Sometimes I Write

Speaking of princesses…

This is Sabrina Abreu de Oliveira. She lives in Brazil and she’s six years old. She has been a part of the Nowell family since November, 2003, and we love her dearly! She lives with her parents, who work as laborers, and her sister Samia. She writes us the best letters with the help of her translator, Ayla. Like Max, she is a budding artist and draws pictures all over her letters. This is the story of how she joined our family:

Benny and I had been thinking about sponsoring a child through Compassion International for awhile. (Like there is anything to think about!) We had been to several concerts where Compassion was being promoted, and we decided to wait and make the decision as a family – really to let Max have a part in choosing our sponsored child. Max was thrilled with the idea! Benny took him up to his office so they could get on the Compassion website. They filled out all the necessary information – in Max’s name. Max decided he wanted a girl, then 4 pictures of children from different countries appeared on the screen to choose from. Max looked right at Sabrina and said, “That’s her”. He was so excited he couldn’t sit still. Then he asked Benny when we were going to get her. He thought we were adopting her and she was going to come and live with us! He was really upset when Benny explained to him that she was indeed part of our family, but she still had a family of her own in Brazil. We had talked to Max about adoption ever since he could remember, so he just assumed that this was it. Pick your child, then go get them. (I wish!)

We have really enjoyed receiving her letters and updates. It’s been great teaching our kids about the needs of others and they have a hand in that every time we send her letters with pictures, stickers, coloring pages, etc. They’re also learning that money is a good thing when it is used to help other people. We try to write back to her as soon as we receive her letters since it takes awhile for mail to be delivered. It’s amazing to watch her grow and develop. We hope to be able to visit her someday, but until then we’ll continue to send financial support, love and encouragement her way. We are committed to her for as long as she needs us. Her picture sits in our livingroom along with the other Nowell children. Everyone that enters our home sees her beautiful smiling face!

$32.00 a month. That’s giving up a family meal at Chili’s. That’s so much less than most of us spend/waste on little things we don’t need. That’s all it takes to sponsor a child in need through Compassion International. We thought when we decided to sponsor Sabrina that we were blessing her life and giving her hope, and we are, but she has blessed us in so many unexpected ways. We are thankful for organizations like Compassion, World Vision, and others like them that provide opportunities for us to give and serve, and look beyond our own needs. We are thankful to have Sabrina, our little Brazilian princess, in our lives!