Dayana Laura
Mily
I gradually collected gifts for each little girl and anxiously awaited information for our trip. Then I got a "dreaded" phone call...instead of hearing that Mily's first letter was on it's way, I learned that she and her family had moved away from the Compassion center HO350 and to a new neighborhood that does not have a Compassion center. I would no longer be able to have contact with Mily. I certainly was sad, I was very drawn this darling girl even though we had had no correspondence yet. I am thankful she and her family have moved away from the issues that they were dealing with but there is still a hole, and box full of gifts for a 7 year old little girl that I never got to know and never will.
So I turned my mental focus to the 2 little girls I have had wonderful communication with and cannot wait to hug. Sweet Dayana and precious Laura. Their letter have been great treasures to me. While I will miss Mily, at least I had not formed an attachment to her like I have the other girls, and now I have a hand for each child. Something I have told myself over and over lately. I tried not to focus on the box of gifts sitting with no purpose-I began to pack the gifts for Dayana and Laura and couldn't bring myself to even touch the third box. Maybe I can use it on a future trip, or at least some of the gifts...maybe there are children here that I know that would make use of the gifts...
Then something happened. I saw a sweet little face on the Facebook wall of a fellow Compassion advocate. "Don't let sponsoritis or the loss of Mily influence you," I told myself. Still , 7 year old Heidy from Honduras kept staring at me, and I at her. She was from center HO372, a center I had heard great things about. "Stop looking, you already have 5 sponsored children, that is enough." I began to pray that God would show me if it was His will for me to add Heidy to my "family" or to take away the desire to sponsor her. With most of my sponsored children, I have asked God for a sign: sometimes it was time, sometimes it was certain circumstances in the child's life, or even the decisions of another sponsor. Well, with Heidy, I asked God to show me through the details of our upcoming Honduras trip. "God, if you want me to sponsor Heidy, our tour group will have to visit her project HO372. That's how I will know it's meant to be." Even as I threw out this "fleece," I felt it was impossible. HO372 had been visited twice last year alone, there was no way we were going to visit this project when there are so many others out there. Beginning to process the separation with the idea of being Heidy's sponsor, I told myself, "This is not going to happen. There is basically a 0% chance we will go there."
Thursday, we got our trip itineraries from Compassion. I just about had a heart attack when I found out that we ARE visiting HO372. I was in utter shock-this shouldn't be happening. And yet it is. I kept staring at Heidy's photo. "God, is this for real?" After a few hours of mentally processing and praying, I filled out the online form to become Heidy's sponsor.
Heidy
Not only is it exciting to be able to spend a day with Heidy at her project, but my box of gifts for a 7 year old little girl can be put to VERY good use. The doll I have even reminds me of Heidy. So, pending paperwork and notifications, Heidy is part of my Compassion family and I will be able to hold her in just 3 short weeks. :) Our trip is also visiting HO350, Mily's project. This visit will be bitter-sweet as I will certainly miss Mily, yet to know where she had been and meet her pastors will be special. God does things in His way and His time. We may not understand them all, but He gives us direction. He may not always make His plans as obvious as He made them for me this week, but He shows us all the time that He is here and He is listening. God cares about even the smallest details of our lives. What an Amazing God we serve!
