Giggles

Today I was tickling Jack and he was giggling.  Hard.  I love it.  Especially when it gets to the point where he can't breathe.  And he's saying "No! No!"  And then when I finally stop he says, "Again!"  It's great.  Anyone who has ever heard a little kid giggling knows what I'm talking about.

I don't wanna get too deep too fast, but oh well.  Here we go....making Jack giggle is a big highlight to my day.  And I would think probably it's a highlight in his day as well.  But it makes me think about all the kids who don't have a reason to giggle.  Do they get tickled?  Eh...maybe.  But they have far worse problems than what Jack will ever have to deal with.  They don't have parents.  Or they don't have a home.  Or they don't have food.

We sponsor two of these kids.  Vitor is turning ten this month.  He lives in Brazil with his mom and sister.  I started sponsoring him through Compassion International about 5 years ago.  About a year into my sponsorship, Vitor got a terrible disease in his blood (I forget what it was called) and had to be in the hospital for several weeks.  Fortunately, he came out okay and is healthy now.  Vitor draws the best pictures.  There's one on our fridge now.

And then there's Devika.  She's five years old and lives at Home of Love in India.  We sponsor her through the Invisible Girl Project.  Dustin got to visit the Home of Love in June, and we started sponsoring Devika in September.  She was the newest resident at the orphanage.  Just weeks before she arrived, she watched her mother set herself on fire.  My heart breaks for her.

All we can give these kids are money, letters, and prayers.  Their photos are on our fridge, right at eye level above the water dispenser.  To remind us to pray for them.  I wear two bracelets on my wrist.  One for Vitor and one for Devika.  To remind me to pray for them.  I hope someday to get to visit both of them and give them lots of hugs!

We do what we can for these two little ones.  And someday we hope to adopt a little boy or girl (or 2 or 3???) to be a part of our family.  We'll do what we can for them.  God already knows who's going to be in our family, and when they will arrive.  We pray for them too.

When I pray for these kids, I usually pray for very serious things.  That they will grow, be healthy, be provided for, learn more about Jesus.....

But today I'm praying for giggles.  I'm praying that they have a reason to smile.  A reason to laugh.

And that they will giggle so hard that they can't breathe.