all made possible by you.

I'd like you to meet Daniela... this paragraph edited -- Daniela now has a sponsor!! Thank you!



Let's find sponsors for more children -- how about 8 year old Amanda from El Salvador. She has been waiting more than six months. Will you put an end to her wait?





Or perhaps you could help little 5 year old Patrick in Ghana. He has already been waiting more than 6 months for a sponsor. Please end his wait today!



If you have questions about how Compassion works, feel free to check out their website, or ask questions here in the comment section, but here are the basics. The cost is $32 a month; you may select a child from their website, and the child will be linked only to you. Only you will be providing for that child, only you will be corresponding with the child. You may write to your child as often as you like, and your child will write back a minimum of three times per year. You will also receive yearly updates on your child's progress, with a recent photograph. You are encouraged to sponsor your child until they graduate from the program (about age 18-21) but if your circumstances force you to give up your commitment, another sponsor will be found for your child so they will not be removed from the program.


I've been a Compassion sponsor for about nine years now, and have never been sorry. If interested, you can meet my Compassion kids in this post: http://fragranceofsweetgrass.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-compassion-story.html


And if you're thinking $32 a month won't fit in your budget, here's a simple idea that enabled me to support another child that you may want to consider. You can read about it here:

http://fragranceofsweetgrass.blogspot.com/2008/04/bad-habits-hungry-children-in-africa.html


If you do decide to sponsor a child, I'd love to "meet" them -- will you please leave a comment, "introducing" us to your chosen child, or letting us know if you have chosen Gabriela or Patrick? (I love the word "chosen" -- just think how special your child will feel when they are told they have been chosen by you...) Please choose a child today.

Compassion -- yes, again... :)

So I found out via Boomama that there is going to be another Compassion blogging trip, this time to the Dominican Republic. I'm so excited about that -- following the Uganda trip was such an amazing experience and so informative, and I love knowing so much about the way my sponsored kids Milton and Rebecca in Uganda live and how Compassion works in their country.

But the Dominican... I'm really thrilled about this, because of course, Staurin, my very first sponsored child, lives in the Dominican Republic. I remember when he was maybe 9 or 10 years old, he hoped we would get to meet someday. Now he's all grown up and in high school. I'd love to meet him and his family, and see firsthand what a difference Compassion has made in his life, and in theirs.

I'll have to hope that the bloggers end up at his project and I get a glimpse of him through one of their videos or something.

To learn more about Compassion or to sponsor a child, please check out this link!

Bad Habits, Hungry Children in Africa, and Other Odds and Ends

So back in February when I was doing all the Compassion blogging, I mentioned that there was a teenager in Uganda I had my eye on and was hoping someone would sponsor him. I never followed up on that comment.

Somebody sponsored him. I did. You see, four sponsored kids was a stretch. I just really didn't feel comfortable sponsoring a fifth child. It's not like another charity where if you find yourself in over your head, you just call a phone number and reduce or discontinue your donation. There's a real child on the other end here! I knew if I decided to sponsor a fifth child, I had to commit to continue that support until the child exits the program. Yes, Compassion does allow you to discontinue your sponsorship if you should need to do so, and they will look for a new sponsor for your child and they won't be dropped from the program, but I personally could just never do that to a child.

Well, young Milton was really on my heart for a couple of weeks. I really felt God was leading me to sponsor him, but at the same time, I knew the money to do so simply wasn't there. I've heard many a sermon about going out on a limb and trusting God to supply the need and all of that, but to act on it? Well, that was scary.

In a ministry team meeting a few weeks previously, it had been shared that the money Americans spend on ice cream in a year is nearly three times the amount it would take to supply enough food to everyone in the world (this amount being in addition to what is already being given), and nearly twice the amount it would take to supply not only food, but also clean water and health care to the entire world. (again, the additional amount needed to meet these needs)

It really convicted me -- that's just ice cream! How much other trivial stuff do we spend money on every day? If we just gave up HALF our ice cream intake each year and gave that money to these causes, everyone in the world could have enough to eat, clean water, and health care!? That is just mind-blowing.

So as I became convinced that God definitely wanted me to sponsor Milton, and convicted regarding the ice cream statistics, I made the connection between the two and realized that what I was being asked to do was to give up something I currently was spending approximately $32 a month on and give that money to sponsor Milton instead. The money would thus be supplied. I really put a lot of thought into what that could be. I rarely eat ice cream, so that couldn't be it. I thought through my daily and weekly purchases, and was glad as I realized I'm really not much of a trivial spender. I have a lot of things, but those things are already purchased. As far as ongoing expenses, I'd already given up a lot of trivialities, such as cable tv, netflix, newspaper, etc. The remaining expenses were pretty essential. (And I'm self-employed and internet is a necessity for my business so not even that could be gotten rid of, thank goodness, because I'm afraid I'm just not good enough at heart to give up the internet even to save a starving child -- what a woefully selfish person I am...)

