The first time I ever saw this picture of Jesus laughing, I was transfixed.

There’s life in it.

And even now, I still respond to His expressive joy. I laugh. He laughs. He knows how I feel!

This idea that Jesus knows us isn’t just a concept; it’s actually for real (Whoa!), which isn’t quite how I feel when I see a “typical” portrait of Jesus, the kind that defines the image I carry with me when I imagine or speak with Christ.

But now, after two years @compassion (Happy anniversary to me today.), I see Jesus a lot differently. And I see poverty differently.

This is poverty transformed. Do you see the similarities?

It’s been eight months since my last sponsor letter photos post, so I felt it was high time to raid our digital library again and round up another batch of photos showing sponsored children reading letters from their sponsors. Hope you like ‘em.

If you have trouble viewing the slideshow above, you can view the photos on Flickr.

Right before Thanksgiving, I was rootin’ around in our digital asset management library and saw some child photos I absolutely had to share. Photos of children reading letters from their sponsors.

The photos helped me picture my sponsored child, Lerionga, reading letters I’ve sent him. They drew me closer to him.

Some of these photos are old – five or six years. Others were taken just last year.

Some of these children have left our program, and some have sponsors from countries other than the U.S.

The exciting thing is that we were able to contact several sponsors and let them know about this post, so they could download the photo.

Any time I can do that for you, I will.

Here is what I speak of – the sponsor letter photos.

They’re here! You can see ‘em. Excellent!

But you can’t download them yet.

We know. We know. It shouldn’t be that hard to do something that seems so simple, but things aren’t always what they appear. Just ask the Jews who didn’t recognize the Messiah.

Anyway, download functionality will be available when the redesigned compassion.com launches.

Remember us mentioning the redesign thing … back in early June. We’re still working on it. Making great progress too.

For now, this is where you can find your photos.

1. Log in to My Account at compassion.com
2. Click on Child Information in the left hand navigation
3. Rejoice!

When you click on the Child Information link that is next to your child’s photo, you’ll get more detailed information about your child and a bigger photo.

See.