Last week a group of bloggers traveled to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International. This is the second trip Compassion has done with bloggers (the first being in the spring to Uganda) and I soak up these trips. I think the idea is genius… to use bloggers to share their experiences to raise awareness and find sponsors for the Compassion children.
However…. I’m ashamed to say we still hadn’t sponsored a child. I’m like so many others, I believe in the cause, I desire to help, I’m excited by the changes occurring in the lives of children… but we still hadn’t pulled the trigger.
After last week things changed… I was so touched by some of the stories relayed via the bloggers that I decided we needed to have a Compassion Family Night.
We started by explaining the concept of Compassion to our children. Then we hopped on the computer and headed to the Compassion website to look for a child to sponsor.
The Compassion website is extremely user friendly. You can narrow down your sponsor choices by country, sex, age range, etc. For Jett this was a tough decision.
After reading several profile we decided to sponsor “Sam”. One of the reasons we choose Sam was because he had a red heart on his profile picture. A heart means that child has been waiting longer than six months for a sponsor. Choosing a child with a heart on their profile was my only requirement. What was cool about Sam is his birthdate is exactly one week after Jett’s, that fact really helped Jett personal our sponsorship.
Here’s the first prayer we said for Sam.
Our $32 monthly commitment to Sam means we’ll…
- Exchange letters, photos, prayers.
- Become a friend.
- Provide opportunities for education, health and personal development.
- Most important, your child will learn about Jesus in a church-based program in his or her neighborhood.
A meal of rice and beans would be the perfect accompaniment to Compassion Family Night…. but I thought of that afterwards!
I now have a Compassion button to the right of my blog. That button will take you straight to the Compassion website and allow you to begin sponsoring a child in need.
Check out more Family Night ideas over at Heather’s.
Oh Brandi…your pictures were so sweet. After the Uganda trip, we sponsored Sophia. She is now 6 yrs old and the only “girl” we have in our family.
I don’t count. But, once I started receiving her letters and updates….my heart wants to explode. Its the best money I spend. I’m so proud of y’all and taking it on as a family and not just a momma.
Precious Sam’s life is forever changed.
Hugs~
By: Fran on November 13, 2008
at 9:05 am
Our family was a lot like yours. I believed in the cause, but had not commited to sponsoring a child. I got caught up in reading the stories from the bloggers during the trip to Uganda earlier this year. I’m happy to say that we now sponsor Mwajuma from Tanzania. The kids are excited to read her letters and to write back to her. I pray that God uses our small offering to greatly bless her life. And to anyone who is still on the fence – Go sponsor a child, TODAY!
By: Heidi on November 13, 2008
at 9:12 am
Hi Brandi! I followed both bogging trips too, but the first one practically ripped my heart out. I sponsored a child named Farid who is 4 and lives in Columbia. He is the cutest thing and I love exchanging letters with him. How cool that you got your kids involved. What a great experience for them.
By: Kelly on November 13, 2008
at 9:18 am
I love what you are doing. Especially that you are involving your children in the process.
I am going to be very honest here.
We sponsered a child many years ago, then kinda’ quit. Then sponsored African orphans, then quit. I have a cousin who is a missionary to the Phillipines, sponsored his work, then quit…and many other worthy causes have had and lost our support throughout the years.
I have a problem with my heart going out to all of them , signing up then being unable to fulfill so many committments, then after a “respectable” amount of time, I’ll drop off until another need is brought to my attention.
I’m ashamed of this really.
Lately I’ve seen many worthwhile needs brought to my attention and I’m trying to make certain that God is leading me and If I make a commitment, that I will stick to it, regardless.
This is a wonderful organization, and I course I’m interested. WHo could deny these precious children?
JUst needing direction.
By: SHerri on November 13, 2008
at 10:21 am
That’s awesome, Brandi.
Our good friend is the director of Church / Pastoral Relations at Compassion – let me know if you guys ever want to talk with him!
By: danielle on November 13, 2008
at 10:28 am
What a wonderful family night! It is so cool that your boys could be involved in this!
By: Carrie on November 13, 2008
at 10:45 am
Our Compassion child eats guinea pig. We won’t be doing her meat of choice for dinner any time soon. The picture of the prayer is so special. I bet Sam will treasure that photo.
By: Anita on November 13, 2008
at 11:21 am
My wife started sponsoring a child before we got married. Now our little girl is in high school. We love getting pictures from her. You will not regret this.
By: jarrod morris on November 13, 2008
at 11:28 am
You are going to love sponsoring Sam, and I love your reasons for picking him. We have been a Compassion Sponsor for 9 years now. Joselyn is the same age as Alivia, born the same month (May) and on the same day as Claire (27th). We wanted to be attached to her on many levels. We a letter comes from her it is an exciting day in our house. Way to Go Wilson’s!
By: patrowland on November 13, 2008
at 11:36 am
That is so great! Compassion is a wonderful organization! I have been sponsoring little Meseret in Ethiopia for 7 years. It has been amazing to see her grow up through the pictures and letters that she sends…I hope to go on one of the trips one day and meet her.
By: Laura Morris on November 13, 2008
at 11:52 am
Thanks for this post. My husband and I sponsored a child before we had kids. We we ended up having to drop out of the program because he was out of work for awhile. It broke my heart and I still feel guilty about it.
