Glendy

I sponsored a child today. Through World Vision at Family Christian Stores. I've been working at the one in Tri-County again for some extra dough (houses and things you want to do to them are expensive!) I've also been reading several blogs, Anne, Angie and Pete's specifically. They were on a trip with Compassion International. They were bloggers sent to Kolkata India with the goal of seeing how Compassion works and how it benefits the kids that are sponsored. Their trip garnered the most child sponsorships of any of the Compassion blogger trips to date. I don't know the exact number, but there are a lot of kids that are going to have adequate nutrition, education and medical care because of these people. There are tons of kids that are going to have hope for a future different than their parents.

While I was reading through these blogs, I was beginning to come out of this funk that I've found myself in in the last few months. The darkness had knocked me down hard and I was really struggling to get back up, struggling with even wanting to get back up. But in rare moments of clarity I reached out to some people that could partner with me in prayer and that I felt comfortable asking to truly press me into accountability. Because while there is a true darkness that grasps at my ankles far more often then I would care to admit, I do plenty to nurture it and invite it to make itself comfortable.

One of the things that I struggle with each year is April 24th. It's the day my friend was killed, and that day makes me really sad. I do pretty well 364 days of the year to not focus on her death but on her life, but that one day is such a struggle for me still, 9 years later.
While I was reading Angie's blog she mentioned that she and her family sponsored a child with the birth date of their daughter Audrey. Audrey who died the same day she was born. Audrey who Angie carried to term knowing that there was little medical hope for her baby girl to survive, but praying to a God that is so big that he would save her. Angie has a site that talks about Audrey, and it will bless you like little else to read about her journey. While Audrey is not with us in the flesh, her brief flicker of a life has been sparked into a bonfire by God himself. This girl that lived for only a few hours has worked miracles, in my faith, and in so many others.
But I digress....
So I was thinking that I wanted to start sponsoring a kid again, the one I had previously aged out of the program and I hadn't sponsored one since. Furthermore, I thought that it would be lovely to find a little girl that had a birthday of April 24th. Because that day holds so much sad for me, I wanted to try to put something good into it.
I sponsored Glendy today. She was born April 24th 2006, she is 3 years old and lives in Honduras. She loves playing with dolls. Because of the $30 a month I set aside to sponsor her she will have access to things such as clean water, nutritious food, and an education, so she can grow up to be a healthy and productive adult.
I sponsored her online, where you can search based on country, birth date, type of sponsorship etc. You can sponsor children with AIDS, you can sponsor whole families for not much more.

We are so rich in the US, so rich. I don't have a lot of money, I don't have a lot of room in my budget. But I'm making room for Glendy and I'm pushing the sadness out of the way on April 24th so I can make way for a celebration that Glendy was born.