left-over love

All week I've been following Compassion bloggers as they traveled to Uganda to meet sponsored children, connect with their organization across the globe, and bring awareness to fighting the need for helping so many little ones all across the world. Sponsors did everything from laugh to cry to smile to hug to shake hands to handing over all their emotions in one greeting... In one small moment, they let love steal the show, and just reacted to the hands and faces they have written letters to and supported financially for months and years on end. In all those small deposits made out of their bank accounts and all those hand written notes mailed miles away to each other...they finally met in a place where love had more then a name on a picture, but a face. A warm set of hands. A big wide grin peeking up through awkward first glances.

What was left...a lot of love. For the child, for the place, for the journey. If you think sponsoring a child is an empty cause... just ask a person who has made the rare trip to meet their chosen one.

Some times, there is a child we never meet. A child we learn to love from the very start of meeting, but never really get to hold. Does it mean that love doesn't exist? Or never happens? I don't think so. The journey to love a new child is always different for each beating heart. But love is recognized no matter what continent you find yourself on.

Between my children are a couple more I never met. At least not in person. While learning to love a new creation and making room in my heart for one more, I also learned to say goodbye. It's hard to look at the beautiful pictures of the smiling faces of all those innocent young ones miles away from me in Uganda. Hard because I know the truth. That deep inside those smiling faces is a little soul that started days before they arrived in the place they now grow up in. They were very uniquely knit together, in their mothers womb, with a great purpose. They started small and tiny and their value comes from being enough in His eyes. Fearfully and wonderfully made. Their mothers held them. Love them. Maybe we could too?

These children we never meet, still take some of our heart. Whether it is the child you held for only a brief moment as he left your safe little womb too early of an arrival... too late to not take a piece of your heart. Or a child you see across a screen and know you have some love left to share. To help another mother. When I realized I had already loved a little life that I would never really hold here, I felt my love for a child was still there. Empty arms, but a full heart. So I found Rebecca. Rebecca was born to another woman miles away from me and chances are we may never, ever meet. I may never know what she really looks like when she greets me or how she laughs or if she smiles much. But I know she is loved. When I had a lot of love left-over, I decided to give her some of it. To use it for good. Little did I know how much loving her a little, would teach me to love even more.

For many years now we have sponsored Rebecca. Her letters come and my growing boys know her face. Hear her written words. See that we are making room to send some love to someone just as uniquely woven together as them. It changes lives really... hers, ours. And all because I had some left-over love that needed a place to go. Sharing love, wearing love... it makes saying hello and saying goodbye that much sweeter.

Might you have some left-over love for another one today? 

Just click here to meet a few fearfully & wonderfully made faces waiting for some extra loving today!

perspective came today

We've spent the day doing what I like to call "kidcation". Aka: vacation with all four of our kids. It's a little different from vacation, but just as important and memory making. We come back to the Dells every winter, alongside my hubs sister and her family. We swim, slide, and sleep the week away. And never once have I thought much about our source of entertainment. But today I started my (very) early morning (hence, kidcation...not vacation) seeing the sponsor of a child hold his sponsored child's hand and carry her water for her. I saw the small case of drinking water for her day and thought about the abundance of water that we would spend the day playing in. Perspective sometimes hits hard.

A little truth moment...in Uganda, the inadequate water supply has people collecting contaminated water from the streets when it is raining, and from rivers and springs that surround the camps, leading to an increase of water-related illnesses. The lack of safe drinking water leads to various diseases...some that end in death. Perspective,hits again...

We swam away most of the morning. It was wonderful and fun and memory making. But I couldn't help but notice the running water moving all around us. I started counting. I count my gifts these days and how fresh, clean PLAYING water hadn't made the list yet is humbling to me. Perspective keeps coming.

When we came back to our room I drank clean, cold water right out of the fridge door. I know the health benefits of drinking my water every day. I consciously make sure I get my 60-80 ounces in every day. I fill my kids water bottles up and send them off to school with a supply of the liquid that keeps them healthy and moving and their body clean. Clean drinking water. Could I go without it? What would I do to get it? Perspective sends another wave.