So anyway, after great thought, I finally settled upon my "sacrifice". Potato chips. It's a good idea anyway. It's my one unhealthy habit still remaining after working hard for many years to totally "clean up" my diet. But I was so addicted to potato chips that despite my high priority on my health, I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.

Now here's the funny part. I didn't decide to totally stop eating chips. I was going to vastly reduce the amount eaten. Limit myself to maybe a couple of bags a month, instead of the 3-4 bags a week I was accustomed to eating. Yes, I am a potato chip fanatic. They were a healthy brand, at least!! :)

So anyhow, I make this decision -- greatly reduce the chips, it's good for my health, and it will save me the amount of money I need to sponsor Milton. So I sponsored Milton. The very next time I went to the grocery store, I laughed as I noticed they were out of the particular type of chips I always purchase. "Didn't trust me not to get them, I see, so you took care of it for me," I laughed with God.

But the next time I went, they still weren't there. And I looked carefully and the STICKER WAS GONE!!!! It's been two months now, and they're still gone. I haven't had my potato chips that I was totally addicted to in TWO MONTHS. And they say you can break an addiction in that amount of time, but my friend, they are wrong. I crave those chips every bit as much today as I did the first day I was deprived of them.

Another odd thing has occurred lately. I've been dropping pounds like crazy. I had no idea why. It was becoming quite alarming -- I was losing about a pound a week, and I don't have it to lose. I was thin before; now I'm dropping to dangerously low weight levels!! I tried eating more, and more, and more, but it was never enough and the pounds just kept going away. I know, I know, there are many out there who would kill for that problem, but let me tell you, it can be very frightening to have your weight dropping so quickly to levels that make you look positively emaciated. At last, it finally occurred to me. THE CHIPS!!! Of course!!! 3-4 bags of chips a week, a fattening food, suddenly GONE from my diet altogether! No wonder I'm dropping weight like crazy!

So last week I purchased one bag -- just one -- of the most similar chip on the shelf. The same BRAND. Just a plain chip instead of rippled. How different could it really be??? And remember, I said I was reducing my chip intake, I never said I was giving them up completely!! So I felt perfectly entitled to that bag of regular chips. Especially since I can't seem to stop the weight loss any other way.

That chip was just not the same. Not the same at all. I won't be settling for THEM again.

I've gone so far as to look up the company to see if they stopped making the rippled chips. After all, the other five varieties sold by this brand are still on the shelf at the store!!! And I certainly bought enough of those rippled chips that the store should not have discontinued them for lack of sales!!!! The company apparently still makes them. And I can order them online for $36 a case.

$36 for a case of potato chips. $32 for Milton's monthly support. Do I really need those chips?

I didn't think so.

Want to give up your own "potato chips" or "ice cream" or whatever it may be, and sponsor a child? Click here.

My Compassion Story

I know I've already said all this in recent posts, but Shaun Groves is calling for our Compassion stories on his blog and my story was too fragmented, being discussed in several posts. So here is a consolidation.

My introduction to Compassion International was when I was in youth group. My youth director became very involved with Compassion, and chose a child in Rwanda for our youth group to sponsor. We all brought in our spare change and such from week to week and together were able to make the monthy payment in that way. I still remember the horror that spread across that room of teenagers when the child asked in response to us asking him if he had any pets, that yes he did, he had a dog, and he was very very fortunate to have the dog because it would go out and kill small animals and bring the meat back for him to eat. Wow....

So when I got out of college and got my first job, I decided this was something I wanted to do. At that time, Compassion just sent you a child -- there wasn't all this browsing and choosing stuff going on -- and they sent me Staurin, an 8 year old boy from the Dominican Republic. He had a sad look on his face, and they said he was performing below average in school. I was thrilled to see that just a year later, the sadness was gone, there was a look of hope in his eyes, and his school performance had improved and was marked as average.

