Growing up, my husband and I were never exactly the first ones picked to be on the kickball team. We weren’t second or third either.

We’d languish in the line of kids with knobbly knees as it grew sparser and sparser and our humiliation grew deeper and deeper. We always knew we would be one of the leftover kids — it was a given — kicking at the dirt, pretending not to notice while the cool kids tried to decide between which of the less athletically endowed kids would mess up their game the least.

But you just hoped you wouldn’t have to bare the infamy of being the last one standing in that line alone. Often my husband, shortest kid in his grade that he was, was the very last picked.

As much as I hated that kickball line, I know that God used it to shape us into whom He wanted us to be. For both my husband and me, being the last picked made us compassionate for the underdog and empathetic toward those who don’t seem to get all the breaks.

On a recent sponsor trip to El Salvador, Jocelyn Erhardt, a sponsor with Compassion Cananda, shared another story of how God used the last one picked to show His mercy.

Rabbi is our sponsored child who is registered into Compassion’s program in El Salvador. Previously, Rabbi and the other kids who were registered with him had waited eagerly to find out who their sponsors would be.

Each child who got a sponsor would be so excited and proudly show their pictures and letters to the other kids. Rabbi kept waiting for that to be him. And he kept waiting and waiting as the line of kids who needed to be sponsored dwindled.

Rabbi asked his mom over and over, “Why isn’t anyone sponsoring me?”

Like many other kids before him, perhaps he wondered if there was something wrong with him since no one seemed to want him.

But his mom, Blanco, had faith and continually assured Rabbi, “God has someone extra special to sponsor you, and we need to wait for God’s perfect timing.”

In the meantime, Blanco privately prayed for her little son, that he would get a sponsor and that his sponsor would be a pastor.

After all that waiting, Rabbi was the very last child picked, the last one waiting in that line wondering why no one would pick him.

But although Rabbi was the last picked, his sponsor made the choice to come and visit him — the only child in his center who had ever had his sponsor come to visit! And, guess what?

His sponsor – my husband, Jason – is a pastor of 20 years, just as Rabbi’s mom had prayed for.

On our visit to El Salvador, Blanco poured out through tears how God had used our sponsorship to teach her and Rabbi about His profound faithfulness and how much He cares for them — a profound lesson to learn as a boy growing up amid poverty.

Just another way that God, even through the little adversities of life, continues to show His mercies that are new every morning to us and through us.

Now is your time to sponsor a child who has been waiting for a sponsor for six months or longer.

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Passport. Check.
Warm clothes and toothbrush. Check.
Plane tickets to Ecuador. Check.
Cards for unsponsored children. Check. Thanks to you.

I know my trip to Ecuador to deliver your Christmas cards is still about two weeks away, but I like to make sure I am prepared, over and over and over again.

We (I and the people over at DaySpring) are hard pressed to express how honored, grateful and humbled we are to carry your words to children who know poverty – to carry your words to children of God.

Because of you we have been able to witness the goodness of God as you have responded by creating hundreds of cards for unsponsored children.

The boxes of cards we carry are not just cards. The cards we carry have your words and words bring life.

Your words are not just printed ink on paper. When I think of the cards I see a weapon that will be used by God. I see hundreds of hammers, in the shape of letters, shattering the lies of poverty. I see the grip of discouragement falling away from the children Jesus watches over.

• “I am not worth anything” will be replaced with “I am deeply loved by the Creator of the universe.”
• “I have no purpose” will be replaced with “My God has a plan for me.”
• “No one cares about me” will be replaced with “My Savior knows my name.”

I cannot stop dreaming about what God will do with your words. I cannot stop believing Him to bring hope where there is darkness.

So, in case I have not made my point yet, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for taking this season to bless an unsponsored child. You may think your words are simple. Maybe when you were creating your card you did not know exactly what to write, but we know these cards will bring light because we carry these words for God.

Now, would you like a peek into the travel itinerary? I have that for you! Well, I have the preliminary travel itinerary. God has the real one. He probably won’t unveil that until we are in Ecuador! But don’t worry – it is my hope to keep you updated along the way!

I am traveling to Ecuador on Dec. 11 with two wonderful ladies from DaySpring. Then, December 12 – 15, we’ll be visiting three child development centers, and with us will come your words.