(photo by Mike Varel, Compassion Blogger trip to Uganda)

I have asked myself what could I possibly do to help another Mama's child have clean drinking water. The problem seems bigger then life. I'm not sure where to start. But for today, I am letting perspective have a place in my heart... I am opening my eyes to the real truth about children all around the world. Some splashing at water-parks, which I count on my gift list...some holding the hand of their sponsor, which I count again... and most waiting for perspective to land on somebody's heart and offer a cup of cold water themselves.... maybe that's you?

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward. Matthew 10:42

Uganda & the Wisconsin Dells?

I am super new to following along with Compassion. As in this is my first gig, kind of new. How fun to join the Compassion blogging team just as they fly off to their 5th anniversary trip...to Uganda this year! Having kids old enough to understand that there is another world of people some where else is beautiful. We're comfortably sitting in a 4 bedroom presidential suite (my hubby's latest ebay gem of a find) in the heart of the well visited Wisconsin Dells...while Compassion bloggers have just landed in Uganda and are probably anything but comfortable. This is where I love technology. From our family vacation, I can keep a real perspective on life as we follow along in a place very different from ours.

So, as my kids first asked...Where in the world is UGANDA? Well, right here kids...

We will be following along here, at this blog. And you can come back my blog for a recap, too. They have an amazing photographer, Mike Varel. And I will be posting on pinterest, twitter, and facebook. Chances are you might find me cheering Compassion on this week!

We've sponsored Rebecca from Mozambique, Africa for many years. I'd love to share our experience with you about that for our family. And if you feel led to sponsor a child of your own... Uganda is a great place to link arms with....just click over here to Compassion to do so.

For today though, we now know for sure where Uganda is. Starting there is a great beginning...

compassion

So it is no surprise that I love kids...and if it is, then we must be strangers. And my heart beats big for kids in places that can't be taken care of. I used to plug into Food for the Hungry a bunch. A great ministry serving all around the world and truly changing lives. I love FFH. Our church still partners with them and we sponsor a child through them. My kids write to Rebecca and over the years they have seen her grow from a little girl to a teenager still trying to get through school and keep her younger siblings fed in Africa. The relationship between a sponsored child and her sponsors is so very special, and so very life changing.

I knew after a couple kids of my own here though, that I would need to hand over the details of organizing child sponsorship at our church. At the time we had over 200 kids sponsored and as my plate grew at home I knew my hands could not serve both my family and these kids and their sponsor families well. I handed over the reigns with a little bit of a heavy heart. Luckily, the Food for the Hungry details went into one of my best friend's hands and she also has a huge heart for the same cause and does a better job with it then I ever did. God takes care of things so well when we let Him lead our actions.

While my own home has doubled in numbers since those earlier days with FFH, my heart has still been drawn deeply to kids all around the world. My sister in law clued me in on an opportunity to blog for Compassion. It took me opening the email, reading the requirements, and a quick prayer as I linked over to the Compassion website to know this was a perfect match for me. I had goose-bumps, tears, and the instant knowing that this was something I could do in this season. No, I do not get paid. No, I do not get free anything. I simply get to bring awareness to a place that needs attention and to people who could make a difference in a child's life. Maybe that's you?

So in the coming months you will from time to time see me writing about what Compassion is doing around the world. I hope you'll join me in praying for this ministry and maybe even sponsor a child. It's a great place to send some of your resources and get a small, tiny glimpse of what is happening across your world. I may be home these days, and yes, my hands may be extremely full. But my heart is fuller with the season of life I am in and the kids Compassion is helping has a spot all of its own.

Thanks-giving

In light of one of the most celebrated American holidays, my mind is cued into what is coming. Gathering of family...the ones you don't see enough of and the ones you see too much of and the ones who walk with you through life and the ones who don't really know you. Indulging in food...the perfectly roasted turkey and the gollups of mashed potatoes and the whipped topping on top of pumpkin pies and the cranberry sauce that always leaves a stain. The football games, too...filled bellies sprawled out on couches and carpets while men snore between plays and children giggle as they find a new friend in that cousin they chase around the house. And women gather where they always gather. In the kitchen, together again. Sinks full of dishes and coffee being poured.

