Somewhere to give

My favorite piece of mail comes in a cream colored envelope with blue print that shouts:

A LETTER FROM YOUR CHILD!

Yep.  This is my favorite kind of mail.  It is filled with colorful pictures our kiddo drew, ideas and questions from them, and most importantly, it lets us know that they are still around.

Devin and I sponsor 4 beebs through Compassion International.

From left to right is Lisa (6), Navina (11), Nepal (8), and Budra (7).  Nepal is a writer to the max.  We get more letters from him than any of them and he is a master flower artist.  The girls love when I send them sheets of stickers.  Budra is the sweetest face you will ever set your eyes on.  This morning, when Devin took this picture, I made him kiss them all before he left for work.  

We love them.  I hope to meet all 4 of them someday.

Although they don't all live in the same villages, they are all from India where poverty, hunger, and disease run rampant.  All 4 of their fathers only get to work sometimes and most of their mothers do not work.  They live on about $1.50 a day.

My straight black coffee costs more than that.

You can choose your child, or choose a country and Compassion will select one for you.  You get to write them letters, send small gifts, send them Christmas and Birthday gifts through the organization, and Compassion makes it all super convenient.

You can go here to see how your money will be put to use.

When we got married, we decided that this would be a way we would use some of the money God gives us every month.  I don't know if it is for everyone, but I think if children and culture and communication speak to your heart, sponsoring a child might be for you. 

But if it seems a bit too long term for you, and you still want to help, Compassion has plenty of options for you:

-You can donate as little as $10 to help their pig income project in Rwanda

- You can help improve classrooms in Bolivia

- You can help to build a kitchen in India

- You can help to build proper bathrooms for Kenya

- And another one that gets me.  You can donate to give a woman proper prenatal care and counseling, a safe birth (most of these women give birth in unsafe places resulting in multiple baby deaths), and care for children up to 3 years of age.

If you decide Compassion is right for you and have any questions, please please please email me (link on the left sidebar).  I would love to hear about it.

Salma Needs a Sponsor

Last week, I posted our Christmas Child who needs a sponsor through Compassion International so that she can eat and have clean water and go to school.

Originally I posted that we had found a sponsor for her, but that did not work out, so I am back asking someone to sponsor this sweet little girl.

You can see the original post here.

If you are interested, please email me (link on the left sidebar)

Take this cute little girl. Please!

Devin and I have sponsored 4 children through Compassion International since June, and we are constantly blessed by it.  I really enjoy writing to all of them about what we are up to, different holidays we celebrate, and asking them all kinds of questions.  We get letters from one or more than them about once a week, and it is just really neat to hear what is going on in their lives in India.  Their pictures are on our fridge and we think about them all the time.

Maybe it is just me, but the whole getting started process is exciting when you decide to sponsor a kid.  Compassion will send you a massive envelope with what looks like an elementary school picture packet- big ones for you and small prints to share with people who will pray for your kid.  Writing to them is super easy- Compassion will send you everything you need or you can do it online.

So this year, we were asked to take on a Christmas Child in the month of December.  This means that it is our job to find someone to sponsor one child who has been on the Compassion waiting list.

SO!

I present the beautiful, precious Salma Moke!

Don't you just want to squeeze her?

Salma is 10 years old and lives with her family in Tanzania.  Don’t you know she woke up that morning and put on the most outstanding outfit she owns just for this picture?  This little girl just has no idea how one sponsor is going to rock her world.

This is what Compassion writes about the place Salma calls home:

“Across Tanzania, thousands of children like Salma face a harsh, daily struggle for survival.  Many children go for days with little or no food, or have little access to safe drinking water.  They are often sheltering in unhygienic conditions where disease, violence and abuse overshadow their lives.  No wonder many live in constant fear and danger”.

Can you even wrap your head around that?  This little girl often goes without food for days.  Think about Salma tomorrow while you are sitting down with your family to eat portion sizes that should be illegal.  And when you go around the table and rattle off general things that you’re thankful for: jobs and family and friends and food, maybe think about what Salma would say if she were sitting next to you.  Think about how genuinely thankful she would be to the people who saved her from the inevitable life in Tanzania.

Talk about perspective.

One really cool part about sponsoring our kiddos is that we never miss that money that is taken out of our account every month, and we never ever ever ever ever go without.  God really blesses us in that way, and in return, 4 kids get to go to school, are fed, are given clean drinking water, are kept safe, get to go to the doctor, and are learning about how loved they are.  They don’t have to beg, they don’t have to starve, and they don’t feel worthless or alone.

Our Compassion kids hold very very precious places in our hearts.  We are excited to watch them grow up and maybe someday we will get to go meet them.

Do me one favor…over the Thanksgiving weekend, think about sponsoring Salma, and if you’re interested or need more info, please email me (link on the left sidebar).  I have everything you need to get started.

She is going to get the BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!

P.S.  Please send the link to my blog to your friends and family- I really want to get Salma a sponsor ASAP!

PERFECT PRESENT #2

Like I said earlier this week, Christmas is fast approaching and we all need ideas for what to get our families and friends.  And so…

THE PERFECT PRESENT #2

The Rope of Hope

It’s not a great picture, but it’s all I have to work with. 

The thing is, this gift is less about the necklace and more about the initiative.