One of the saddest things about Staurin is that right after he began his sponsorship, he wrote me that he was now living with his grandmother, because his mother had to move away to find work so that she could provide for his siblings. A couple years later, she did return, and Staurin's family has lived together since, but it showed me just how much they valued the program, and how necessary it was for his family. My guess is that his mother had to leave to find work, but Staurin was left behind with his grandmother so that he would be able to continue in the Compassion program. For his mother to value Compassion so much that she would be separated from her child so that he could participate really says a lot. Staurin is 16 now and wants to be an engineer.

A couple years later, I decided to sponsor another child, and Compassion now had a few pictures online. I selected an adorable little girl from Colombia named Astrith. She looked like Punky Brewster in her brightly colored mismatched clothes. :o) Unfortunately, the internet wasn't then what it is now, and children who were chosen on the website weren't automatically removed -- they had to be manually removed... and someone else had already selected Astrith before I did. I still have her picture saved on my computer and pray for her when I see it.

Compassion sent me Angie at that time, as she was the same age as Astrith and from the same country. I'm glad they did for I just love Angie so much and can't imagine if I'd never gotten to meet her. Angie was only 4 when I sponsored her, and her mother and oldest sister Leidy wrote the first few letters. Angie will be 11 next month, and is so sweet and affectionate in every letter, and always so grateful that she can attend the Compassion program.

Last year, I decided to sponsor a child with the same birthdate as Little Girl, my niece, and I kept searching the website until I found Marsabi, who is now 5. Marsabi and Little Girl write letters to each other and draw pictures. Little Girl was so excited at Christmas to make Marsabi a Christmas card. She carefully drew a picture of Baby Jesus in the manger, saying she wanted to make sure that Marsabi knew what the real Christmas was all about. She speaks of Marsabi often, and when she put together a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child this year, she hoped that maybe, just maybe, her particular box would make it to Marsabi. :o)

And little Rebecca from Uganda, age 5, is my newest little girl. I was already feeling burdened for Africa, but not really sure what to do about it, and then BooMama announced this trip to Uganda! The decision was sealed, and it was just a wait to see which child God had for me. Long story short, it was Rebecca, and so I look forward very much to getting to know Rebecca and her family.

I think my Compassion family is complete, but there's a teenager from Uganda my heart is burdened for, and I keep hoping someone will sponsor him. If nobody does, I might just have to take him in too... :o)

Current pictures of my four can be found in this post.

I've been a believer in Compassion's ministry for nine years now, and have seen the value it has had in my own life and in the lives of my sponsored children. But the bloggers' trip to Uganda has really opened my eyes to just HOW great the need is. There are so many children without hope right now... we can change that... we CAN. If everyone would sponsor one, just think of the miracles God could perform for Uganda. Please sponsor a child now!

It's a Girl

I am reminded of Marilla's emphatic remark to Rachel Lynde, "Well, we're not getting a girl," only to have Matthew appear with a girl in tow...

Yes, I said I thought I was getting a boy, about 7-10, but as it turns out, God sent me a girl, age 5.

Meet Rebecca from Uganda. She likes to play house and play with dolls and jump rope. Sounds like a typical little girl. :o) And she's in school. At the proper age.

As I searched through the children of Uganda over the last few weeks, I noticed something -- a lot of the children were listed as having average performance in kindergarten, or in primary school, despite their ages being sometimes as old as 12 or 13. I'm assuming that those children never had the opportunity to go to school until recently becoming involved with Compassion, so they're having to start at the beginning despite their advanced age... how wonderful that they're able to go to school now, but if only they had been able to start at the right age... well, Rebecca is starting at the right age. :o)

Here is a picture of Rebecca, and I realize I've not posted pictures of my other children, so I will go ahead and post them all here...


Rebecca from Uganda, age 5





Marsabi from Mexico, age 5





Angie from Colombia, age 10





Staurin from Dominican Republic, age 16




The Uganda bloggers are currently on their way!! Check out this link to follow their progress as the week goes on...

I just wonder if Boomama will meet Rebecca.... :o)

When God Makes Me Laugh...

I know there are times that I must make God laugh, but there are times when God makes me laugh too, and this is one of them.

Since making the decision that I'm going to sponsor a new African child, I've been so eager to just jump in and do it, but God has not yet provided clear direction on which child He has chosen especially for me. Waiting is so hard for me!!! And yet I wait... but not patiently, I must admit.

