Are We Pinning Yet?

Mother Goose welcomes you to Week Three of Compassion’s Blogging Month! In the unlikely event that you have missed the previous two episodes of this month-long campaign, we are finding sponsors for 3,108 children around the globe who live in various conditions of poverty. Compassion sponsorship costs very little in monetary units, and has an INCREDIBLE return on the emotional investment side.

Mother Goose invites YOU to go to their website, think about this for a little awhile and then make a life-changing decision to make a difference in the lives of one of these little kids. Since September 1st, we have found sponsors for 1,515 children — maybe you’ll be the next one.

Our assignment this week is to spread our social media wings and include Pinterest in our outreach for Compassion. And also, to post a picture of ourselves with the gosling whom we are currently involved with (sponsoring and/or corresponding). Here’s yours truly, Mother Goose, in India with precious little Benny.

Yeah, just kidding. I’m in my backyard holding a photograph of her.

Now, I must ask….have we discussed Pinterest here at Mother Goose Smiles? I’m thinking that we have not. I would like to cordially invite you over there right now to honk at my pins, repin my pins or just smile at them. There are various ways of enjoying Pinterest…. But first you have to sign up for that fun place. After that, just drop over and we’ll pin together.

I’m going there myself right now. See you at Pinterest.

Oh, yes! Here’s a link to my Pinterest page! HONK!

Gotta Love the Little Goslings

“My dear sweet Aunty, greetings in the Jesus’ name. How are you? I am doing well. I enjoyed birthday gift that you sent to me. Thanks for the nice gift. Pray too my studies ranks in my class. And my mother is a tailor. She often gets electric shock when she is stitching. So please pray for her, I pray for you! by G. Benny Kiruba”

Mother Goose gets letters every other month from this sweet little girl in India. She’s eight years old and lives alone with her mother who earns a poor income as a tailor in their village. Her father passed away due to complications from jaundice.

Mother Goose has been a child sponsor with Compassion International for so many years. I’ve been overwhelmed by the love of these children who live in faraway corners of the world. The letters they write are sweet, cheerful and sometimes heartbreaking, but always jam-packed with thankfulness!

This little Benny is the third child I have sponsored, and it seems she touches my heart the most.

Perhaps because she is alone with only her mother who gets shocks from her sewing machine…

Maybe because she is nearly the same age as my own AnnaRose…

Maybe it’s her precious smile and her pretty face.

Here’s how to sponsor a little boy or a little girl — someone just like my little Benny!

Maybe I just love the little goslings…

Whatever the reason, there is no shadow of a doubt that we have developed a real bond of love. I have compassion on her. I believe that she has compassion on me — after all, I’m only a goose!

Compassion International is celebrating new child sponsorships for the entire month of September with Blog Month — their goal (and mine as well) is to find sponsors for 3,108 children scattered here, there and everywhere around the world. And they are having a contest for bloggish people because they know that we know how to spread the good word to our dear, faithful, loyal and loving readers.

The ultimate grand prize for the blogger who hauls in the most new sponsorships in September is way beyond exciting — it’s the dream of a lifetime for Mother Goose!

Imagine…the blogger who brings in the most sponsorships through their blog between September 1st and September 30 will win a FREE ticket on a blog trip to a country where Compassion works.

Whilst on this trip, Mother Goose would get to write her stories from the field, meet incredible people (you KNOW I’ll love that!), and get to experience Compassion’s ministry to the poor, up close and personal. HONK HONK — this would be so GREAT!

There are other prizes as well: books, gift certificates, gifts to sponsored children and their families. Friends, it’s all good.

I wonder if you are beginning to get excited about this opportunity? Are you thinking that being able to change the life of a young person might be a heartwarming experience? Maybe you’re wishing for some just personal mail for a change instead of the usual bills and junk mail.

Sometimes we feel small and helpless in the face of the world’s problems and tragedies. We wonder how we can possibly change the world…

Mother Goose knows first hand that you change the world for one child.

Please click on this link — it’ll take you to the Compassion website where you can see pictures of real kids looking for real sponsors. God’s sweetest blessings on you today for loving His littlest goslings.

Mother Goose Gets a New Friend

Happy Birthday to Miss Benny Kiruba! Benny is my new sponsored child in India, and today she turns SEVEN years old. I am very happy for her and wish I could give her a big birthday hug in person. Look at how sweet she is!

Happy happy Birthday Benny

Mother Goose has been a child sponsor with Compassion Int’l for more than ten years, and it has been a true blessing. My first child in the program was Annet Kagoya, my daughter in Uganda who recently finished her studies as a nursing aide, found work in a pharmacy and then lo! and behold! became a momma to a little fellow. I got a letter from her last week, probably my last since she is now out of the child sponsorship program, and she expressed her gratitude to me for supporting her over these many years. It sounds like she is doing well — Annet and her baby boy. And does this make Mother Goose a granny?

