Compassion

So many thoughts going through my mind, but I wanted to share with you about a new member of our family, who comes to us through Compassion International. Several months ago, we felt led to sponsor a child with Compassion. We so desperately want our boys to have a world-view greater than the small little world they live in, so we chose to sponsor a little boy in Kenya. We chose him based on his birthday - it's only 4 days before Caleb's, so they are essentially the same age. His name is Raphael and he lives with his grandmother and 3 siblings. We had the joy of receiving a letter in the mail from him last week. Since he is so young, he had help filling out this sweet little paper about himself. We were beyond thrilled to have some personal information straight from his heart to go with the picture we have of him above our kitchen sink. The boys pray for him every night, and we look at him every day. We consider him a Hemphill now, and hope that one day our family can go to Kenya to meet him.

A funny story from when we first went online to do our sponsorship... I had been talking with Caleb for several weeks in December about this, trying to prepare him and get him as excited as I was. So, the big day arrived to go online and do it!! I told Caleb we were going to adopt a little boy from Kenya, and we would be helping his family with some of their needs, etc. Well, because I used the word "adopt" rather than "sponsor", Caleb immediately started asking questions about when we were going to go to Africa to get him and bring him home to live with us. I quickly started backtracking and trying to figure out a way to re-word what I had said. We talk frequently about adopting one day, so Caleb is aware that we hope that is in our future, and he was very disappointed to find out that we weren't going to be bringing Raphael home. He was so excited about having a brother his age! I love that he's so open to sharing his home and life with others that he doesn't even know. I also make sure I use the word "sponsor" now so as not to confuse him anymore. I look forward to the day when God gives us direction in regards to adoption, so I guess this is our practice run!

If you've read the news lately, you know that Kenya has been in horrible conflict since their recent elections, so I honestly am fearful that we will not get to sponsor him long-term. They have had to close many of the centers in Kenya that house Compassion employees because it's just too dangerous, and so many of the people have had to leave their homes. When that happens, those children are not able to continue to be sponsored. So, we continue to pray for his safety and for him to be a long-term member of our family. Our sponsorship helps with his education, tangible needs for his family, and his spiritual teaching.

Some fun facts our about our little Raphael...
He wants to be a Pastor when he grows up...
His favorite Bible story is about John the Baptist...
He loves football and math...
He asks that we pray for God to give him wisdom.

We have a lot to learn from this precious 5 year old on the other side of the world.

If you would like more information on sponsoring a child through Compassion, visit their website at www.compassion.com. There just may be a little Raphael out there waiting for you...