First, there was Moses. An adorable 6 year old in overalls -- I am overly fond of children in overalls, I just think they are so adorable -- and I definitely knew Moses was the child for me. Of course, I hadn't yet asked God His opinion on the matter, so I set forth to do that very thing. I asked Him specifically to show me whether or not I should sponsor Moses, and then I proceeded with my Bible study for the day. Not a word in there to answer my question. I was startled. He always answers one way or the other, but not to even mention it?? I headed back to the Compassion site to look at Moses once more... and Moses was gone. Out of the subset of children I had searched under, Moses was the only one that someone else had in that hour I was gone decided to sponsor... Okay, God, so that was a definite no on Moses.

I wait. A couple of days pass with no clear direction, I've studied the profiles of the children in the subset multiple times and none seems to jump out at me, and then one day two new children are added. One was named Polycarp. Polycarp!! Who trained under the disciple John and then led the church at Smyrna!? Yes, yes, this little Polycarp must be the child for me!! But of course I have to pray about it first. Again no clear answer at all. Frustrating. I went back that evening to have another look, and what do you know, Polycarp was gone. None of those other children on the list, just Polycarp. Sigh. Another no.

And then another child drew my attention. Adam. Yes, Adam could be the right child for me, couldn't he? And boom, five minutes later, Adam is gone. I'm not kidding!!

Next my attentions were drawn to a child named Timothy. I had seen him several times and not thought he was the one, but now I was beginning to wonder. I was already composing letters to him in my head -- To Timothy, my true son in the faith... :o) So last night, I sit down to ask about Timothy, and this time I specifically said, PLEASE don't just NOT answer my question this time. Whether it's yes or no or whatever the answer is, PLEASE ANSWER!!!! And He did. I proceed to my Scripture reading to see His answer emblazoned on the page before me: "wait for the promise of the Father..." and "it is not for you to know the time or the season..."

I noticed this morning that Timothy -- and only Timothy -- is missing from the subset of children.

And I just had to laugh.

:o)

And so I continue to wait....

Africa

My heart has become burdened for Africa lately. I can't explain why. I've never thought much about Africa before, I'll admit. I remember the images of little starving Ethiopian children on the tv screen constantly when I was a little girl, and of course we've all probably heard at some point during our childhood when refusing to eat something we didn't like about the poor little starving children in Africa who would love to have that to eat. But other than a casual "hmm, those poor kids in Africa" thought here and there, I never really thought much more about it.

I blogged about Compassion International a year ago, and introduced you to my three sponsored children, Staurin, Angie, and Marsabi. (You can read that post here.) It wasn't intentional that they're all from Central and South America, but it's not really surprising either. After all, those countries somehow seem a much closer need... it's on our land mass, after all, and I've heard so many missionary stories from places like Haiti, Costa Rica, etc., and my own sister-in-law is from Argentina. Having three sponsored children in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico just brings Central and South American poverty to the forefront of my mind.

However, just in the last few weeks, Africa has weighed heavily on my mind. I'm sure that is in great part due to Life Today, an amazing ministry that I've only recently discovered. I'm very impressed with the integrity I see in this ministry and have begun supporting their efforts in mission feeding and drilling water wells. Since I've been watching a lot of their programming, the images of starving little children and their grieving parents, and of the nasty sewage-filled water these families drink from, have really been burned into my mind.

And now, the bloggers, including one of my favorites, BooMama, are going to Uganda with Compassion, to blog about what that ministry is doing in that country. I'm really excited about this. I'm always so eager to see what's going on for myself, to watch the changes that are made in children's lives, to hear their stories. I'm hoping for LOTS of details from these bloggers!!

I received a DVD in the mail from Compassion the other day, full of short features. I watched most of them, but the one that really left the most impact on me was Michael W. Smith's visit to the Kibera slum in Kenya. I was appalled at the living conditions of these people; I've seen poverty and really wretched living conditions many times before, but never have I seen anything this bad. My heart was suddenly burdened for Kibera and I decided it was time to sponsor another child, this time from Africa. I've been searching through the photos and praying regarding the particular child God has chosen for me to sponsor this time, but so far, I don't believe the child is there. I waited and prayed six months for Marsabi before God showed me that she was the one, so I hope I don't have to wait THAT long this time! :o)

I think this child is a boy, around 7-10 years of age. I can't explain that, it's just what I feel like God is telling me. I am really looking forward to "meeting" him, and watching God perform a miracle in his life. I am wondering if the blogger's Uganda reports will lead me to my sponsored child there, or if he is in Kenya, perhaps even in Kibera itself, or perhaps a different African country. I'll keep you posted when I find him.

In the meantime, I encourage you to check out this awesome ministry for yourself -- where else do you have the opportunity to make such a vast impact and investment in an impoverished child's life, and actually get to see the results over the years? It's a blessing I know you won't want to miss.

