Our other kids

I write about our three children all the time. Their pictures are scattered all over this website.

But we consider that we have several other children. Kids we’ve never actually met, but who we love very much.

The oldest is one that Josh and his sister sponsored when they were teens, and that we took over writing to and sponsoring when we got married. She’s now married, a pharmacist, and has two children (the younger of whom, by the way, is named Joshua. That tells you how much of an impact Josh had on her life!) 

There are three more that we’re currently sponsoring. Each of our (birth) children takes the responsibility to write to one of our (sponsor) children. Our oldest writes to a girl her age in Indonesia. Our middle chose a girl to sponsor from Tanzania. Our youngest writes to a girl from Peru.

Having these children in our lives means we’re much more aware of what’s going on all over the world. Hearing about mudslides in Peru makes us aware of how dangerous life is for these families. And since I lived in Istanbul during the 1999 earthquakes, I’m VERY aware of just how devastating those kinds of natural disasters are. 

But at a more personal level, it’s incredibly powerful knowing we’re having a hand in helping three families get out of the poverty they’ve experienced. These children are given an education…medical assistance…and are being introduced to the God that notices when a sparrow falls. I’ve seen that faith blooming in our “graduate” sponsored child and we all celebrate as we see our three current sponsored children learning the same truths.

Because of how much we believe in what Compassion is doing, Josh and I are participating in a challenge to help 2,000 children who have been “in the system,” waiting for sponsors, for the longest AND who have birthdays coming up. We are praying for a 5-year-old girl named Mekedelawit Fekadu from Ethiopia. Her father passed away, so she’s living with a single mom. That hits home because we live in an area where SO many children are being raised in single-parent households, but I know the kind of poverty she’s experiencing is something I can’t even imagine.

Would you consider being HER answer to prayer? She and her mom are praying hard that someone will step in and offer her the same kind of education that the three girls in the picture on top are experiencing, and I can’t wait to hear that she’s being sponsored! 

Here’s her bio so you can learn more about her.