Beatrice

Once again, sweet Angie Smith has inspired me...and this time has led us to something so amazing and exciting, I've just been bursting lately! In fact, I think this was part of what nudged me out of my fog...

Angie is travelling to India to blog for Compassion. When I first read about her trip, I just felt God's voice welling up inside me... and before I even finished reading her sentence will you be praying about sponsoring a child, He was shouting YES! In fact, I jumped over to the Compassion site so fast, I didn't read the part about chosing a child from Calcutta (what can I say, I'm not that great with instructions).

I really wanted to make this a family experience, and as I started looking through pages and pages of children - all of their eyes just called out to me - I asked Sophia to come help me. I told her we would be making a new friend. I explained to her about these children all over the world, who need our help, and I told her God was chosing for us to pick one to be our special friend. As I clicked through the pages, Sophia stopped me and pointed to a picture of a little four year old girl from Ghana, named Beatrice. She asked me her name, and when I told her, she said "Beatrice is so beautiful, she is my special friend." Beatrice is so beautiful - not only is she so adorable I just want to scoop her up and kiss her sweet cheeks, but her story really touched me.

So, we have a new friend. Sophia and I made a trip to the library and got every book we could find on Ghana and stories of children in Africa. We started collecting sticker books, drawing pictures, and taking photographs to send to Beatrice. We pray for Beatrice, we talk about her, she has already become such a part of our family.

And, I'm excited about a little project I've been mulling around in my head... I am going to get a giant map poster, and mount it on metal. Then I will made little picture magnets for all of our friends and relatives - including Beatrice - who live far away. I love that we'll have a place to see just where everyone is, and a good starting place for learnin more about the world. Stay tuned for the final product...

I am so thankful that God has brought Beatrice into our lives. Angie continues to inspire me, and I am so thankful that she led me to sponsorship - something I've contemplated many times, but finally embraced.

Compassion is wonderful. When our packet arrived in the mail, we learned so much about Beatrice and her family, but also about Ghana - they even have local recipes on their website! I pray that Angie is successful in recruiting lots of other sponsors - somehow I just know she will be ;)