A little perspective

When my first set of kids were little (we have decided we have eras - the Emily/Owen era and then the Alexa/Ian era)we almost always had some family chapter book going on. However, over time, with school pressures and outside activities increasing, it became something we did less and less. When Emily was in the 9th grade we began Tapestry of Grace. TOG is a lovely curriculum but has lots, and lots, and lots of reading! While we were all reading books on the same topic, we were not reading the same book and Ryan was left out. I have been praying and praying for some way to help Alexa see and understand how some people can/are called to the mission field. Recently, I came across a blog about a blog about a young girl in Uganda. The blog was promoting a book that this amazing young woman had written. I had a gift certificate to a local Christian bookstore and I went that day to pick up the book. I was thinking it would be a great time for Alexa and I to read this book together. However, after I got home, I read the forward and introduction of the book. I decided it would benefit us all to read it. So, for the past two weeks, each night at bedtime I have read a chapter out loud. We have had to be diligent, we have had to make sacrifices (yes, sometimes I am beginning the chapter at 10:00pm). I have to say it has been one of the best things we have done in a long, long time. The book itself is fascinating but the discussion that is taking place within our family is amazing. Last year as a Christmas gift to our children, we adopted a girl through Compassion International. The girl we chose lives in Uganda with her grandmother and 12 brothers and sisters. We pay for her to go to school, pay for her school supplies and uniform, and for her to have lunch while she is there. In her book, "Kisses from Katie" Katie Davis explains how she realizes how important school is to these children and how little American money it would take to send these children to school. "Less than most Americans spend on extra weekend money." How awesome to know we have a hand in helping a child like she discribes in the book. Several of Emily's friends have been to Uganda, we have seen the pictures, we have seen the land, the children, the poverty. We got online earlier today and looked through some of their pictures. People we know, affected just like in the book. We have another friend who is in Uganda right now. Living, working among the people we are reading about each night. It has brought Uganda into our world in a powerful way. It is amazing to me that we have known all of this but not connected it all together quite as powerfully as we are now. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to share all of this with my children. That they will be exposed to mission, poverty, orphans at such a young age, an acute awareness of what is going on in the world around them. I have found myself praying for Katie's parents almost as much as I pray for Katie. To be the parent of a child being willing to give up everything for the cause of Christ has to be a mixture of contradicting emotions. I am thankful she was called, I am thankful she decided to share her story.