Affording Hope
I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic about child sponsorship. I know that sounds awful, but it’s true. I even sponsored a little guy through World Vision several years ago, but I never truly knew if my thirty-some-odd dollars a month was really making a difference. So I didn’t put a lot into my relationship with him, I’m ashamed to say. I think I only wrote once. At least I hope I wrote once. And then, some where along the line, we stopped sponsoring him. Just kind of trailed off. I truly don’t remember if he moved out of the program or what happened. That’s how uninvolved I was.
But this time is going to be different. This time we have a good friend, Brad Ruggles, who is in Africa right now, holding the hands of children who’s lives are being turned right-side-up through Compassion International. This time we see EXACTLY what it means to a child to have someone on the other side of the globe care enough to send love and hope every month.
And we want to be a part of it. Actually, Brad threatened to not be our friend any more if we didn’t sponsor a child in Kenya, and we don’t have that many friends to begin with yet here in Indy, so we can’t afford to lose him. But we can afford $38 a month. We can afford to take even a foggy look at poverty. We can pray that God will use this new little person to change our family, to educate and better Madalyn and Gabe as they grow.
We can afford the challenge. So this time there will be letters. There will be many pieces of artwork, smeared with glitter glue, that depict round glob people with eyes and mouths and noses and chins (all of Madalyn’s glob people have chins). Madalyn will surely want to send Kanze (did I tell you our new little friend’s name is Kanze?) a “picture” of our family, illustrated by herself.
So we challenge our faith, we stretch our kids, we keep our friend, and we sponsor a child. Go see how Brad is spending his days in Africa and you just might do the same.
Filed under hodgie podgie, what matters most | Comments (2)Letters To My Children 01: Things Will Look Better In The Morning
Dear Madalyn & Gabriel,
When you are feeling sad, discouraged, disheartened, or frusturated, consider how tired you are…right here, right now. How long has it been since you’ve gotten a good night’s rest? What stresses are wearing on your body and your heart?
When you are sad, discouraged, disheartened, or frusturated…sleep. Things will almost always look better in the morning. Better with the sun rising, better with a cup of coffee, better through the sleep that is still in your eyes.
And I promise you this…they will never, ever look any worse for the rest you have allowed and perspective you have gained.
Love,
Mama
Filed under Letters To My Children, hodgie podgie | Comments (2)Mama Respensive Reading
A few things before watching the video clip below:
1) Madalyn likes to make words up. A lot. She also likes to slowly, carefully, and patiently make sure her Daddy and I are pronouncing the created words correctly.
2) I’m not sure why she breaks out into frequent and sudden arabesques during our taping session. She won’t let me sign her up for ballet. Every time I bring up the fine art, she responds with a vehement ” I want to play SOCCER!!!” We are signing her up for soccer this spring.
3) That’s it. Enjoy…you’ll laugh, you’ll cry…you’ll learn some Spanish.
Untitled from Laura Carney on Vimeo.
Filed under hodgie podgie | Comments (4)