And on this day as families and friends gather for these predictable moments a word of thanks often gets squeezed into the day, just as predictable as the people there, the food being eaten, and the football watching that happens.

Thanksgiving...a word of thanks, a moment spoken for all we see through the hurried eyes. Family. Friends. Health. Faith. And sometimes even football.

I love what thanksgiving represents in so many ways. I love family time. I love big meals shared together. I love my boys watching football. I love giving thanks. But my hurried ways have been shaken in my recent years...and thanksgiving has become more of a thanks-giving. Thanks giving...not your one day out of the year celebration, but an every day offering that involves more then the basic family, friends, faith, and football gratitude.

During one of my most difficult seasons of life, I felt really called to slow down and learn how to really say thanks. A habit of thanks giving can change a heart. It can change a life, really. As I ached inside, I let the hurt slowly be released in the way I started to say thank you. In what I saw, when I slowed down. And I counted. All of it. And it really started to add up.

18. soft puppies
101. my swing
210. courageous friends
315. 5 year old boy
498. a hug
577. chatting with Grandma
641. a heartbeat
796. watermelon
895. a calm mind
933. good husbands
987. painted boys
1000. change

And there is more. More written down and more coming. It never stops. Unlike the one day of Thanksgiving, thanks giving keeps going...and going. Slow is the only way to live a life of full thanks giving and in the rush of our days passing by, one must see slow enough to not miss what is being offered each and every day.

So I look forward to what Thanksgiving will bring to my life. But I truly live breathing the habit of thanks giving. Alive and awake to what is being given to fill me up on His grace, His love for me, His thanks giving to my life. And in return, as I count these gifts and say thank you, I know that I must pass the main dish and offer that same grace to those gathering around my table of life.

I will gather in a few days and enjoy an all American Thanksgiving meal with loved ones. I will say thank you for family and friends and health and football. And I will mean it. But when the day is over, I know that my thanks offering will lead me into the next year when I gather again for the very same meal and the very same faces and the very same routine of what Thanksgiving is supposed to look like. For me, thanks giving happens every day. And when it doesn't, I know my life will be a few portions short of being full. Thanks giving...counting what I see, sharing what feeds me. Filling a life.

the best gift givers

Walking through the department store I see the signs of the holidays already out shining and glittery to catch all the eyes of the consumers coming in to just grab some diapers or a gallon of milk. What they usually walk out with though is a cart full of Christmas add-on's that never seem to stop finding their way into our homes. I love glitter and Christmas galore as much as the next festive person. Don't get me wrong. I indulge in the spirit of Christmas and get carried away with traditions as my children get older and look forward to them every year. I get excited when the calendar flips and says it is the day after Thanksgiving so we can go tree hunting and put a freshly cut fir in our house. I have a love/hate relationship with hanging the lights outside and getting some Christmas cards in the mail. But I also get a little burnt out on finding what should really be under our tree each year. Under our trees and in our hearts.

I spend 363 days a year trying to control the "stuff" in my house. I watch my kids play with 25% of the things they get as gifts. If you are reading this and have been a gift giver to my children, please don't take this the wrong way. We are so grateful for such gifts...my boys love having a fun new toy. But the buzz usually only lasts a short time and soon that latest action figure or Tonka truck quickly finds it way to the back of the shelf too soon forgotten. What stays fresh in front of my children's eye sight though is this...  time. Not the hour hand clicking by second by second, but the minutes spent with them. The undistracted time spent gifting them with love...and laughter...and action...and patience...and joy...and an experience. A gift that they tuck into their heart and can't open on Christmas morning, but all year through. This gift of time is not found in the glitter and the lights as you roam the stores looking for the perfect gift. It's found right where you are already. You are here. So give your time to the ones who matter the most.

