I went to the post office today and as I pulled the mail out of the box I noticed a cream colored envelope. For the past three years, every time I get a cream colored envelope I start to get excited. Sure enough, this one was from Compassion and the front of the envelope had the big blue letters stating, "A Message From Your Sponsored Child." YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!! Let the happy dance begin!!!
So happy!!!! But, which child? I love both of the kids I sponsor and a letter from either always puts a huge smile on my face for days. BUT... Tonight I found myself hoping and wishing that this particular letter be from seven year old Rose in Haiti. It takes three months for letters to get back and forth between here and Haiti. I haven't heard from Rose since September and that letter was several months old by the time I got it. Normally I would have gotten another letter by now, but with the cholera epidemic the schools have been closed & that's where she writes her letters to me. I've been so worried about her and her family with all of the turmoil in Haiti and them living right in the middle of the worst of the cholera epidemic. Yes, I really wanted that letter to be from Rose.
It made me pause and think. What if the letter is from fifteen year old Jairo in Honduras? Letters only take six weeks to get between here and there, so I hear from him more often than I hear from Rose. I just got a letter from him two weeks ago, but this envelope could be another letter from the young man that shares my birthday. As much as I love the two kids, would it disappoint me to have the letter be from Jairo instead of from Rose?
The answer was, yes. I would be disappointed if the cream colored envelope did not contain a letter from Haiti. I love getting letters from my teenage boy in Honduras. It's so great to be able to read and understand letters he has written himself (I can read Spanish). He understands concepts that little Rose just doesn't get yet and I can talk more naturally when I write to Jairo. However, I learned tonight that I do have a favorite child. Little Miss Rose is an overly enthusiastic bundle of energy with a never ending list of questions about everything under the sun. I've been sponsoring her for three years - since she was four. And she owns a huge piece of my heart. I am completely wrapped around her little finger. I would never let the kids know that I have a favorite. But I wonder, is it bad of me to care for one more than the other?
The letter was from Haiti, written last October. AND IT INCLUDED A PICTURE OF ROSE'S WHOLE FAMILY!!!!!! Mom, sister, aunt, two male cousins around ages 9 & 11, and most important of all Great Grandma. Great Grandma is the reason the girls are enrolled in the Compassion program. She told her rather unenthusiastic granddaughter that both girls would be going to school whether Rose's mom liked it or not. I'd love to give that woman a huge bonecrushing hug for caring so much about her great-grandaughters' future! Rose and her sister went to stay with an older brother in a neighboring town for the summer and had a wonderful vacation. The birthday money I sent her was used to buy two turkeys - she was very happy about this. Her mom (at the time the letter was written) was very sick and from the description given it sounds like she might have cholera. I am hoping she is well now. Rose got the world map and addition flashcards I mailed and she has been practicing her numbers with her older sister every day so that THIS TIME she'll pass second grade (she failed last year due to her lack of math skills). Lots of people in her town have been sick, but the school has given them pills to make their water safe and all of her family (with the exception of Mom) has stayed well. She always asks how my mom, sister, and all of our animals are doing (she names each animal). And she drew me a lovely picture of her church and some flowers.
Well, that's her three page letter in a nutshell. I hope I haven't bored you all. I just get so excited over letters from my kids, I had to share. :)
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