Thankful

I received a letter from Roza today, thanking me for the money that I sent a few months ago.

We're by no means rich, but I am grateful to be reminded how good we have it.

We have running water and a clean floor beneath our feet.

We have a refrigerator full of food and a comfortable home.

We have electricity and cozy beds.

My children have shelves and shelves of books and toys.

I don't think that Roza has any of those things and it makes me so terribly sad.

A portion of the money was to be spent on her specifically and the rest for her family.

She is beaming in her new dress and shoes, isn't she??

It really hit home how hard their lives must be though when she wrote that besides the dress, they had bought soap and buckets for hauling water. Can you imagine having to haul water in those buckets??

I only wish that we could do something more than a few hundred dollars a year.

Sponsoring Roza

We started sponsoring Roza this past April and we are finally starting to form a real relationship with her. We have already received 7-8 letters and each one has been so special. She is such a friendly little girl.

It is only $38 a month to sponsor a child through Compassion International and I highly recommend their organization. That money pays for her to have medical care, food and water, educational opportunities, etc.

We are also allowed to send family and birthday gifts to her (money only). They then use that money to buy what the family needs. The above picture is of Roza and her mother and the things they bought with the family gift we sent. It is so humbling to see that they spent the money on a mattress, hugs bags of maize, shoes, oil, and soap. Nothing frivolous, that is for sure. There are 9 children in the family, so I am assuming that the mattress was much needed!

This experience has really been great for our children. They are beginning to realize how blessed we are to have a large, warm home, clothes on our backs and food whenever we need it - besides all of the extras. This week, they wrote letters to Roza and drew some pictures. I like it that they want to be involved and included in the sponsorship!!