The centers we intend to visit are:

• Embajadores de Dios Student Center (EC-104)
• Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn) Student Center (EC-142)
• Eden Student Center (EC-479)

I know that these are only center names and numbers, but each of these centers holds the faces of such beautiful children, with intricate stories and struggles we cannot imagine. I am excited and hopeful to report back to you with pictures and stories.

Oh, and if you have not had a chance to create a Christmas card for an unsponsored child yet, you still have the rest of this weekend.

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For those of you who don’t know, I’m a recovering “Lame Sponsor” with Compassion International. I have a checkered past when it comes to keeping up regular correspondence with the two boys we sponsor. To date, a five-year-old in Ghana has been out-writing me!

That all changed after I traveled with Compassion International to Guatemala this past September. And I got asked the same question over and over again in a language I couldn’t understand by faces I could read as easily as those of my own two sons, “Do you know my sponsor? Will you ask them to write to me?”

My heart cracked into all kinds of tiny pieces on that trip – each one determined to take home the message they’d entrusted me with, “Please ask them to write to us.”

Sponsor or no sponsor, turns out what every kid really wants is a letter. A letter to tell them they are special and loved and beautiful and necessary and that they matter much, much more than their circumstances may tell them.

When you’ve stood in a corrugated iron shack that houses a family of five who barely escaped a mud slide and watched them pull an envelope of letters that stretch back for years out from under the mattress pad you know you’re in the presence of something special.

Paper and ink can be an anchor in the storm.

Often our words are more important than our money.

And we’d like to make a way to send hundreds and thousands of words of encouragement to kids who really need them in this season of Thanksgiving. That’s where YOU come in! Well you, DaySpring, and Compassion International. From now through November 29th (the Monday after Thanksgiving) Studio DaySpring will be hosting a Christmas Card Drive for the children of Ecuador.

You design the card, Compassion will translate it, DaySpring will print it, and a team from both organizations will travel to Ecuador to deliver it in person in time for Christmas!

Four student projects with more than 100 unsponsored kids are looking forward to hearing from you. Did your tummy just do the happy flip? Mine sure did!

Here’s how it works:

1. Click here to go to the Studio DaySpring Christmas Card Drive page.
2. Design a card for a super special kid in Ecuador just dying to hear from YOU (for as little as $1.99).
3. Tell them what makes them so worth celebrating this Christmas season.
4. Include a photo of you and your family and a little bit about you so they know who the card’s coming from – kids LOVE photos!
5. Bear in mind we’ll need some room on the card to translate your message into Spanish.
6. Add to Cart and Voila – you’ve just created a Christmas message that will be hand delivered from you to a child in Ecuador. Our team will be there December 11-16.
7. Oh and we’ve got a blog button to help spread the word – you can grab it off (in)courage’s side bar.

Kind words are like honey – sweet to the taste and good for your health (Proverbs 16:24). Your words will nourish no matter whose hands your card finds its way home to. You don’t have to know a child to impact their life. You only have to know the Jesus you both have in common.

And we can’t wait to report back – with words and photos – how your cards were received. We’ve got a feeling it’s gonna be nothing short of Christmas-tacular!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lisa-Jo Baker lives in between countries, callings and kids, believes motherhood should come with its own superhero cape, and as the Community Manager for (in)courage loves dreaming up ways to serve the hearts of women.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

For many people, Christmas is a time of celebration and thanksgiving — a time filled with family and steeped in tradition. It is a time of praise and gratitude as we reflect on the birth of Jesus, our Savior.

For a child in poverty, Christmas can be very different. It may reinforce the hopelessness they experience daily; it can be a vivid reminder to parents that they are unable to provide for their children. It can be a day to get through instead of a day to enjoy.

Thanks to your love, thousands of children around the world who live in poverty do know of the hope of Christ and wait, just like any other child, in anticipation for Christmas Day.

Christmas for children registered in our programs is a celebration. Our centers usually have Christmas plays and music. Children are given special gifts, which are purchased through our Christmas Gift Program. When the children are presented with these gifts, they are told that the gifts are from you.

Of course, not every child registered in our programs has a sponsor. There are many children still waiting for someone to choose them. Our Christmas Gift Program ensures that every registered child, sponsored or unsponsored, receives a gift. Unsponsored children are told that the gift is from someone who cares about them very much.

That said, is there any difference at Christmas for a sponsored child and an unsponsored child?

The answer is yes.

