Make a difference for the "one"

Have you heard that little story about the boy throwing starfish into the ocean?

Ten years ago this fall, Rocky and I went to our first concert together (we'd been dating about 8 months). During intermission, someone gave a little blurb about sponsoring a child through Compassion International, and for the rest of the intermission sponsorship packets floated around the gymnasium. The one that came to us had a picture of a 5-year-old girl from Cochabamba, Bolivia. Rocky stared at it and told me "I went on a mission trip to that town when I was in high school. I probably walked down that street..."

It was a total God-thing.

We hung on to that packet for the rest of the concert and prayed for wisdom. And after the concert he filled out the information for us to become Kathya's sponsor.

Three years of dating plus seven years of marriage later, we are still Kathya's sponsors. We admit we haven't been very good about writing letters... but she faithfully has written to us about 4 times a year. She is now 15 years old and has grown into a beautiful young lady:

Compassion is a great organization. They focus on individual child development, and each child has only one sponsor. Because of their sponsor's support, they are able to receive consistent Christian training, educational opportunities, health care and supplemental food, personal attention, guidance, love, and so much more.

Within the next few years Kathya will graduate from the program. I hope to then choose another child to sponsor through Compassion, and involve my own girls in letter-writing and watch them grow together.

Do you sponsor a child through Compassion or another organization? 

You can search Compassion's website for children to sponsor based on country, gender, first name, age range, birthday. How neat would it be to sponsor a child with the same birthday as you or your child?? You can also find children who have been waiting the longest for a sponsor, are orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS, or are mentally/physically challenged.

Consider making a difference. For one.

Help a Child