Compassion.

I just love Superman. I know I've said that before, but it really can never be said enough. He has got to be one of the most compassionate men I know.

We talked about "adopting" a child through Compassion International a few years ago, but didn't make the leap until last year. See, if it were just me and the kids, I would have thought one child was sufficient. But Superman, he's always thinking outside the box. He decided it would have more impact if each of our kids eventually "sponsored" their own child. Someone his or her own age...someone they could relate to...someone who we could introduce them to down the road when we can travel overseas. He also wanted to pick kids from countries that our kids had some ties to...so, since I'm 1/2 East Indian, we chose an Indian boy for Mr. C. J-Man and M-Dog both come from African-American roots, so Kenya was the country of choice. Of course, we have no way of knowing which exact country their line stems from, but our church does mission trips every year to Kenya so we figured maybe down the road we could hook up with them for a trip. N and G will get to pick girls out when they're four years old.

They each get $10/month for "allowance." Five dollars of that goes to sponsor their overseas friends (we sport the rest). Superman regularly explains that we sacrifice some of our "extra comforts" so that we can help these kids...give them an education, provide them with good food and water, and most importantly, help them realize that Jesus loves them!

So far, the three boys are each sponsoring someone. Each child is roughly the same age as our boys. They send them letters, pictures, and fun things to play with. And now that we're homeschooling, part of our "curriculum" is writing letters and sending fun things to our friends who are less fortunate.

Today, after "school," we all went to Walmart and picked up a bunch of things that are less than 8.5 x 11" wide and 1/4" thick (per the rules). We came home, and each boy drew his friend a picture and stuffed the envelopes and I wrote a letter for them saying what they wanted to say. And it was magnificent. Seeing our boys purposefully thinking of someone else, not expecting anything in return, and getting sheer joy out of sending something small overseas are probably some of the most fulfilling moments of parenthood for me so far.

So let me introduce you...

Here's M-Dog's buddy, David (from Kenya)


And J-Man's friend, Dennis (also from Kenya):


And Mr. C's buddy, Subhash (from India):



The joy we receive from knowing we are making a difference in the lives of these boys is wonderfully contagious. I only wish everyone could...or would experience it.