Unsponsored children attend the celebration held at the center and receive Christmas gifts. Technically, unsponsored children receive all the benefits a sponsored child receives …

Except a Christmas card.

Most sponsored children also receive a card or letter from their sponsors at Christmas.

Many of you know that writing your sponsored child truly makes an impact. God uses your letters and words of encouragement to pierce hopelessness and to dry up the lies that attack your child.

How much more could your words mean during a season that celebrates the birth of our Savior?

I asked our Country Office staff, and staff from our child development centers in Ecuador who work closely with the children, to answer some questions about this.

I first asked, “What is the reaction of unsponsored children when they don’t get a Christmas card?” Each person had a similar response:

“They wonder why they don’t get a letter or a card. Of course we explain the situation to them and tell them it’s because they don’t have a sponsor, but that’s not enough for a child. This is something that makes unsponsored kids feel very sad and even discouraged. They start to say things like, ‘Why can’t I get a letter too?’” — Yovi de Racines, Secretary of “Camino de Santidad” Mission (This mission includes several child development centers in coastal Ecuador.)

“They feel frustrated and wonder why other children get a card and they don’t. This is really frustrating because it creates an evident difference between unsponsored and sponsored children.” — Betty Estacio, Country Office staff member from the northern region of Ecuador

“They feel left out and suddenly they find themselves wondering why they don’t receive anything. That’s when we explain the situation to them. We tell them it’s all because they don’t have a sponsor, but we also tell them they will receive special things in the near future. Of course that’s not totally enough to them, but at least makes them feel better. They feel sad until they finally forget about it.” — Maricruz Garófalo, Center Director of Puerta del Cielo (Gate of Heaven) student center in Ecuador

I also asked our staff, “How do the sponsored children feel when they receive a card from their sponsor?”

“They feel extremely excited and that excitement is the result of knowing someone cares for them in a genuine way. They think and feel that other people who live so far away care for them through the distance. “ — Betty Estacio

“First of all, they feel a rush of joy. They feel happy and very important. Generally, all the children show their cards to their friends.” — Yovi de Racines

“It is thrilling to see the joy in the little kids’ faces because many times the sponsors write about the things they do on Christmas and some of them are way different from what we do here.” — Mireya Benalcázar, Secretary at Puerta del Cielo (Gate of Heaven) student center in Ecuador

“Christmas is the most special time of the year for the children, so I believe greeting cards are a huge motivation to them, especially when they come from their sponsors. This simple detail can really motivate a child to keep on writing letters to his/her sponsor and make him/her feel loved and taken care of.” — Romel Cerda, Center Director of New Jerusalem student center in Ecuador

We know the impact a Christmas card can make in the life of a child, especially a child still waiting for the love of a sponsor.

If you are a sponsor and you have written to your sponsored child and/or you have contributed to the Christmas Gift Program, thank you. The hope and joy you are bringing to a child in need this Christmas is immeasurable.

As for the hundreds of unsponsored children who will not receive such a card, will you help us bring hope and joy to them this year?

We’ll tell you how you can help tomorrow.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

You have your own bed, and sleep each night with a full belly. You go to school, and in the afternoon you go to sports practice on a green grassy lawn that is safely guarded from speeding cars and other dangers.

Imagine a world where your toys are bought from Wal-Mart, and you get a new Christmas, Easter and birthday outfit every year.

That’s not very hard to imagine … is it? Most of us grew up in that setting — or one very similar.

The situation that is hard to truly grasp is living in the circumstances the children in our sponsorship program live in.

We’ve seen the pictures; some of us have had the chance to see poverty firsthand. The reality the children in our sponsorship program live in is mostly the opposite of ours.

While some children are blessed with both parents still living, many live with other family members or older siblings. They eat one meal a day *maybe*, and play with toys that they find in the trash dumps outside their wood-walled, tin-roofed, one-room shanty.

So imagine how it brightens a child’s day when he or she goes to the child development center and receives a letter from you — the sponsor.

Now imagine a child who doesn’t have a sponsor. When all the children receive letters at the center, one never comes for this child.

This child, Carlos from Colombia, was registered into the sponsorship program in April, 2008, and has never — I repeat NEVER – had a sponsor.

What questions do you think run through his head when he attends the center during letter-writing and receiving time? What would run through your mind?

“Wait!” You say. “Doesn’t the sponsorship program still provide Carlos everything he needs? He is registered, after all.”

