Finding the silver lining

My daughter and I did something interesting together today.  We chose a child to sponsor through Compassion International.  I have a friend from college that works for them full-time, traveling around the U.S. and to Compassion Sites in needy countries to make all of us aware of the thousands of children who need our help.  I have wanted to sponsor a child since I was a little girl (see Life on Essex post), but I have just never taken the time to do it.

So, Reagan and I decided that we would look at all of the girls that were her age and were needing sponsors.  We didn’t even make a dent in the six year old list when Reagan had made her decision.  She chose Edinah who lives in Tanzania, Africa and it was because she liked her flip flops!  I had tried my best to explain to Reagan why I wanted us to do this together and that I had committed to give up my three daily Diet Dr. Pepper fountain drinks to cover the monthly sponsorship.  We talked about what she could do around the house to earn money each month to go towards our sponsorship as well.  I was glad that she chose Edinah, as she lives in a country that is suffering so much from the AIDS virus and Edinah also has asthma.  So I felt like we had found the child for us.  We looked at pictures of Tanzania and the mud huts with thatched roofs that they live in and Reagan ask if we could send her a High School Musical CD.  Oh, this is going to be such a great learning experience for her!  So we printed out two copies of Edinah’s profile and put one on the refrigerator and Reagan took one to her room.  I was pleased with the time that we had spent on-line talking about how other children are not as fortunate as she is and that there is something that we can do to help them. 

So, as I was making dinner I ask Reagan about what she thought about what we did today.  Her response was this, “If I can’t send her a CD…could I send her another pair of flip flops, because it looks like she likes them”?  So, I am thinking that flip flops will me sent at some point.  I know this is not only going to be a huge learning experience for Reagan, but also for myself.  It was sweet then at dinner tonight when Reagan said the blessing and added another name to the list of people that she prays for.  She prayed for Edinah.