Rahab’s Rope is an organization that fights human trafficking, particularly focused on women, in India.  If you have been reading for a while, you know I have a heart for the less fortunate (Christmas is coming!  The season of giving!  Get your wallets out!), but also for women in this exact situation.  Devin and I sponsor 4 kids from India through Compassion International, and to think of one of my sweet girls that sends me drawings of flowers and bumble bees ending up where these women are…it just breaks my heart.  Melissa Fitzpatrick says it well in describing her time in India with Compassion:

The theology of human worth and dignity that is so essential to the Christian message is so desperately needed in a country like India that is primarily Hindu.  [We need] to instill a sense of meaning and purpose that is so crucial for these women

So, Rahab’s Rope serves that very purpose: to give hope and opportunity to women and girls that have been forced into the commercial sex trade of India by providing a safe and loving environment that will enable them to grow and develop both physically and spiritually.

On Christmas, Rahab’s Rope is throwing a party and inviting all women of the community in for a full day of being cared for.  In making a donation and getting this necklace for a friend or family member, you are also giving a woman in India a meal, a new dress, various items she may need, and hope.  When you make a donation of at least $20, you are buying her hope.

Still not sold?  Check out the facts from the Rahab’s Rope website:

• Trafficking in human beings is now the third-largest moneymaking venture in the world, after illegal weapons and drugs.
• Each day in India nearly 200 girls and women are forced into the sex trade.  Every. Day.
• The birth of a girl is often a burden and she is not fed properly, loved or educated
• Mortality and suicide rates for Indian women are among the highest in the world.
• As many as 50,000 women and children from Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe are brought to the U.S. under false pretenses each year and forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants (Joel Brinkley NYT citing CIA report).
• Approximately 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors. (U.S. Department of State)
• The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion. (U.N.)
• Sex trafficking is an engine of the global AIDS epidemic. (U.S. Department of State)

This year, maybe we can make an effort to buy things of purpose instead of things we’ll be tired of by January.

THE ROPE OF HOPE PERFECT FOR:  Your sweet grandma, your kid’s favorite teacher, your babysitter, your neighbor, a Christmas party gift, a stocking stuffer, a friend, a stranger in India

...and Then There Were Four

I wonder what made me think that sponsoring one child from India would fulfill my desire to serve the children of poverty. Devin and I discussed our financial situation on Sunday and decided we just weren't giving enough. So, we opted to sponsor 3 more children from India via Compassion International. We are elated to be a part of their lives and cannot wait to hear from them.

Nepal Munda Kishun is a healthy 7 year old boy who has patiently waited for a sponsor since December 2007, if not longer (I'm basing it on when their info was last updated). He lives with his mother and father, who are both farmers when there is work, in Ranchi. His chores include collecting firewood as his community's greatest need is electricity.

Budra Khillo is a healthy boy who just hit the 6 year old milestone on May 17th. He lives with his mother and father and loves to play marbles and other games. His family lives in Bhubaneshwar, which is pretty close to where Lisa and her family live. Budra has been waiting since November of 2007 for a sponsor.

Navina Kothli is our 10 year old girl. She has been waiting since December of 2007 for a sponsor. You should see her draped in such beautiful colors (I promise to get pictures scanned in of all 4 of our cheerun, as the women I work with would say). She loves to play house, naturally, as any 10 year old girl does. I can just imagine her enacting the motherly duties she is already observing in her community. These children take on great responsibility at very young ages. She lives with her mother and father in the same community as Budra! Actually, because they are now sponsored, they will actually hear about Jesus at the same Bible School! I hope they become friends and show our pictures to each other. I really hope that connection is made.

We Must Go Live to Feed the Hungry, Stand Beside the Broken...

God has blessed Devin and myself immensely with jobs that provide more than enough for the two of us, and then some. It is so important to us, as the very small 2 person family that we are, to diligently return His money to Him so that He may do the work He needs to do with it. I have always had a heart for missions, for the struggling, the broken-hearted, the poor, the weak and exhausted, the loveless, the less fortunate, whether the people are next door or across the world. One night at what we believe is going to be our home church, Dr. Jerry Rankin spoke about how Christians are to have and show compassion. He spoke of the Great Commission, that God commands that we make disciples of all nations, and his emphasis was on 1 John 3:17,

"If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions".

I so desire to have and show compassion to His people, and so, as I read Melisa Moore Fitzpatrick's daily accounts on the Living Proof blog of her trip to India with Compassion (God has a funny way of using the same words to speak to us) International to meet her sponsor children, I was drawn with a desire that was so urgent to sponsor twenty children. God has blessed us, but twenty was probably out of our realm of giving, so I toned it down before I talked to Devin. After talking and praying and talking, we signed up to sponsor a child, and TODAY, we found out who our child is.

We have a little girl. She is 5. She loves dolls and playing house. We love her already, and I truly mean that we love her.

Her name is Lisa, and she. is. beautiful. Unfortunately, the Compassion website won't let me download her picture to post here, but as soon as we get one in the mail, I will scan and post it like a proud mother. We are so thrilled and hopeful that God will continue to bless us for years so we can watch her grow up and become the Godly woman she is called to be.

Lisa lives in Bolangir, Orissa in India with her mother and father.


Her mother is unemployed and her father is a laborer. If he gets work, he makes an average of $27 per month. Our donation, monthly, is. more. than. his. salary. on. a. good. month. And the money doesn't do small things- Compassion makes sure that it spreads a long way! The money will give our little girl food and clean water, education, medical care. She will learn life skills, hygiene, trades, and how to care for children. But the sweetest of it all- she will hear the wonderful stories of Jesus Christ. She will hear how much He loves her (something that, most likely, not even her parents tell her), how much He has planned for her, and she will hear it every single day. We are excited to be chosen as the vessel for Jesus to change her life and set her free.

That night at church, when the pastor spoke on the Great Commission, and the requirement that Christians show unconditional compassion, the congregation sang this song that drives me to tears of motivation every single time:

God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served

Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God

You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord

Now that I've told you of the need all over the world, and how far your dollar can go...
Now that you know, what will you do?