Unique Birthday Present

We are trying to give our kids a vision and heart for the world and to broaden their view of life outside of our own little community, our own state, and our own country. I desperately want them to know how spectacularly blessed we are compared to the rest of the world and that as followers of Christ we have the joy of blessing others in His name and for His glory.

Realistically, I know that this will take a work of God in their hearts, but while I'm praying for that I wanted to find a way to make it real to them. So for Ryan's birthday we decided to sponsor a child on his behalf through Compassion International. I did a search for boys born in February 2002 and then let Ryan choose the one he thought we should sponsor. He chose Ravi, a little boy who is just one day older than he is. Ravi lives in India with his parents and two siblings.

I wasn't sure how this "present" would be received, but I was happy to see how thrilled he was! During school for writing last week, he wrote his first letter to Ravi, and he is looking forward to receiving one back. I was also encouraged because when I told Ryan I was going to send Ravi some money for his birthday, he brought me some of his own money to send as well!

Fence Mail

The neighbor who lives directly behind us recently lost his wife. She was a sweet lady, though I don't think she knew the Lord. He is in his early 70s and is pretty lost without her. My heart breaks as I see him sitting out on their back porch alone where he used to be with her. He does have most of his children in the local area, which is good, but day to day I know he's struggling.


So the kids and I have been trying to share Jesus' love with him regularly in the form of passing things over the fence to him. Every week (just about) we give him some cookies or homemade jam or pie or a picture the kids drew for him, etc. He has been very appreciative. I often have trouble catching him at just the right time though since we're not always in the back yard at the same time he is. So I bought a hook and have been hanging things from it for him to find. Then last week I looked out the window and saw he had sent something our way! He returned the box I had last used and put four yummy Lindt dark chocolate candies in it for us. Then this morning there was a cucumber from his garden.


It's been a fun way to let him know we care about him and are thinking about him, and I pray the Lord will give me the courage to more directly tell him the gospel. By the way, he "caught" me taking these pictures, and he's probably wondering what in the world I'm doing that for!