Home Grown World Christians

Kyle and I love to travel and although we're not in a period of life where we get to do as much of it as we'd like, we're always thinking/planning/dreaming about trips, both purely for fun and for mission. These dreams are starting to include our kids too...But while we're "grounded" so to speak we get really excited about teaching Owen (and soon Rebecca) things about the world beyond our house and our neighborhood. For example, Owen knows that panda bears live in the mountains of China, that Bengal tigers live in India and a variety of lemurs live in Madagascar (confession: we didn't teach him any of that, Dora the Explorer did)...but we have started showing him where these places are on the globe. It has made me go back and re-read an excellent little article Noel Piper wrote a few years ago about raising "Home Grown World Christians"...not just for parents--we all need to be reminded to open our eyes to the bigger picture in the bigger world, right? And she's got some great tips broadening our kids' horizons (and inevitably our own). At the risk of sounding preachy, I'll say everyone should read it! :)

So, on that note (and for several other reasons), we have started sponsoring a young boy in Rwanda through a great organization called Africa New Life Ministries. (We had the honor of hearing their founder "Pastor Charles" speak in church on Sunday. We also got to hear the story of and music by an amazing street kid who went through the program. Both were awesome.) Owen is really excited about his new "friend" James. He can show you where Rwanda is on the globe, knows that we're helping James go to school, and knows James like soccer and numbers. I can't wait for us to get to write our first letter to him (and then get one in return)! I believe that the work this organization is doing will significantly impact James' life, and selfishly we are getting so much out of it as a family (and our sponsorship just started a day ago)!

Update:

The pillowcase dresses I made are now on their way to Haiti (Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center). It really was a fun (and easy!) project.

My favorite was definitely this little pink one because the pillowcase had scalloped edges which made for a really pretty bottom.