Compassion International

This fall, I started teaching the Kindergarten and Third Grade Religion Classes on Friday afternoons.  Until the check arrived in the mail the other day, I had no idea I would be getting paid to teach these classes.  Jesse and I talked about just donating it back to the church, but with Christmas coming up, greed took over and I decided we would use the money to pay for part of our Christmas presents for the kids.  So last week, Anden and I ran a few errands and then were headed for the bank, where I was depositing several checks, including the one for teaching Religion.  I reached over, pulled out all the checks I had to deposit, flipped through them, and realized I was missing the one for Religion.  I searched everywhere... even went back to dreaded Walmart because I remembered Anden pulling a paper out of my purse while I was in the vacuum aisle.  No luck though, I couldn't find it anywhere.  Finally, I gave up and told myself, "Well, that's what you get for being greedy!"  As I was buckling Anden back into his car seat, my phone rings.  It was the clerk that checked me out at Maurices earlier that day.  She says to me, "I think you may have dropped something.  You can swing by and pick it up."  She had found the check on the floor and looked me up using my Rewards Card information I had used while checking out.  I picked up the check, thanked her ten times over again, and then prayed the whole way home, asking for guidance on helping me to do something good with that money. 

That's when it hit me... Compassion International! 

Meet Fatas Abdoul...

Isn't he the most adorable little guy!  I'm so excited about this...

Fatas is from Burkina Faso, Africa.  He's five years old and he loves to play soccer.  I swear, every time I look at his picture, I fall more in love with him!

Our family is sponsoring Fatas through Compassion International.  Kaylee and Jacob picked him out.  I think what stood out to them is when I told them that Fatus doesn't go to school.  Several of the other kids we looked at actually did attend school.  Jacob came home from school this afternoon and asked me if Fatas got to go to school today since we sent him some money.  How sweet is that!!!  Kaylee & Jacob are both excited about writing Fatas a letter and sending him some of their coloring pages.  I told them that we would get letters back from Fatas as well.  They both thought that was pretty amazing. 

Obviously $38 a month isn't going to change Fatas's life forever.  But I do pray that it will bring him a sense of hope.  I will be praying for his health and safety each day just as I do for my own children.  I also pray that Kaylee, Jacob, and Anden will be forever impacted by this.  I hope this encourages them to do kind things for others and to give back when they are able.