A mountain of gifts under the tree doesn't make me feel more loved. Doesn't make me think "this is Christmas". I gather my children will look back some day and think the same thing. They won't remember the gifts they opened from a box, but rather the gifts they participated in through their childhood. The time they spent opening the gift of sharing a life together.

In a culture where companies hit the black this time of year, but people's souls dip into the red, why wouldn't we invest in something more for our hearts? Instead of spending every other day of the year trying to keep up with the stuff that consumes our homes, why not keep up with the little feet running ahead of us and walk along-side the bodies that need a hand, not another thing to fill them up? Wouldn't we benefit from spending our resources on a place that leaves an imprint on someones life, rather then leaves a debt to be paid in our mailbox every month? Can we see past the glitz and black Friday's deals and holiday shopping lists and really look into the souls that we are trying to buy the perfect gift for? Can we find the  time to really give what is needed, rather than give what will be forgotten as soon as that tree comes down?

I am slowly being lured into the Christmas tradition of giving less in the eyes of my culture, but in doing so...giving so much more in the eyes of those on my gift buying list. I will be playing Christmas music soon, watering a freshly cut tree in my home everyday, baking little stars and jingle bells, placing coins in the red buckets, attending parties, and most of all... I hope I will be making the time to give the gifts that really matter. Won't you join me? I have always loved giving gifts. But the best gift givers in my life are those who have given me their time. I want to keep that tradition more then any other this time of year...

(photo courtesy of http://annielockhart.typepad.com/gallery/)

it is good

Driving down the highway is one of my favorite things this time of year. Through the back-roads and along the flat Iowa land. A mid-west girl at heart, I suppose. And a little bit of country. While the height of the mountains and the never ending ocean lines take my breath away...it's the Octobers and the pink skies and the tree lines in Iowa that make me feel at home, make me feel like I'm alive, make me feel like there is truly something more then this life, and makes me see the creative eye of our Creator. Who can stand next to the colors of fall and deny a great source of beauty given to us year after year, season after season?

If you are able...and if you are willing...then stop and really look. See the greatness that starts well below the earth and reaches up to the skies declaring it's beauty...it's glory of nature. It is meant to take your breath away. The beauty that hangs from the branches and blows with the breezes of this time of year whisper... how great thou art. How great are these things that were created for us. You and me. For this world, this time, this creation. When you see the beauty that comes with this time of year and you stop to let it leave an imprint on your heart, you speak a small word of thanks for such a sight, such a piece of grace. Looking at such things helps me see our Creator and praise His works. For He is mighty and creates such beautiful things.

And what if... what if...when you looked at the October sky line in the middle of the Mid-west or wherever you are and let that place in your heart that needs reassurance be filled up? Filled with His undeniable truth that He creates beautiful things. He does. We can see it all around us. In our back-yards, in the long car rides, walking out our front doors, and across towns and country sides.

Then what if...what if you saw those fall branches and knew that He not only creates beautiful things, but He creates beautiful people too?

Today I look outside and I am humbled. Humbled that when I stop and admire the reds, yellows, and oranges  and everything in-between out my window that He also created even more...even better then this.

He created ...me...and YOU.

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

The way we see the colors of fall is maybe just a glimpse of how He sees us. Yes, looking at you...looking at me. He made us for more. He made us in His image. And said it was all very good. That feeling you get when you breath in the fall air and appreciate the beauty across the trees... He feels that for you. For me. 

We are image makers, you and I. Deep down inside each of us is a beauty, a piece of art, that He wants to show the world. Because when people pass by, He wants them to stop and look... just the way we do when we see this time of year unfold around us. Live today believing that you were made with a purpose, a reason to live out the true colors of your season. Breath taking worthy for all those looking your way and a soul declaring His praise as you let your beauty touch the world. 

Go ahead and look today. Turn off the screens and tune out the noises that tell you any different. Don't miss today. Don't miss this season. Don't miss how YOU were made to be beautiful. In His image, and you are very good. Just...the...way...you...are.