Seriously? Are you KIDDING me?
There are trucks working up and down our street- so maybe not. I hope...
We had the Nat'l Guard come check on us yesterday and tie a white string around our doorknob. They told my son not to take it off unless we need assistance. What happens to little old people or someone disabled who needs so much assistance that they are unable to step outside and untie their strings? That doesn't make much sense. Maybe Evan misunderstood what he said.
Thank you all, for the kind comments, prayers, and emails. In all seriousness I must say we are doing very well and feel so blessed to have the heat on, keeping our babies warm. There are so many others affected by this storm in ways FAR worse than us, and I don't mean to trivialize what they're going through by my daily barrage of complaints. I'm grateful for God's goodness to our family. I'm a big baby, and never have been a very happy camper (I mean, in the LITERAL sense- I don't like camping). But, in the realm of suffering, I know ours isn't significant enough to even make it on the list. We haven't truly suffered yet at all, and I praise God for that (although the cold showering DOES come close).
In the past week, I've been blogging about my "suffering" but in real life, I'm thinking not only of the people in my own town without generators, whose homes are cold and dark, but also of the people in our area who don't have homes at all. No problems with backed-up laundry because the clothes they're currently wearing are all they have.
I've been thinking of the precious children we sponsor through Compassion International and all the things they do without on a daily basis; things that my spoiled children, and their spoiled mother take for granted and consider necessary. We send them each extra money for their birthdays and Christmas, and it's not used to buy Barbies, and Transformers toys. It buys really stupid, trivial things like a pair of pants 3 sizes too big so they'll fit for a couple years, and new shoes. We usually get a picture of our kid holding up the items they were able to buy with their gift money. They have these huge beaming smiles, like our kids here at home would have holding up a new PS2 game or something, except they're holding up chickens, goats, and other things to benefit and feed the family. One of our little boys in Tanzania asks in every single letter he writes for us to pray for his father to stop drinking, and ask Christ into his heart. He's proud that the support we're sending is being used little by little to buy bricks, cement, and wood to slowly build his family a new house. It will have a roof and a floor, he tells us. He says he spent a recent break from school helping his mother haul water and take care of livestock. My boys think school breaks mean "sit on your butt like a zombie until you're yelled at to get up." I sit here, worrying that it won't feel like Christmas because I can't bake cookies with my kids, while other Mamas worry and wonder if their babies will eat today at all. I know I'm sounding nauseatingly preachy here, and I don't mean to. My point is- I've got it good and I know it. I am spoiled. I am a brat. But this brat is very, very thankful to my good and gracious God who goes above and beyond every day to care for me and my babies.
Every. Single. Day.
...Even- no ESPECIALLY- in the last 52.
(BTW- If you've ever considered child sponsorship, I can vouch for Compassion. We've been very happy with them and have used them for years. Our sponsorship started out with one child and we are now up to 6, in 6 different countries- 3 in Africa, and 3 in South America. And in all of that, we've never had one single complaint or problem. One hundred percent of any additional gift money you send, over and above the monthly support, goes directly to your child. I like that. None of it is kept for overhead, etc. They're very good about sending letters, pictures, and frequent updates. I know there's also other reputable organizations out there, but I've only had personal experience with this one. I'd highly recommend them. In fact, I'll be preachy one more time and encourage you to consider sponsoring a child. Go take a look at those little faces, then prayerfully consider what God would have you do. If you're in limbo, waiting for your adoption to go anywhere, what a great way to get a jumpstart on being a parent, huh? Can't afford it? We couldn't either. We couldn't afford to get started with one, and now we always *think* we can't afford 6. God makes a way. All you have to do is be a willing vessel for God to help a child. He is the provider. He's only using you as a funnel. How hard is that? You don't have to do anything but say "Yes." And believe. He does the rest.)
1 comment:
I agree with you 100%! We also sponser a child through Compassion and we just LOVE it! I hope that many more people can join in!!!!
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