Mommy's heart...

I love my little son. 

I love every freckle on his upturned nose.

I love the empty space where his front teeth were and where his sucking thumb fits just right.

I love how sometimes, I will walk in and find him building a toilet from pipes he bought with his birthday money...

Or constructing a roller coaster with a million parts...

I love his thoughtful fascination of all things that zoom and glow...

I love every cow lick in his crazy hair.

I love how when every star aligns, he will allow you to snap his photo--and I love the faces he makes when he doesn't.

I love his plans for the future. He just wants to fix things.

I love his stubborn insistence to sit with me in church...how he is content to sit and be cuddled and petted.

I even love how when he wants you to listen, he will take your face in his hands and point it in the right direction.

I love my little son--everything that makes him so very unique and special. There are a million things I could share...so many things that make my Benjamin who he is. He is a treasure.

And this love for my little one spills over. 

When I saw this face, I thought of Benjamin. 

I wondered if his mother tries to count the freckles on his upturned nose. 

I wondered if she looks up sometimes and her son is quite suddenly an airplane or a roller coaster instead of a little boy.

I wonder if he picks her flowers sometimes.

We live a world away in drastically different circumstances, but my mother's heart connects somewhere deep inside with his mother's heart.

Somehow, I understand how horrible it would feel if I couldn't give this little boy his dinner, or if I had to keep putting too small shoes on his growing feet. I understand the fear of living in a house without locks or not having money for a doctor. I have never experienced any of these things, and I wish with all my heart no mother or little boy ever had to.

I'm glad to know that this little boy, whose name is Edminsson, and this little boy's mommy, will avoid some of those experiences. They have help through Compassion International, which has just started working in a church in their community. His life (and her life) will be changed because some mommy or daddy or grandparent with more than enough will reach out and allow this child to have what he needs.

Is there room in your mommy or daddy heart??

God wants us to have a heart like His. Like a mommy or daddy knows and cherishes their child, so God adores us. He knows every little thing about us--because He designed us. We are valuable to Him and He delights in us. And He invites us to have the same kind of sacrificial compassion that He had when He saw us in desperate need . He did not consider the highest price too much to pay. 

For $38 per month, you can help provide for Edminsson and his family--or for a family like his. You are invited to get involved in his life...to get to know all about him. You're invited to step in and provide mothers and fathers with choices that poverty took away.

You can help him be free to grow and dream and light up this world for Jesus!

***This child is Edminsson Andres Menjivar Sevilla.  His birthday is August 13, 2009.  He is 5 years old.  His bio is:  Edminssón lives with his father and his mother.  He is responsible for carrying water, gathering firewood and running errands.  His father is sometimes employed as a farmer and his mother maintains the home.  There are 3 children in the family.  For fun, Edminssón enjoys playing with cars, playing with marbles and running. He attends church activities and Bible class regularly and is in kindergarten where his performance is average.