We live pretty well now, but without any extras like t.v. or cell phones. I think we could probably do this though. I’m going to be praying about it this week.
By: Sarah Valente (kingdom twindom) on November 13, 2008
at 12:04 pm
That Rocks!
By: kc on November 13, 2008
at 1:10 pm
What a great family night! We have been praying about sponsoring a child and need to get on with it – we might just borrow your family night idea. Thanks!
By: Vanessa on November 13, 2008
at 1:54 pm
that is such a cool idea to turn that into a family night. I’m gonna steal that one for sure.
By: Rachel Rowell on November 13, 2008
at 2:01 pm
I am involved in Family Nights with my friend’s family…and have had some awesome family nights. However, this is BY FAR the best idea for a family night. Your “4″ boys will be blessed because of this family night!
By: Alison on November 13, 2008
at 2:33 pm
Compassion is the perfect name for that organization… the lessons and empathy you are teaching your boys, and showing them the differences they can make for others, is just beautiful.
By: gitz on November 13, 2008
at 2:37 pm
I have loved all of your family night ideas, but I think this one is the best!! And, I think it will be one that your boys will remember for the rest of their days. Neat!
By: Jenny on November 13, 2008
at 3:52 pm
I LOVE the Compassion family night idea!
We too believe in Compassion but haven’t stepped up to support a child. We’ve talked about it and have a time set in the future to do it but as of now I have the widget on my blog and I pray especially for the one’s who have been waiting for six months or longer.
By: tabitha on November 13, 2008
at 4:44 pm
Awesome idea. I’m glad to know where I can go to find things like this. Way to go!
By: kaymarie (upturned.barbie) on November 13, 2008
at 9:34 pm
What a wonderful way to teach your children about love, sharing, compassion and also about other countries cultures.
I checked out Compassion site and am considering sponsering a girl from Peru or the Philipines, since our church is doing mission work in Peru and my Sister-in-law is from the Philipines.
I am new to your Blog and love it.
By: breezyneon on November 13, 2008
at 11:27 pm
This is great!!! I’ve been a sponsor and advocate for Compassion for 15 years now and they are an amazing organization. Our family sponsors 7 children and we correspond with another 5.
I love to see people (especially families) become involved and get excited about it.
God Bless…
By: Jill on November 14, 2008
at 11:22 am
The blogger trips are a great idea; I read Tim Challies’ blog and him vouching for the integrity of the program is what got me to finally sponsor a child–a 14 year old boy named Pedro who has also been waiting for more than 6 months for a sponsor. Crazy that just $32 a month can make such a huge difference.
By: ally on November 15, 2008
at 10:59 pm
This is great…thank you!
By: Tiffany on November 15, 2008
at 11:36 pm
Yeah…your family is fabulous. I love that you are putting your faith into action. I have been on this kick lately (through a realization in my faith journey) that it takes real time, real money and real sacrifice…one, two, all three or a combination of the three to make a difference in somebodies life or to have a relationship with a person. So yay you guys!!
By: kristiapplesauce on November 16, 2008
at 8:28 am
Good for you guys! Like you, it took me a while to getting around to sponsoring a child (through a different org – a Canadian one – World Vision). I finally did it on my birthday 2 years ago. I found a boy with the same birth
By: Steph on November 18, 2008
at 11:48 pm
Good for you guys! Like you, it took me a while to get around to sponsoring a child (through a different org – a Canadian one – World Vision). I finally did it on my birthday 2 years ago. I found a boy with the same birth date as me and I have never missed the small anount charged to my credit card every month. I really do not know why I did not do this sooner.
THANK YOU for bringing this up on your blog. I hope it encourages more people to get involved in such a worthwhile and rewarding cause.
By: Steph on November 18, 2008
at 11:55 pm
Awesome!!!
We spnoser a little boy named Ugattu
By: brent(inWorship) on November 21, 2008
at 4:58 pm
This is really great! You’re going to enjoy this sponsorship so much. You’ll find, especially as all four boys grow, that you needed Sammy as much as he needs you. You need his prayers, contentment and joy. Thanks so much for sharing!
By: Juli Jarvis on November 21, 2008
at 10:51 pm
Welcome to the Compassion Family!
Look forward to a very special journey with your sponsorship. The Lord has taught me so much during my sponsorship; about poverty, humility, commitment, thankfullness and ministry.
I’m posting a link to my friend Jane’s blog where she has two articles on India; “India’s Child Is Not Untouchable!” and “Poverty In India”.
http://calledandchosen.wordpress.com/
Sponsor of four precious blessings in Africa,
Marci in MO
By: Marci on November 22, 2008
at 10:02 am
[...] Family signs up online to sponsor a child — India [...]
By: Special Blog Posts « Sheep Droppings on November 23, 2008
at 12:59 am
What a great family night. Can not wait to hear more about how it goes in your family with Sam.
By: The Bossy Yankee on December 5, 2008
at 3:11 pm
[...] Know I Love Compassion! It was a year ago this week we extended our family to include Sammie. Sambasiva, a little boy from India whose birthday is extremely close to Jett’s. A little [...]
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at 8:19 am