Leo

Last night something really cool happened. Our little family made the decision to sponsor a child through the Compassion Organization. I talked briefly about this earlier this summer, but it has taken us a while to finally just do it. To put aside all fears and worries and just trust God with the little bit we are able to do.

Last night our little family grew with the addition of a precious 8 year old boy named Leo. I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to know that soon somewhere in El Salvador Leo will learn that someone cares about him and wanted to sponsor him. Leo has been waiting for more than 6 months to be sponsored. Doesn't that break your heart? It did ours. The other really neat thing about Leo is that he and Lauren share a birthday. Shawn and I thought it would be a really wonderful way for Lauren to connect with Leo as she gets older.

It is our desire as parents to raise little Miss Lauren to know the needs of the world. To be God's hands. To never take for granted our blessings. To realize just how lavishly we live and to have a giving heart.

I wanted to post this, but I also worried that by posting the impression might be given that this is for our glory or that our family is being prideful. Truly, it is not and we are not. We are so thankful to be used by God in this young man's life. God doesn't need us to reach His people. He is God and He can do anything. He doesn't need us, but he allows us to get in there and feel. He allows us to show His love to people. He lets us get our hands dirty and in the end we receive the blessing. How wonderful is our God?

This week there are a group of Compassion bloggers in El Salvador. If you'd like to hear their stories you can read Kelly's blog, Heather's blog, Molly's blog, Keely's blog, Shaun's blog, or Patricia's blog. I encourage you to take some time and read through their posts, look at their pictures, and feel what they are feeling.

We've obviously spent some time before making the decision to sponsor a child through Compassion. I can tell you that I was always looking for the way this wasn't legit. You know, like they were taking 90% of the money and the other 10% actually made it to meet the needs of the child. Thankfully, this is SO not the case with Compassion. Here is a quote from Kelly's blog regarding this issue:

"Someone asked me what % of money actually goes to the children. 83% of money given to Compassion goes straight to help the children. Of course - the other 17% just goes to running the company - the offices all over the world. Charity Watch dog is an organization that checks charities and Compassion is the only U.S. company who has received the highest ratings for the last 7 years. We saw file cabinets yesterday with the records that blow my mind that are kept on every child and every penny spent. Compassion is the real deal. It is making a difference."
Kelly

I'd love to hear if you sponsor a child from somewhere. One of the quotes on one of the Compassion blogs I was reading the other day said that a picture was shown in the Compassion office of a young child. The speaker looked at the bloggers and said, "This child deserves to know Jesus." Yes... yes he does!