Let me see if I can explain.

Remember Valentine’s Day in grade school?

You set out your decorated box to receive notes from your classmates. After exchange time is over, you check your box.

You stick your hand inside with anticipation. You grope around for a moment before the realization hits — no one gave you a Valentine message. Not one person.

The rest of the class got one from each class member. Your feelings are very hurt. You continue your school day, and receive all of the benefits from the education your teachers provide. You also receive a nutritious meal during lunch time and exercise during PE.

When you get in the car to go home, your mom knows something is wrong, but not even her hug can console you. A hug won’t ease the ache in your heart caused by not receiving a Valentine from any of your classmates. Understand?

Regrettably, there are more than 18,000 children in our sponsorship program just like Carlos — children who have been waiting for 12 months or longer for a sponsor. This number has skyrocketed 500 percent since June 2008, when it was just over 3,600.

Should this cause us to be disheartened? I don’t think so.

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” — 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)

I think this is a time for us to search out our purpose in this cause and press forward as God leads us. This is a time to rally — to advocate for these children. What will you do?

Here are some ways to help:

• Order a Christmas with Compassion kit and find a sponsor for a child on the unsponsored children’s list.
• Become a child advocate. Volunteer your time to work concerts, events, and speak at local churches about children in poverty.
• Hold a Compassion Sunday event at your church and help find some kiddo sponsors in your church. Learn more about hosting an event.
• Sponsor a child who has been waiting six months or longer for a sponsor.

Most of all, please pray.

Pray that God would raise up sponsors for these children. Pray that the children in our program will receive hope and love from the church staff, friends and family — despite their circumstances.

If you’d like to sponsor Carlos, please call us toll free at (888) 503-4586.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Beginning later today and continuing through Friday, October 2, we will periodically update our Facebook fan page status with questions about this here blog.

If you answer the question correctly and are the randomly selected winner, you will be the envy of all your friends and the new owner of nice Live for Him T-shirt.

You choose size and color — either the deeply stellar black body enhancer above or one of the vividly bold red variety.

We will announce the winner for each question before we post the next question.

Have fun!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Beginning today and continuing through this Friday (Sept. 25), we will send out tweets about specific children in need of sponsors.

And we’d like you to retweet them for us.

When you do, you’ll be eligible to win your choice of some free Live for Him* apparel:

• T-shirts
• caps
• rings
• wristbands

Every retweet counts as an entry, and winners will be randomly selected.

Once that child is sponsored, we’ll tweet information about another child, and we’ll follow that process for the duration of the week.

UPDATE: 9:05 a.m. – When you click on the child link in a tweet and you don’t see the specific child’s biography, it means that somone is considering the sponsorship. If the sponsorship isn’t finalized within 50 minutes, the child will be visible again.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

“Along the wall outside the Compassion project, many children watched and waited while the other children played and sang. With hundreds and thousands of children needing the hope that Compassion brings, our hearts broke to see the ones that could not be helped. Hundreds more are waiting for their chance to be sponsored, to be given hope, to be shown the love of Christ.” — scfish7

Then recently, I received the following e-mail.

“I read the blog about the children who are registered who are able to sing and enjoy meals while the unregistered ones just stare at them, wishing they were one of them. I have a hard time imagining what this is like.

“Is it like there is a ‘Century Fence,’ so to speak, that separates these two groups, where the unregistered look in and feel sad as they watch the sponsored eat hot meals and be carefree?

“Does this make them feel more unloved?

“Is it appropriate to send a picture or have one on this Web site so I can see what you are talking about? I have a hard time understanding this and maybe a picture would help.”

What are your thoughts? What do the children on the outside looking in feel?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Most of us are feeling the pinch of rising prices in our own lives, but to the poor even the slightest increase can be devastating. In times like this, those of us with enough have the option of reducing what we purchase. But for the needy, who are often already trying to survive on only one meal a day, they have no option but to go hungry.

Compassion has already determined that we will be able to send additional funds to each country this month. We will put an extra $1 million in the child support pool. However, we realize that this will be offset by the growing needs for unsponsored children and the loss in purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. We will release additional funds in order to respond immediately to urgent proposals for food aid.

Please join us in this cause and consider a donation to our Global Food Crisis fund, with the hope that we can provide an even greater response to the specific needs of children in poverty in the months to come.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates