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.
1. i have missed your types; glad you're back.
ReplyDelete2. confession: when drew and i signed up to adopt a compassion child last year, i remember looking for the place on the form where you indicate the number of months you want your credit card debited...to which God said "REALLY LAUREN...?!" {insert a drop kick of conviction here.}
3. congrats on the galveston half!
This is really awesome. Okay, here's where I admit it. We've looked into doing something like this several times and always chickened out. We're both really cynical and always worry where our money is "really" going. Is there any rating agency for these type of organizations? As in, how much goes to overhead, etc.? I'm sure these questions are dumb, but this is what we worry about.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Day- thanks for your confession ;) I definitely don't think you're the only one. Not at all.
ReplyDeleteKim! Check out Compassion's info here: http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/helpfulinformation/sponsorshipfaq/default.htm#11