The LOOOOng Story

Two weeks ago, I thought I was a compassionate person. Photos and images of Suffering animals, homeless people, and dirty, hungry children disturb me. Violence on television makes me change the channel . . . what is our society that finds such material entertaining? Does that make me compassionate or just humane?

Several months ago, I stumbled upon someone else's blog that has redefined my ideas of compassion, myself and what I want to teach our children.

Rocks in My Dryer first caught my attention because I could only think, "This is where I'm headed someday!" I have something in common with this woman and I loved her clever blog title. I occasionally return because her posts and photos made me smile and chuckle about what I'm sure to be thinking in a few years. I especially LOL when I read her post about having to actually tell her family to use soap when they showered! And I cried when I read her post about how much she treasured her grandmother's drawings. I didn’t even realize the popularity of her site, but I was impressed when I discovered she was going to Africa to spotlight Compassion International, a relief organization that sponsors the world’s poorest children. I was simply AMAZED that one honest mom’s daily blogging could lead to this.

At first, I didn’t want to read her daily logs from Africa. I knew I would read about and see photos of sad dwellings. Poor people. Needy children. This would make me very UN-comfortable in my comfortable world. But I was drawn like a moth to a flame: captured. I read every entry, every day, and I clicked on the links in her posts to read the blog posts of others on her trip.

One of the awesome things about her trip was the opportunity to meet the little boy that her own family sponsored. She took a backpack full of ordinary things to this orphan boy who lived with only 3 walls but had more hope than you could imagine, all because of Shannon's family's love and support. Another CI blogger posted a video of their meeting. I sobbed even more when I read how much she admired Annette.

The amazing part is that, even before reading and weeping, we sponsored a child and I wish that we could sponsor a dozen more! Don't worry, DH, I know that we can't, but I wish that we could. And that's the Looooooooong story. Hugs!!