The Life of Mrs. Miles

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Sigh. Olivia could not get into the Sophia Sarducci Blog this a.m. so she asked me to host this for you. This was created using Olivia's new Vector sets - you MUST slip over to see them, perfect if you are a designer or want super high quality tempLates as a digi-scrapper!

My last blog post was about love. Loving my husband. And loving on Valentines Day is great, but its just ‘good fun’ compared to the hard work sort of love that it takes to make a marriage strong.

Today, I’m going to blog about another part of love. I’m talking about compassion. That part of love which we’re moved to do beyond our own realm. Some people meet this love by doing missions – which takes a special sort of person. We’ve never been on a vacation to another country, (well the USA, but...) never mind a missions. Its just not happened yet for us, though we dream of doing this when we retire. God has a season for every thing in our lives – I’m sure our ‘mission season’ is coming.

At a time of our life when we were going through a financial devastation, compassion seized our hearts. My husband and I could not dream of traveling, though we longed to. We would have loved to do a missions, but it did not happen. Then, one day, while listening to KMBI (Moody Radio in Spokane, Wa) I found myself listening to a sponsor drive. Somehow it pierced me to my soul and when my husband came home I shared with him. Though it was not remotely in our budget at that time, he urged me to call and ‘adopt’ a child from Compassion International.

So, four years ago we adopted our little Brenda, from Guatemala. I can’t rightly describe to you the joy and delight that settled into me. She’s not here with us, but she is in our hearts every day. We write and receive letters and photos from our little friend. We’ve learned about her corner of the world and share some of what its like here. We send stickers and photos... and of course, prayers. Our small monthly sums allow her to attend a school and buy some supplies and personal hygiene products. We give a small amount extra for her birthday and for Christmas. Its amazing to know that for about the price of a cup of coffee a day, we are enabling our Brenda to do so much.

We have some financial responsibilities right now which will ease in the future, and as they do, we plan to ‘adopt’ more children.

One of the most powerful things my blog has done for me was enabled me to help another person adopt a Compassion Child. Back in October, 2006 I wrote that I was filling out my Christmas Card for Brenda (they must be sent to Compassion three months in advance in order to be delivered on time to the child) I mentioned that if people were starting to put together Christmas present lists, they might consider adopting a Compassion Child for someone – you know, that someone who has everything already? And one of my readers did just that. She wrote “Thanks, Barb, for sharing your beautiful elements with us, as well as your other tips and bits of wisdom. I think I will follow your gift suggestion for one of my daughters, who is childless.”

How cool is THAT?

So no matter if you may not even be able to do something yourself at this moment, spread the word! Someone out there may just be waiting for you to suggest it. Be used!

There are many ways to be involved – and the rewards are so great. Right now, Compassion is hosting a blog challenge. (I was totally not aware until my friend JanMary put me on to it – THANK YOU JM!) If you have just a few moments, then you should check out the Compassion Blog Tour to Uganda. Some dedicated bloggers are all in Uganda, witnessing the work of Compassion . Be prepared to be moved as you read how each person is being changed through this experience. You will get a wide range of blogging styles and journaling, all focussed on this rewarding and life-changing experience. I could not them without being touched by each story.

These are the bloggers who are taking part in the Uganda Trip:

· David Kuo blog

· A simple journey

· queen anne's lace

· Spence Smith

· Tom Emmons

· Shannon in Oklahoma

· FlowerDust

· BooMama

· The NEW ShaunGroves.com - Shlog

· Randy Elrod

· The Phil Files

· Doug Van Pelt

· Chris Elrod

· Ragamuffin Soul

· Compassion Blog

For photos from the trip go here

And... then you could go directly to the Compassion site to adopt your own child. Or perhaps to find information so a childless friend can adopt a child. Or, your church group can adopt a child. Or your workplace can adopt a child. Or your coffee group. Or...

Compassion Canada

Compassion USA

And Becky... YOU just adopted a child in Africa (then you got pregnant, go figure!) ... have you recieved your package? Photo? Do TELL!

I leave you with the following video of Carlos of Ragamuffin Soul blog to share his story of visiting an Aids Clinic/Villiage for the first time.