my heart is sad

i've been wanting to blog about wendjina, our compassion child.  she's five and from haiti.  abby loves writing her letters.  she loves getting letters from her too.  wendjina has helped ALL of us remember how much we have to be thankful for.

she entered our family this spring, after i saw a youtube video of people in haiti that were so starved for food that they were making cookies out of mud to at least fill their bellies.  it broke my heart.  i showed it to abby.  we decided that if we have money to go out to eat ever (and we do), then we needed to take action.  wendjina was the child we chose.  her picture captured me.

so today, we got a letter from her.  it was newsy at first, and then halfway through, i found myself sobbing as i read out loud to abby,

she tells you during the time of the hurricanes it was not good for the family at all because alot of damage were caused where she lives.  her parents lost all that they had.  now they are living in neighbor house.  she tells you the vacation did not bring joy to her.  she live a expensive life.  despite all God does not leave her.  she tells you she loves you....

they lost everything.  their meager bit is gone.  and i'm making christmas lists.  maybe the best thing we can do this year is give.  not more stuff to each other, but give things that will really make a difference...like food, water, malaria shots.  the list goes on and on.  one opportunity is to donate $5 to soles4soles.  for five bucks, you can provide two pairs of shoes to people who have never had shoes.  can you imagine never having shoes?  ever?  i'm going there now to donate.  and then calling compassion to see how we can help wendjina's family.  who needs another sweater for christmas?  i don't.