Monday, April 27, 2009

Compassion: India

Happy Monday, Peeps!
  
We have some business to take care of this fine [stormy] Monday! So, without further ado, the winner of Friday's book giveaway is:
  
Kate Gal!!! 
I've felt that 'gut feeling' where I take that as God nudging me. Sometimes its a little nudge 'yes Kate, do that' other times its a pretty hard jab 'what are you thinking!?? STOP!!' I'm not sure I've heard His voice but I keep looking for His hand, His guiding, His help. I need it a lot. Will have to go out and get this book (if I don't win it)   
Congratulations!!! Email me your mailing address to gitzengirl@gmail.com and I'll get your book to you ASAP!
  
I feel like I should put a disclaimer here because so many of you commented about the concept of being more quiet to hear God's voice... and that part wasn't actually from the book. That was just me giving my opinion. :) The book is an easy read that is basically a compilation of short stories telling different people's experiences... it's especially nice for people who want to pick up a book and read snippets when you have time since it's not one continuous story that you feel you need to finish. Just wanted to make sure you understood what you were buying. :)
   
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Remember awhile back when I told you that I won something amazing over at Pioneer Woman's blog? For those of you who missed it, I won the chance to be a part of a Compassion child's life. Ree [aka Pioneer Woman ] paid to sponsor a few older children who were a part of the program, but who are often overlooked for sponsorship because of their age. I offered, and I was chosen to correspond with one of them.

Recently, I received my packet of information and instructions on how to correspond with my sponsor child. Meet Tsegaye:

  
I opened my packet and instantly felt such a pull on my heart. I have nephews that are around Tsegaye's age. They are in school, play sports, go on dates and are planning for their futures. They are getting driver's licenses and thinking about college. And I want Tsegaye to have all those hopes and dreams, too. And then I read his profile.

He loves to play soccer, he is above average in his middle school studies, he attends church activities and helps his mother with the cleaning. He's really just like my nephews... a great kid. A great kid who just happened to be born into an HIV affected area of Ethiopia, who needs help and encouragement and people to believe in him. And I get to be that person.

I can't tell you how great that feels.

You might have noticed that I have had a link on my sidebar [over there on the left] to the Compassion website, in case any of you are interested in sponsoring a child. For the next week or so, there is another button right above it that says "Compassion Bloggers in India." Right now, a group of bloggers are traveling in Kolkata [which used to be Calcutta] visiting children in Compassion programs. You can click that button to go to a page that lists the bloggers on the trip and provides links to their sites. I've gotten to know both Angie [from Bring the Rain ] and Pete [from Without Wax ] and would encourage you to go to either of their blogs to read about their journey... they should be posting regularly while they're there with photos and accounts of their trip.

It's a pretty amazing opportunity to see first hand [well, second hand, really... but you know what I mean :)] what the needs are in these countries and how the children can be helped.

I'll keep you updated from time to time on how things are going with Tsegaye, and I'd love to hear about your experiences with programs like Compassion, too. It's overwhelming to think of how many kids in the world need us, but it's pretty amazing to be able to help at least one.

12 comments:

  1. How wonderful to finally get to know who your compassion child is! I really do hope you get to share about your experience with him. I was reading Pete's updates last night and is was so moving. I was so moved by his story of Mother Theresa's room and the baby with no name. Its a mighty tug on my heart.

    Its been cold and rainy and I am praying its not affecting you too greatly. Fingers crossed for the arrival of your new computer! :*

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  2. Hi,

    Over the weekend, I happened to leave a comment on your last post about Compassion International. I forgot to mention that my church also sponsors 9 kids. Each month the congregation writes letters to 3 of the kids (on a rotating basis). I asked our Pastor if I could get Paulo (the boy I sponsor) in on this, and he said sure! So now Paulo also receives letters from time to time from my church as well as from me. I'll definitely go check out Angie and Pete's blogs! Thank you for taking one of these children under your wing!

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  3. That is so awesome! We sponsor a little girl named Maria from Mexico. She's just a week younger than my oldest (8), and we chose Mexico in the hopes that we could visit her as a family some day.

    LOVE the idea of sponsoring an older child!

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  4. Robin ~ All Things Heart and HomeApril 27, 2009 at 8:00 AM

    I wondered about your Compassion child. I'm so excited for you and looking forward to seeing more about him.
    I don't know enough about all of this so I am going to keep track of their trip. I'm really interested in sponsoring. Thanks for the reminder...
    (Computer coming this week???)

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  5. Good morning, Sara. I was always such a terrible pen pal, but I have no doubt that you will very diligent in your coorespondance with Tsegaye.

    My mom is a children's minister, and she has the kids at her church sponser Compassion children. They LOVE writing to them.

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  6. The above named "Guest" is actually Terroni. This is what happens when I try to blog and write a paper at the same time. (Who knows what the hell that paper I just turned in says.)

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  7. So happy you have this opportunity! Continued impact without needing to risk your health. Now, I have been teaching first grade since 1985. I can read messy writing, backwards writing, upside-down writing. I can figure out pretty quickly what a child meant to write even when they are missing and switching letters in their guesses. But, I am not at all sure how to pronounce this young man's name. Do you know?

    Recent blog post: What Shows Through?

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  8. Also, I do want to order canvases. Is the only way through the interior design site? I don't want to do it in a way that does not work for you! Please let me know when you want me to order. Many many thanks!

    Recent blog post: What Shows Through?

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  9. So glad to hear that you finally have some information on him. You will have to keep us posted on your interactions with him.

    On a side note...my computer died on Friday!!! UGH!!! I am really wondering how I will function. Mike is so kind that he is bringing his laptop home from work for me. We are kind of disagreeing right now on which one to purchase. If we go Dell again (which is what he wants) then it could take up to 4 weeks!!! What's a girl to do??? Emma was asking yesterday when we would get a new one and I told her ASAP, then she cracked me up when she said, "yeah cause Daddy is probably going to need his laptop at work soon." She thought he would be leaving it home for us. When Mike pulled into the drive tonight, she hollered..."Mommy, your computer is here." At least she feels my pain!

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  10. What a GREAT thing, Gitz! And how wonderful of Ree to do this. She is an amazing woman and so are you. What a team! :)

    Recent blog post: Hollie Steel - Britain's Got Talent - Show 3

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  11. Our girl, Prudence, is in Uganda. We've only had her for a few months but we love she is our part of our family. A couple days ago, my three year old asked if she could pick another child to bring clean water too (we happened to be talking about being thankful for our drinking water because not all kids have that...and that was her response!)

    Recent blog post: Be: Content

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