2010--The Year to Volunteer!

This year the Martens 5 have decided to make a focused effort to volunteer/give back some where, in some way, each month. I know this isn't a new idea, but for our family to actually seek out the opportunities, instead of waiting for them to fall into our lap, will be a change.
Today the girls and I went to World Vision and began the process to sponsor a child. First I had to clarify what we were doing......that we weren't actually adopting a child, and what it meant to be a sponsor. We typed in the specifics and quickly realized we needed a girl(duh) and that it would be helpful for correspondence, if the child was old enough to write, and had similar interests as Tess and Kate. We looked at several different girls.....I WISH WE COULD HAVE SPONSORED ONE HUNDRED INSTEAD OF JUST ONE....when we found her!
Raissa, age 8, is from the country of Congo(middle of Africa). Her chores are to run errands for her family, which consists of her mother and brother. Her favorite subject is reading (Bingo!) and favorite play item is dolls. The girls thought it was extra cool that her birthday is tomorrow!
Happy Birthday Raissa!
We anxiously await the arrival of our sponsorship packet, as the girls are already excited to start writing letters with stickers and pictures in them.
This is the kind of JOY I want to be a part of....we are going to learn about where Raissa lives, what her struggles are, and how we can help her by sponsorship and with prayers. More importantly, I want the girls to realize that they can be a JOY and bring JOY just by doing the smallest of things. I love that my girls are healthy, happy, intelligent(I think, anyway) kids....but what means more to me is that my girls are good humans.
I hope to have posts all year about the JOY the Martens family is giving and receiving!