Little Dresses for Africa & Milton

A while ago one of my friends from high school went to Africa to serve at an orphanage. Her updates on Facebook were heartbreaking, to say the least. They often asked for prayers and reported on conditions and needs. When she returned home she posted an album with photos of the 18 babies that had gone to Heaven. These 18 lives were lost over a period of six months. Six months. I quietly uttered the captions and names to myself in disbelief as I struggled to blink the tears out of my eyes. I can remember reading her status one afternoon like it was yesterday. One sentence would change my life forever.

"Children are DYING, what are you going to do about it?"

I remember in those moments of realization what a selfish person I was. I cried out to God asking forgiveness and change. He is faithful. Michael and I have since been blessed enough to be able to donate to several organizations but my heart longed to do more. Something tangible. After hours of scouring the internet I came across the non profit organization "Little Dresses for Africa" out of Michigan.

Little Dresses for Africa

My Little Dresses for Africa

It sends simple dresses (mostly made of pillowcases) for little girls and shorts for the little boys for with missionaries all over the world. Mostly to hard to reach villages and to families who have to choose food or clothing, because they cannot afford both. Finally something I could do! I ran upstairs to our linen closet and pulled out an extra pillowcase. I pulled my sewing machine out of the closet and set up shop. The pattern is easy and only took about 30 minutes. I went to the local Walmart, Target, BB&B, and T.J. Maxx to scoop up all the clearance pillowcases I could find and along with some material to make additional dresses. By the time Michael got home from work that Friday the living room was set up as a sewing studio and I had bias tape, thread, elastic, measuring tapes, and pillowcases everywhere. By the end of the weekend I had completed almost 30 little dresses! I feel blessed that God would choose to use me in such a way that brings so much joy. Not only to me, but to the excited little girls that will receive them! It has been such an amazing experience :) We are also celebrating a new little boy that has recently come into our life. Meet Milton :)

Compassion, Int.

 After several days of praying we decided it was time to sponsor a child through Compassion International. We knew immediately  that we wanted to sponsor a child that had been waiting for more than six months, and in Africa. We looked through several pages of children, overwhelmed by the number of children that have been waiting so long we prayed about which child God would have us sponsor. We each said which children we felt led to. Milton being the only one we had in common, it was his birthday! What good birthday news!!