Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Compassion International

Sponsor a child online through Compassion's Christian child sponsorship ministry. Search for a child by age, gender, country, birthday, special needs and more.
If you look closely at my sidebar, you'll notice a new button. This button is for an organization that is close to my heart. First of all, if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you know I have a heart for children and for adoption. I truly feel that God is calling me to further the cause of adoption, and children in general. Where this might lead, I'm not quite sure. One thing that my husband and I have done for many years is support children through Compassion International. These are kids that are not orphans, they do have families. However, their families cannot provide what they need on a daily basis. Through Compassion International these children are given healthy meals, medical care, an education, and most importantly, they are told about the love of Jesus. Entire families are changed through the work of Compassion all over the world.
Warren went on a mission trip to Haiti shortly after we were married. He saw firsthand the poverty and need in that country. Because of this we chose to sponsor children in Haiti. Our first Compassion child is Wisley. Oh boy has he grown! He was a tiny 4 year old when we began sponsoring him. He's now a tall, lanky 13 year old! I bet he's much taller than me (ok, stop the laughter, I know it doesn't take MUCH to be taller than me!!!) He sends us letters a few times a year. We received his latest letter last week, he says it's cold in Haiti (wonder if I could send him a snowball from here...then he'd see what COLD looks like!). I've seen him grow so much in the past years. He's learned to read and write. He's gone to church camps. He's growing into a young man.
Or second Compassion child is a little girl named Marline. She's a cute little 6 1/2 year old who excels at school. One of the wonderful things about Compassion is that you get your child's story. You find out how many siblings they have and their favorite activity. You get the opportunity to write to your child so that you can form a bond with them. (Unfortunately I am fail miserably in the correspondence area. I always start letters, but never seem to get them completed and mailed...I am going to sit down and write Wisley back, TODAY!) One really cool thing that Compassion does is organize trips so that you can go to your child's country and actually meet them!! How wonderful would it be to be able to go see Wisley graduate from school? Oh what an experience! Maybe someday we'll get the chance to do this, but for now we pray for them daily. We have their pictures posted on our refrigerator door with other pictures of family and friends.
If you are at all interested in the work that Compassion International does, or would like to get involved, click the button to the left and it will take you to their site. I would love to hear if any of you have a cause that you are passionate about. Please leave a comment!!! Also, if you have a Compassion child, what is their name, where are they from, and how old are they???? Can't wait to hear from you all!!!

1 comment:

Tom Emmons said...

Nice post! Did you know that Compassion is sending a group of Christian bloggers to Africa to report on the children in poverty in Uganda. Please pray that at least 500 children find sponsors as a result of this trip. You can follow along on the trip at http://www.compassion.com/share/uganda-blog.htm.