I always struggle with what to give my husband for Christmas. Like most men, if he wants or needs something he just buys it. I really agonized over it this year. I wanted to give him something meaningful and special. About 10 days before Christmas, I came up with an idea.

Let me preface this by saying, several months ago we were going through the mail and we realized that some of the children we support through World Vision were graduating from the program. Which means that they had either aged out or that their community was doing so well on its own, that it no longer needed intervention and help from World Vision and its sponsors. If you haven’t heard of World Vision, I’d encourage you to check them out at https://www.worldvision.org They are a humanitarian organization that creates opportunities for vulnerable children around the world and their communities to thrive. Seeing that our children were graduating from the program made us happy of course, but at the same time we felt sad. These kids had been a part of our lives for years, Most since 2014 and now we would no longer get updates about them.

In 2009 we had adopted 3 girls (sisters) from Ethiopia. Since that time we had traveled there frequently to do missions related work, which is a whole story in and of it’s self, that I will share later. We knew wanted to sponsor children specifically from Ethiopia, knowing that we would travel there again and hoping that we would someday get to meet them in person. Once we had gotten our sponsored children’s information and a photo, we laminated it, and as a family prayed over each child every night at the dinner table. When the opportunity presented it’s self and we had a little extra money, we would send it through World Vision to our child’s family, as a gift, which enabled them to purchase a cow, or sheep, which further helped them gain financial independence.

One of my favorite pictures that I took in Ethiopia.

In 2015 we made a trip to Ethiopia and took our two oldest Ethiopian daughters with us. We were able to connect with World Vision, who gladly agreed to facilitate meeting our sponsored children. We meet 6 of the 9 kids we were sponsoring, during that trip. Meeting them was an amazing experience! We literally traveled all over the country of Ethiopia to where each child lived. While most lived in traditional round, thatched roofed huts, some lived in structures made of sticks and rocks. When possible, we were invited inside the homes and served whatever they had to offer. At one home, the father was a potato farmer so we were offered potatoes to eat. Usually we were invited to partake in the traditional coffee ceremony, where green coffee beans are roasted, ground with a mortar and pestle and brewed in clay pots over an open flame . The coffee is served in small cups, almost like an espresso shot with ample sugar or even salt and butter depending on the region. Sometimes popcorn, roasted chic peas or a snack called Kolo is served. Kolo is a roasted barely and peanuts seasoned with bereberi, which is spicy hot.

In some homes we were offered milk, steaming hot straight from the cow that our gift had purchased, or homemade moon shine like alcohol, both of which we would passed on, for health reasons. In one home specifically, they were embarrassed because they were too poor to offer us anything to eat or drink. The amazing thing about the Ethiopian people is that they may have almost nothing, but they would generously and happily offer you anything they had.

My husband standing in front of the home of one of our sponsored children.

Me with a child who ran up to hold my hand as I walked.

Everywhere we went, the entire community would come out to greet us. Children would flock around to touch us and hold our hands. Everyone wanted to stroke my hair, because unlike theirs, it was straight and smooth. Children would also rub our arms vigorously to see if the white would rub off.

In one village the women came and led us by the hand to the well World vision had built. Through the interpreter they thanked us for building the well. We assured them that the well was built long before we started sponsoring children and we had nothing to do with it, but they continued to thank us saying “but you sponsor World Vision, now we don’t have to walk miles carrying water every day.”

This is one of the many contributions that World Vision has done for communities in Ethiopia. Providing wells with clean water. Most times it is the girls who carry water and it would take all day to walk several miles with large clay pots of water balanced on their heads. This takes a horrible toll on a young girls body, but also makes it impossible for them to have time to attend school. World Vision has now built wells right next to schools, which empower girls to be able to get an education and clean water at the same time.

One of the little boys that we sponsored really had an impact on us. World Vision had, had to step in multiple times to administer life saving nutrition and treatment to him. We realized that our sponsorship didn’t just mean he that he got to attend school. In his case it literally meant the difference between life or death.

Which brings me back to the gift for my husband. While we were going through those letters saying that our kids had graduated, we were filled with such emotion and memories. I decided to make my husband a book with all of the correspondence and photos we had received for each child over the years, because he had kept everything.

There was so many letters and papers for the now 12 children we have sponsored, that I could only include the six children we had met in person in the book, which still made for a really thick book!

I couldn’t make a tradition scrapbook because it was just too many papers to include, so I decided bind my own book. I’ve made a few small journals before but nothing like this. I had to sew every single page together before binding it, which was no small task to get done in 10 days. I was really thrilled with how it turned out and it brought my husband to tears when he opened it and turned each page.

It might not mean anything to anyone else, but to him, it was a gift that was meaningful and special. Something he can display on his desk and look at whenever he wants. A visual reminder of how a small monthly gift, which seems insignificant to most, literally changed the life of multiple children and communities. Its a legacy that he can be proud of, as we watch our own children grow and carry on sponsoring a child of their own.

The Gift