Dege

I haven't posted about this earlier because it's taken me a week to process it.   I was so very sad to learn that my sponsor child, Dege, will not be returning to Trees of Glory.  

I received an email stating "Whenever a child stops attending the care-point, the staff tries to follow up to find out what they can of the situation.  In this case - they were not able to find out much beyond that he is no longer able to attend.  The staff at Trees of Glory was working on getting an updated photo of him after they had delivered the care-package you sent - and his mother explained that he was no longer able to attend."

I can only imagine what situation his mother must be in that she choose to take Dege out of Trees of Glory.  A place where he receives food, clothes and an education.  My heart breaks for Dege as well as his family.  But selfishly, it breaks for me.  I feel like I've lost a family member.   I have prayed for Dege everyday since he became my sponsor child in July of last year.  I have a picture of him on my dresser and at my desk at work.  Originally I put them there as a reminder to pray for him but it quickly became a sure way to put a smile on my face with thoughts about him.

             It is amazing how much love you have for someone you've prayer about for 219 days. 

                                            When I looked at his sweet face
                                                              I would
                                               wonder what he liked to play
                                            what his mom and siblings were like
                                       was he the oldest, youngest or in the middle
                                                       what did he like to eat
                                                           did he like school
                                             was he making lots of friends at TOG
                                was he friends with my family's sponsor children there
                            

We were so happy to receive a letter from Dege a few weeks ago.  He was happy to be going to school and was so happy to receive his care packages, especially the pictures of our family.  He asked us to "please pray for him that he would do good in school".    We were so looking forward to meeting him one day.

I will continue to pray for him for the rest of my life and  I hope that in the short we had him as our sponsor child, we were able to let him know that we loved  and prayed for him and more importantly, that God loves him and that he is very special.

I have become very attached to Trees of Glory care-point and I will continue to work with them to raise money and  go there to help someday in the future (hopefully this year or next). I've asked for Children's Hope Chest to find us a new sponsor child as soon as possible.  It's been a blessing to our lives.
                             (Please click on the link to find our more about sponsoring a child.)

When you pray for someone daily, that person becomes more attached to your heart.  I will be more steadfast when I'm in prayer for my loved ones as well as those I'm not so thrilled with.  Maybe that's the point. 

                                                         Lesson Learned