Jennifer’s Story

It began with a knock at the door and the delivery of two LARGE boxes addressed to our then eight-month-old son, Ryan.  Inside were no less than 50 gifts carefully wrapped by a loving Grandmother excited to celebrate her first grandchild’s first Christmas.  As we dutifully unwrapped and oooed and aaahed over each of the gifts, my husband and I realized that while our son was fortunate to be so blessed, we were going to have to work hard to ensure that he grew into a caring, generous, giving young man and not a demanding, selfish one.

We started looking for ways to remind our growing son, and ourselves, how fortunate we were and how much we had to give.  When relatives and friends asked what Ryan needed for his second birthday, we couldn’t think of a thing.  And with that, we happened upon a way to give:  we asked each child joining us in celebrating Ryan’s birthday to bring an item to donate in lieu of a gift.  That first year, we asked the kids to bring a book to donate to a day care center for abused children because our young son LOVED to be read to.  The next year, we asked each child to bring a stuffed animal to donate to the local fire department for use with children involved in traumatic situations because our dear son had become inseparable from a small Mickey Mouse Beanie Baby.  The following year, it was food and blankets for the local animal shelter; another year he collected over 100 pounds of food for the local food bank.

Ryan & Connor with the pet supplies Ryan collected at his fourth birthday party; the supplies were donated to the local animal shelter.

From here, we looked for other ways to teach both of our boys the true joy of giving.  We donated toys to our church’s Christmas party for less-fortunate children, clothes to a home for unwed mothers, and food to the local food bank.  We started participating in Samaritan Purse’s Operation Christmas Child, encouraging each boy to fill a box for a boy his same age.  Now, I won’t say we haven’t had an occasional discussion in the toy aisle of Wal-mart that goes something like this:  “We are NOT here to buy for ourselves.  We are shopping for a little boy who will not be getting anything other than what you put in his box for Christmas.”  “I WANT it for ME.”  Tears, sniff, “I WANT IT!”  But, in the end, both of the boys, now six and eight, have risen to the occasion for several years now, and willingly placed their filled boxes in the donation boxes at church.

Ryan delivers the shoebox he filled to the Operation Christmas Child Drop-off

While these were all wonderful ways to give, and we continue to do all of them throughout the year, I worried that the boys weren’t truly seeing the benefits of their good will, they were just hearing from us that they were “helping other children” or “doing what Jesus would want us to do.”

Then three years ago, my Mom called from New Jersey on a Sunday afternoon.  She had hosted a Child Sponsorship Day for World Vision at her church that morning, and had found the profile of a little boy who she believed our family was meant to sponsor.  He was the same age as our youngest, then two-and-a-half, and had his same high set cheek bones and piercing eyes.  At the time of this phone call, my husband had just started a new job, was living 700 miles away as I tried to prepare our home for sale, and our finances were stretched to the limit.  After taking some time to pray, however, I decided that this was indeed something we were being called to do, and so we became sponsor to Soorya in Sri Lanka.  Shortly thereafter, we took another leap of faith and added Henry in Honduras and Denis in Kenya to our World Vision Family.  All three boys are close in age to our two boys.  Over the past three years, we’ve been able to watch our World Vision boys grow and to see first-hand the benefits of our sponsorship to the boys, their families, and their communities.

Soorya in Sri Lanka

Henry in Honduras

Denis in Kenya

Over the past three years, there have also been times when we were tempted to discontinue our sponsorship.  We have worked our way through two periods of unemployment, two moves, four rounds of chemotherapy, medical treatments for both boys, and mounting debt.  When the temptation to cut expenses by discontinuing our sponsorship arises, however, I am continuously reminded of how even during the difficult times, we have so much more than any of our sponsored children could dream of.  We had the hope of finding employment, a home to move to, medical treatment available to us, debt payment plans, friends, family… so much to be thankful for even in the toughest times, and so we continue to sponsor “our boys.”  For when it comes right down to it, our family receives as much from Soorya, Henry, and Denis, as they do from us!

Jennifer spends her days embracing the daily adventure of living and learning with two active, inquisitive boys. She can be found at Adventures in McQuill-land.