Compassion

Today I want to share a little bit with you about the ministry I am most passionate about: Compassion International. There are lots of wonderful organizations out there to help feed the hungry, and a number of good child sponsorship programs, but Compassion is simply the best! With many ministries, I often feel like, "What difference does my tiny contribution actually make anyway?", but not with Compassion. You can't change the world -- but you can change the world for one child, and you actually get to watch exactly what your involvement does in the life of that child as he or she grows. Not only are physical needs met, but the child's spiritual needs are met, as well, and that is, after all, what truly changes their life.

Compassion has no set way that they work, or set things that they provide for their sponsored children. It's very flexible and variable, depending on the country, the community, and the particular needs of the child and family. They may provide anything from basic necessities such as food, clothing, or housing assistance to other needs such as medical care or schooling. They partner with local evangelical churches in the areas where they work and let that local body make a lot of the decisions about what is provided and to whom, but they very closely monitor how the funds are used and how the programs are run to ensure they comply with Compassion's goals and remarkable financial integrity.

What I really love about the way Compassion works now is that you can actually select the child you wish to sponsor on their website. Years ago, you could choose a gender and a country, but that was it -- they selected the child for you. Now you can actually browse through pictures of all children awaiting a sponsor and choose the one you want. You can search by country, by age, by gender, by birthday, or even children with specific disabilities or who are orphans. What you "get" is an information card about your child with a picture (which is updated on a yearly basis) and a minimum of two letters per year from your child, or in the case of a very young child, from a teacher or family member of the child. Some children choose to write more often. You have no limitations on how often you write your child, and you can even send your letters via email to be printed and translated for the child, if you wish. It doesn't get much easier than that! You can send flat paper-like gifts such as stickers and bookmarks along with your letters if you like. You also have the option of giving your child birthday and Christmas gifts -- you supply the amount of money you want to give (limited to $25 and two gifts per year) and the child's Compassion workers will use the money to buy something your child needs or wants.

Now, I want you to meet my Compassion children.

Staurin is 15 years old, and lives in the Dominican Republic. When I first began sponsoring Staurin at the age of 8, his picture showed a very somber child, and his information card indicated that he was performing below average in school. Staurin has blossomed into a wonderful young man. His grades are excellent and he plans to get further schooling when he finishes high school so that he can become an engineer. He has two older sisters and a younger brother, who sometimes like to send pictures with Staurin's letters, as well. Staurin nearly always has something exciting to share that he has just learned in Sunday School, such as a favorite verse or Bible story, and asks in every letter how he can pray for me. His mother always sends her love.

Angie is a real sweetheart. She is almost ten years old, and lives in Colombia. Angie was only 4 when I began sponsoring her, so her teenage sister and her mother sent the first few letters, and they were both such kind and gracious people. Now, of course, Angie writes her own letters, and she writes often!! She sends pictures of herself and her little sister from time to time on her own, separate from the yearly pictures that Compassion sends, and I have so enjoyed watching her grow. She is always so compassionate and thoughtful in her letters, and she thanks me constantly for supporting her so that she can go to her Compassion center, because she enjoys the activities they host for the children and the friends she has there so much. She dearly loves Jesus, and even at her young age, has written me that she is seeking the will of God for her life. Last Christmas, as I was shopping for dolls for my niece, I so wanted to be able to send Angie a doll, but of course, due to customs regulations, I couldn't do that. How happy I was to receive a letter from Angie soon after Christmas thanking me for the beautiful doll I gave her -- her Compassion worker had selected a doll for her with the Christmas money I sent!

Marsabi is my newest little girl. She is four years old and lives in Mexico. I chose Marsabi because she was born on the same day as my niece. My plan is that as they grow up together, they can be penpal friends, and this will help my niece to realize in a very personal way that there are children who are not as fortunate as she is, but we can help those children.

I urge you to visit Compassion's website today at http://www.compassion.com today and look through the pictures of children awaiting a sponsor. Each child has a story of their own, and you can be part of it. The cost is only $32 a month. You remain a child's sponsor until they age out of the program (usually at 18, but those attending college may stay a little longer), although if circumstances should at some point cause you to be unable to keep that commitment, you have the option of leaving the program and Compassion will find another sponsor for your child. If you have children, what a wonderful way to teach them to care for others, and to learn about another part of the world. You could do as I did and choose a child the same age as your child so they can grow up together, write letters, send pictures, share their interests, and have a friend somewhere across the world. Trust me -- it's a decision you'll never regret.