I’m VERY excited!

We’re going to sponsor a child through Compassion International!

I need to back up here a little bit and begin at the beginning. Ever since I was pretty young (late grade school, I’m guessing), I’ve wanted to sponsor a child through one of the charitable organizations out there. Now that’s been a lot of years that I’ve waited to do it! For one reason or another, it just never happened.

Fast forward to this last week, when I began reading about the trip some bloggers took to Uganda with Compassion. They rounded up a group of bloggers (some of whom I read somewhat regularly) and took them to see the work Compassion does in Africa. The bloggers posted about their experiences even as they were still in Uganda. I didn’t read these until after they were back (they went in February), but once I started I couldn’t stop! Some met the children they sponsor. There are blog entries, photos, videos… I almost feel like I was there with them – you know, other than the fact I was in my comfortable home surrounded by snow. I was really struck by the quality of the Compassion program and their commitment to transparency in their finances and showing these children the love of Jesus.

I’m convicted in a much stronger way than ever before that I NEED to do this! No more excuses, no more putting it off until I could think about it… I would have signed up right away if it were up to me, but there was a little hitch in that plan. I’m a married woman who needs to run these things by her husband first. A husband who does NOT make quick decisions. A husband who needs details and time to think and think and think…

So I gave him information to look at and tried to wait patiently. I tried very hard to only ask him about it once a day. I prayed about it. And I waited some more.

Today my husband asked me to print out information for several children and that we could pray together about it tonight. I am taking this to mean that we will decide *which* child we will sponsor, not *if* we will sponsor. And this will be a very difficult decision, one that will certainly require prayer. There are so many children in need, how do you pick just one? I’ve looked through the photos and stories of the available children for several days and have chosen 6 ‘finalists’ for us to choose from. How I wish we could sponsor them all!

So I’m rather excited! I’ll share our experiences with this here, for sure!

I urge you to prayerfully consider sponsoring a child. If you’d like to read and see some of the things I’ve been watching, visit Boomama’s blog and look in the left sidebar for the blue Blog Compassion Uganda box – click on the options there to see Uganda through these bloggers’ eyes. Your heart will break, but if you are like me, you will also be struck by the hope shining from these children’s eyes. A small sacrifice in your lifestyle can greatly improve the life of an impoverished child on the other side of the world – even into the realms of eternity. And I believe your life and heart will be richer for it.

Tags: Compassion, sponsorship