{Read more at She Seeks today} and if you don’t mind, leave me a comment there.

I grew to hate those commercials.

Every time one would come on, I’d close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears and sing “la-la-la” as loud as I could. This was before the days of remote controls. Yes, I’m that old.

I’m a fixer. I want to fix things.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a fixer or because my heart literally hurts when I see someone hurting, but those commercials broke my heart. I was overwhelmed. They’d throw out big numbers — so many children needing food and medical supplies. I never could fix it for all of them.

So I continued to close my eyes and change the channel.

At my first She Speaks 2 years ago, there was a Compassion booth setup. I refused to look at any of the pictures. I was not going to let my heart break or feel the pain of these children around the world that I couldn’t help. My buddy Robin heard Compassion was going to send some bloggers to India, and she wanted to go. Not me. I wouldn’t even walk at to the table with her to support her. I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I have never in my life had a desire to go outside the country. Ok, maybe a few times in French class I’d dream of Paris, but really? I’m a good ol’ country girl who would rather go to vacation in the mountains here than across the ocean. But this wasn’t a vacation. This was a trip to see kids who are sponsored through Compassion, kids who aren’t sponsored and how Compassion works through the local people there to share Jesus.

Technically Robin didn’t make me do it, but inspired me to do it.

Around my birthday last year, after reading about Robin’s experiences in India, I decided to sponsor a child. I sort of peeked through one half-open eye. Fingers still in my ears. I figured I did my part. I’m sponsoring a child. But really? I didn’t want to get attached. I don’t want my heart broken. Pretty selfish huh?

Fast forward to this year’s She Speaks. Same Compassion table, just a few down from the She Seeks table where I sat with my buddies. Except this time, I didn’t really have a choice but to go by the table. Our She Seeks team met with Shawna and Laura and talked about how we could help inform others about Compassion. There were only 2 thoughts that crossed my mind — one, I did not want to admit that I had sponsored a child about a year and a half ago and never written her a letter. Two, I did not want to go on a trip.

This week one of my She Seeks buddies, Shannon, and Shawna are in Columbia. Please pray for them on their trip and also check out Shannon’s blog. She’s writing stories every day. But most importantly, pray about sponsoring a child. And if you do sponsor a child? Sit down and right them a letter — TODAY. I mailed mine Friday.

Sponsor a Child

At the She Speaks conference last year, I was honored to be asked to work on a new site — a division of Proverbs 31 Ministries called She Seeks. Initially I was only going to setup the website, but have stayed on as their She Seeks Techie. I find that God has a wonderful sense of humor and thinks our plans are funny. See, my plan would be to write/minister to women just like me — 30-something, wives, mothers, bloggers But God’s plan was for me to be involved with a site for 18-29 year olds, singles, new mommies, college kids, etc. What I’ve found is even though the site may target that age group, I have been getting a lot out of the devotions written there and the video logs that have been shared.

This week She Seeks has offered up a challenge to those who may not be able to send money to help those in Haiti. When something that devastating happens, it’s hard to know what one little person can do. So, here’s the challenge — go over to She Seeks, watch the video and share the link to the Compassion site. Leave a comment there (not here – I’m closing comments on this post so you’ll go there!), and for each comment up to 300, $1 will be donated to Compassion’s Haiti fund. You may not be able to give financially, but maybe someone you share the link with can give financially if they only knew about Compassion’s work there.

What are you waiting for? Go, watch, share, comment!

I finally sponsored a child through Compassion. I could no longer take the blog posts from the recent India trip. I struggled with what criteria to use. I decided that since my birthday is Thursday, I would choose a girl who shared my birthday — sort of a Happy Birthday present for the child being sponsored on their birthday.

So, here she is!

Personal and Family Information:
Zharick lives with her mother. Her duties at home include running errands and cleaning. Her mother is employed.

As part of Compassion’s ministry, Zharick participates in Bible class. She is also in pre-school where her performance is average. Singing, playing house and playing with dolls are her favorite activities.

Your love and support will help Zharick to receive the assistance she needs to develop her potential. Please pray for her.

She’s ours. I’m way new to this, so I’ll be looking to some veteran sponsors to help me with ideas. Like are letters the only thing I can send? Can I send one or a million stuffed animals to this girl? Guess I need to go read through Compassion’s site I’m sure they have that information there.

I can’t wait to read more of Robin’s experiences in India. They all arrived home safely yesterday and I’m sure are spending tons of time with their families! Still keep them in your prayers. They will likely have a tough time adjusting to being at home again.

If you haven’t sponsored a child yet, please go do so.