I think I’ve made you guys sweat long enough about who the winners of the Texas-sized giveaway we just did are.
So, without further ado…
The Grand Prize winner of our Fashion Gift Card Package is:
Kimberly G. West
& the winner of our runner-up package is:
Gloria York
You’ll be hearing from all our lovely sponsors soon, ladies!
CONGRATULATIONS!
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Y’ALL.
I’ve got a serious case of the I Don’t Wannas this week. That, coupled with the fact that Della’s fever from last week turned into upchucking, which then morphed into a full-fledged sinus infection (poor baby!) + the fact that Nola is now acting like she wants to go another round with “the fever” makes for a not-so-great start to this week. (Especially since my kids are very rarely sick; this is uncharted territory for us).
Still, I can’t help but remember that, even with small children who don’t feel 100% and too little sleep on my part, my life is so. much. easier than, well, most of the rest of the world’s.
Take our PCM sponsor child, Sarah Birungi (click for a little more about her) for example.
She lives life without access to so many of the things we take for granted. Things like:
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a car
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a TV
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new shoes (if any) or clothes (can you see the tattered state of her shirt in that photo?)
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ready access to clean water
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all the medicine she needs
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vacations
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desserts and treats
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new toys (if any)
The list could go on.
And yet, she can still smile!
I was seriously considering writing a post about how I feel kind of crummy this week, and I’m just not motivated to do what needs doing (and there’s a lot of it). I want to crawl back under the covers. Woe is me!
And that would have been fine enough, I suppose. Sometimes, it’s good to share our troubles and bear each other’s burdens. And it’s probably not such a bad thing for you guys to know that I’m not always just bee-bopping along with a smile plastered on my face—sweeping with one hand while I clean a poopy bottom with the other—my children skipping behind me in perfectly coordinated outfits singing the “Dad is great” song from that Bill Cosby skit (altered to feature “Mama,” of course) and obeying the instant I give a command.
Oops. I used the word “always” there. What I really meant to say was never.
Life is very, very real (and very, very poopy) over here in our neck of the woods (and you do know I mean woods).
But the thing is that no matter how “real” (code: tiring) life gets, you’ve got to just keep swimming. And I had promised a pop-up sale and an update on Sarah, oh, a good week and 1/2 ago.
Which meant it was time to deliver. (Because, apparently, a week and 1/2 lag time is good for me).
Which meant I had to actually take the time to look at Sarah’s sweet face and that shorn head (I don’t know if she wants longer hair or not, but it’s that short out of necessity/cleanliness, so she doesn’t even have the option) and her hole-riddled shirt and think about the fact that her best day, in terms of material comforts, is probably 10 times less luxurious than my worst.
And it made the word “perspective” seem like the world’s biggest understatement.
So, I thought I’d share that updated photo (I’ll hopefully be able to post a letter too soon), and also some prayer requests for you to keep in mind.
Pray:
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That Sarah and her fellow students would be safe and free from sickness and disease
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That they would grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
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That more and more sponsors would emerge to invest in the lives of these precious children
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That PCM would be able to meet their goal of putting a pair of shoes on every one of the 1,500 pairs of feet that need them
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That the Lord would bless the first ever PCM Uganda Children’s Choir, which is currently in Texas (after lots of obstacles and travel complications in getting here) sharing Jesus’ love and raising support for PCM
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That the Lord would grow our own generosity, love, and compassion for “the orphan and the widow”
If you ever want to follow along more closely with the happenings at PCM, you can read the blog or keep up on the PCM FB page (give them a like while you’re there, okay?).
I’ll also be running an ongoing:
I’ll add more items throughout the week, and 25% of the proceeds will go to benefit Parental Care Ministries, with an emphasis on paying the monthly support for our PCM sponsor child, Sarah.
I’ll be splitting the items in the Shop My Closet For Good into categories to make it easier for you to shop and for me to post in chunks rather than all at once, but I’ll link all the posts to that SMCFG button in the top right corner so that you can easily see what’s available and what’s sold.
Our first category is Jeans, so click on over to check it out!
I can’t thank y’all enough for reading and for praying and just for generally being awesome! I couldn’t ask for better reader-friends!!