I also sponsored a little fellow in northern India for awhile, but he had to drop out of the Compassion program and go to work in the tea fields near his home. It made me sad to think of a child only nine years old having to pick tea leaves instead of going to school and learning about Jesus.

So now my heart sails around the world to the southern tip of India to a little girl who lives with her mother who is employed as a laborer. Her father passed away due to jaundice. She likes to play hide and seek with her friends — she likes to draw pictures, and she’s in second grade, just a little younger than my dear AnnaRose.

I’m just honking with delight to have a new little girl in my life, and I’ll be praying for her. I hope that in years to come, she will grow into a fine young woman who loves and knows that she is a precious person in God’s world. Here’s what Compassion Int’l says about that: “Children in poverty are susceptible to believing its darkest message, that they don’t matter.” It is my hope that Miss Benny Kiruba hears the true message today that she is loved and so very valuable.

Be blessed today with your friends.

My Precious Annet Kagoya

Ten years ago last February I began a relationship that has blessed me in so many ways. Through Compassion International, a well-trusted child sponsorship organization, I was introduced to Annet Kagoya. Here’s the first picture I ever had of her:

Over the years, I received many letters from her and quickly grew to love her with all my heart. For years and years, she started out her letters the same way, “Much greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.” Very appropriate, very formal. But for the last two years, her letters began differently, “Receive much greetings from your beloved daughter in Uganda.”

She always thanked me for sponsoring her and for praying for her. I saved every single letter she wrote and also every single photograph of her. I sent her pictures of our family, as well as newsy, encouraging letters. We were as close as two people on opposite sides of the planet could be, communicating the old-fashioned way several times a year. Annet was very joyful for me when I gave birth to my sixth baby, AnnaRose, and frequently asked about her in letters and assured me that she was praying for AnnaRose.

She was very interested in helping people and planned to study nursing. And she did. Besides providing medical care and Christ-centered education, Compassion International has a very good program to help young adults learn career skills. Annet finished the Compassion program and left her village to find employment. I have heard from the organization that she is working at a pharmacy and has a little baby now. I would love to receive another letter from her, but don’t know if I will.

Here is my favorite recent picture of my beloved daughter in Uganda:

I just love her dress and her self-confident smile in that picture. I am very thankful for her love and prayers over these last ten years. Every time the mailman left a letter from her in my box, I would stop EVERYTHING to sit down and catch up with her. I know that God used me to teach Annet about His love which knows no bounds. No matter where we live, whether in a suburban setting or in a Ugandan village, God loves each and everyone of His children. He has a plan for each of us, a good and delightful plan. I’m so very glad that His plan for me included a connection to one of His dear children in Africa, my daughter in Uganda, Annet Kagoya.

Bee blessed today. Love, Natalie

Back of the Basket

Sometimes when I read a blog, I have to ask myself, “What happened that caused them to write that? There’s something between the lines, but I just can’t see it with my old foggy eyes.” I wonder if anyone asked that question yesterday with my short little story about Little Wife’s basket…

I had every intention of telling a funny story about Little Wife in one of her hilarious adventures. Halfway through my thought process, the mailman delivered his daily stuff. The first envelope I opened was the bad news that the high school would not waive its fees because our income did not fall within their restricted guidelines.

Next I opened the envelope from Compassion Int’l which is usually a wonderful letter from the young lady I’ve sponsored for more than eleven years — her name is Annet, and she lives in Uganda. You may remember that one of the great gifts Mark gave me for our anniversary was a savings account so that I could plan to visit her in the fall of 2012, and I’ve been very excited about that journey.

I immediately realized that the letter inside was not from Annet — not her handwriting. It was actually from the child development director at the Nangalama Child Development Center in Jinja where Annet has been connected to the services of Compassion. Her letter was brief — thanks for being Annet’s sponsor, unfortunately she is unavailable to respond in writing to my letters. Here is a direct quote from the heart-breaking letter:

“Annet finished [her studies] as a nursing aide and went to look for employment. In the due course, she became pregnant and gave birth to a baby. She preferred to stay away from home, and her parents do not know where she is living now. Efforts are however in place to find Annet and as soon as we find her, we shall request her to write to you.”

I have no more details than that. Just a sadness and a mother’s heart of worry for this woman who I’ve known since she was eight years old, the same age that AnnaRose is right now. So that’s why I just started putting all my stuff in the basket yesterday — too much stuff was cluttering up my heart, and the tears in my eyes blurring the screen so that I couldn’t tell you more about Little Wife.

Please pray with me that my dear daughter in Uganda is safe, and that she is not all alone in the city. Pray that God will guide her and lead her and comfort her and strengthen her and give her His peace. And may His sweetest blessings fall on you today.