Chewymom

Several years ago, Chewydad and I felt irresistibly called to go to Africa as missionairies. We learned of a school called the Rift Valley Academy, which is a boarding school for the children of missionaries. It seemed to be a great fit for our family. We learned all that we could, and daily we found ourselves gazing at pictures of the school, imagining our lives in Kijabe, Kenya. We filled out the necessary paperwork–mounds and mounds of paperwork–and attended the initial training session. Where we were told “no.”

That “no” hurt. It was the death of a dream and a desire, not only on our part but on the part of our children. For quite some time after that, I could not reengage my heart in Africa. But the longing remained.

I filled the longing for Africa by picking up a new missionary family to support. Occasionally I would surf the web, looking for information about Africa as a continent, and Kenya as a country. A few people made suggestions about other opportunities to serve in Africa, but none seemed a good fit for our family, given the ages and strengths and weaknesses of our children. I stumbled onto the Compassion website and looked through pictures, but the money was not in the budget to support a child. I perused adoption websites, wondering if rather than mothering children as a dorm parent, my call was to mother one in real life. No doors opened, and that was the end of that.

I somehow found the blog Boomama, and thoroughly enjoyed her humorous approach to life. And the fact that she was from Alabama. And likes to eat. She’s a soul-sister, I tell you. And then I read about the Blogfest she had been asked to participate in through Compassion International. I got back on their website and looked at pictures. On a whim, I decided to look for a little girl in Kenya, born in September, 2002, just like my Sally. Sally begs for a sister, and folks, that ain’t happenin’. A little girl popped up–Titolai. It was early in 2008, and I had just worked out our family budget for the year, and lo and behold, there was money to spare. The stars aligned, and I snatched up sweet Titolai before someone else could!

I do not have years of experience and letters to share with you, but I will say that just learning about her family, her area, her challenges has been moving. Knowing there is a real person over in Africa with whom I have a connection gives mehope. Did you hear that? This little girl gives me hope! Hope that someday I can realize my dream of going to Africa–to Kenya. I don’t know if I will be going as a missionary or simply to meet Titolai in person, but I will go.

I have been privileged to write Titolai and tell her about our family. She comes from a large family, too. I have been able to send her pictures of us. And I was able to send a little extra money to purchase her a doll. Sally loves dolls, and Titolai’s profile stated that she does as well. I want her to have something tangible that represents her American family to her. Something that gives her hope that she is loved from across the ocean–that she matters, and that she too can have hope. Hope of an education, hope of rising out of poverty, along with her family, and most of all hope of a Savior who loves her very much.

Click over to Shawn Groves’s blog to read his stories about his trip with Compassion. Also, he links to other bloggers who are writing their story of compassion. Read them. And won’t you consider sponsoring a child yourself?

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Mommy Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.