A good mail day

When you were young, didn't you love getting mail? I don't know about you, but the mail has lost some of its cache for me as an adult, what with bills, tax notices, jury summons, and all that. But every so often, there is a 'real' letter in the mail and I remember again why mail can be exciting. That is always how I feel when we receive a letter from our sponsored child. For over two years we have sponsored a child through Compassion International. He is 9 years old, just like our P., has six brothers and sisters, and lives in Ethiopia. For me, the neatest thing about how our sponsorship works (other than with our help he can go to school and have good nutrition, of course) is that we have gotten to know each other through the letters we send back and forth. He tells me what he is learning in school, how he celebrates holidays, and how he spent his birthday money. He also asks me questions about our life here. He was very interested to know how we named the babies and what their names mean. I send him pictures and stickers and he sends me drawings and pictures he's colored. I have even been sent a copy of his report card and so I was able to encourage him in his studies. If ever I find myself in Ethiopia, I have a standing invitation to come and watch him in one of the plays he is in. (A good match for our family, don't you think?)

Above all, our correspondence makes him a very real little boy, living a very real life and not just a picture on a page or an anonymous statistic. And we are real people to him as well, not just some unknown person who helps to provide him food. It is a joy to be in relationship with him. You can have this joy as well. For just $1.25 a day ($38 a month), you could sponsor a child as well and have the joy of having a relationship with some small, real, child in another part of the world. I'll even make it easy...all you have to do is click the Compassion button in my sidebar. You won't even break a sweat. I promise.