The day after Thanksgiving, we were at my parents' house getting ready to put our Thanksgiving meal on the table which consisted of:
Turkey--delicious because it was smoked to on the grill, Dad's specialty,
Ham--cooked to perfection
Stuffing made from scratch--Mom makes homemade bread for the stuffing,
Creamy homemade macaroni and cheese--not the boxed Kraft kind that the kids love so much
Navy Beans in Marinara Sauce topped with Bread Crumbs--A new recipe that quickly became a favorite
Scalloped Corn--is it a holiday meal with out Mom's perfected recipe?
Jell-O--The recipe Dad's grandma made for him when he was a child
Deviled Eggs--My sister's gift as I never make them myself
Pies--Homemade Pumpkin and Apple, need more be said?
We are in the middle of getting this meal ready to put on the table. Mark, bless him, has run home to get something I had forgotten. He comes back into the house and hands me an envelope as the mail had come while he was home. I don't need to look twice to know this envelope. It is a cream colored envelope with blue writing on the front. With a squeal of delight, I open the envelope from Compassion that contains a letter from one of our six children.
It is a letter from Angel, our little boy in Mexico. Angel is a sweetie. He always writes how much he loves us, that he is praying for us. In every letter we get at least two, if not more, thank-you's for the gifts and letters we send him. This letter was much the same, he sends his love and a thank you for the gifts and letters that we are sending him. He promises to take care of the pictures that I had sent him of our family. But there is one sentence in the letter that caught Mark and I both as we are putting on our big family meal. Angel wrote about his holidays and that he was going to be spending them at the church, and that he wished he had money to buy food......
And now, here I am in the middle of a two week challenge of no refined sugar counting the days until I can eat a piece of candy again. And I have to stop and look at what I consider a hardship in my life... no candy, really? Wow.
I wrote back to Angel asking him about the food. I may or may not hear back from him about this, as the letter writing and translation process is slow at best.
I have in many attempts, that never get published, tried to explain how important Compassion is to me. I can never find the right words to describe what is going on in my heart and in my head when I think about sponsoring our children. I can tell you it is something I am passionate about. I am so excited and so happy to have the opportunity to share what God has given us with other families. I love the idea that God gives us the resources as a family, to help another family giving them hope, showing love, and investing in their lives. I also love the way E and Addy have taken the sponsorship to heart and that even in their hearts, our family extends beyond the city, across state lines, and over country boarders. If someone were to ask me is sponsoring a child worth it? My answer, hands down. Absolutely.
