It's so easy, really.

I interrupt my usual book stuff for an important announcement.
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I mentioned on Saturday that Jennifer, my managing editor over at 5 Minutes for Books was leaving for the Dominican Republic to work with other bloggers and Compassion International.

You really must go check out her latest blog post about her trip on 5 Minutes for Moms in which she talks about building a relationship with your sponsored child.

Up until this point I have always assumed that you sponsor a child, you get a picture of who you believe your sponsored child to be and you remember to pray for them every once in awhile. All while remembering to send in your monthly donation, of course. I admit it's a calloused view, but I owned it all the same.

However, Jennifer's recent post on sponsorship hit a chord in my heart. She spoke of developing a correspondence with "your" child and even being given opportunities to meet them in person. Developing RELATIONSHIP is a big deal to me. I don't like anonymous. I like knowing and understanding, giving, receiving, growing, and loving. I like meeting needs of people I KNOW.

I finished reading Jennifer's post and this evening I got on Compassion International's website and selected a child to sponsor. I chose a girl, because I already have a boy. I picked a girl who was close in age to my boy so that I can grow to know her even through my son, as they are near the same development stages. Not only that, but her face looks similar to his (in my opinion) which captivates me and moves me.

I never would have even THOUGHT of considering taking the step to sponsor a child before. But this seems like an amazing opportunity to "care" for a child through their own parents, giving them chances they might not have otherwise had but mostly just blessing them and being blessed in return. Any time you invest in the life of another you will be blessed. Some way, some how, you will.

I'm not saying sponsoring a child is the right thing for everyone to do but I'd say it's something well worth considering. I'm glad Jennifer was willing to go on this trip in the first place so that I might be forced to consider doing something so easy, and yet so amazing.

Check out Compassion International's website! You can also follow along with the team of Compassion bloggers by clicking here.

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Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.