Compassion Beginnings!

Hey all :)
Since I signed up to be a Compassion blogger last night I thought I should take the time to tell you how I got started on my Compassion journey!
December of 2010 I decided it was time that I sponsored a child. It is something that I've always wanted to do ever since I was a little girl when I would watch World Vision on Sunday mornings with my parents. I always felt really terrible that I was eating hot steaming pancakes and bacon while those poor kids on tv had nothing to eat. I used to beg and beg my parents to sponsor one but they always said no. (in their defense, we honestly couldn't afford one.. I just didn't realize we weren't rich like I thought we were)
So.... back to December 2010.... I knew I really wanted to sponsor a child, but I didn't know what company to sponsor through. So I sat down, and did my research. I wanted a company that I didn't need a credit card to sponsor with, and I wanted to pick the one that the most of my money would go to the child, instead of the company. Compassion fit my criteria perfectly!
Then I got to pick the little boy or girl that I would invite into my life, and love them as if they were my family, which they would become. I sat there, scrolling through the pages and pages of children who needed sponsors and reading their mini biography things, waiting for the one child that I knew I was supposed to sponsor.. then I found him.
Joel was a tiny little boy staring up at me from his picture, in his too-big clothes and sweet, shy look on his face that just begged me to pick him. My heart was stolen by this darling little 5-year-old, in a country that I had never heard of. Clicking immediately on the "sponsor me" button, I filled out the necessary information and so, Joel became my first sponsored child!! I was so excited I sat right down and wrote out my first letter to my new little friend.
In just a short couple of weeks, I received my first letter! I was so excited when I opened the mail box and found the envelope labeled "a message from your sponsored child!" I squealed and opened it right there. If I remember correctly, it was raining that day, and my dad was waiting in the car for me to get back in...(sorry dad!) I was stoked. I read it and re-read it, and re-read it! I must have read it a million times before I stopped shaking with excitement enough to reply!
A year later, I had enough saved up that I could sponsor another little one!! I was so excited when I checked my bank on Thanksgiving morning and realized I had enough money! This time I knew I wanted to sponsor another child from Burkina Faso, where Joel lived, so if I ever got to go visit, I would hopefully be able to see them both in one trip. So, as I ate my pancakes, I scrolled through the list of Children available in Burkina Faso until Loukmane jumped off the screen and into my heart. I knew right away that I had to sponsor him.
Once again, a short time later, God had called upon my heart to again sponsor a child. But this time I knew I just could not sponsor one financially. Then I heard about this wonderful thing called Correspondence sponsoring! I got all the joy of writing and receiving letters to/from a child, but I did not have to financially sponsor one when I was not able! Needless to say I jumped on that bandwagon real fast! I was ALL over correspondence sponsorship! When the email came back saying there was a little boy in the Dominican who needed a correspondence sponsor I did not even hesitate to say YES! And so, Robert came into my life.
Unfortunately, 2012 ended up being not the greatest year of my life, and I didn't write even a fraction of the times that I should have! I felt, and still feel, SO terrible about that! So this year I have pledged to write at least one letter a month to my boys, and to do everything I possibly can do for Compassion in my area, and anywhere else that I can possibly do anything for them! :)
Thats all for now, folks!
xo
Lisa