Madison, Trina, Tania, and...Barbie

One regret I have for missing our Honduras trip is that I did not have the chance to make my annual delivery for Madison White, pictured with the pumpkin. In the next picture is Trina Agee and a Honduran girl name Tania. To have it make sense, you need to read the next two entries from three years ago.

This is a sequel, a followup to Madison's Dolls, originally posted in March and reprinted below. It might make sense to read chapter one first but I will leave that up to your sound judgement. This is a simple story of two little girls who will never meet but have a connection. The first is Madison, four year old daughter of Mike and Jennifer White. Madison, who was in our pre-kindergarten classes at Westbury Christian School last school year, took to pointing her finger at me and exclaiming, "Bad boy!" whenever I walked by. Jennifer and Mike, who is our WCS guidance counselor, broke her of that pretty quickly. Upon hearing of the plight of poor children in the world, particularly little ones in Honduras and those displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Madison decided to do her part to relieve suffering by sending one of her dolls with me on my mid-July mission trip. After much deliberation, Madison selected the one for me to deliver. My eight days in Honduras flew by. With the week elapsing and our Shine Mission team preparing to depart Choluteca, in the south of Honduras, to return to the capital of Tegucigalpa for our flight home, the doll remained in my suitcase. As I had to go out on a work detail in our final hours, I asked Trina Agee to rescue me. I explained about Madison and the urgency of finding a new home with a little Honduran girl for the doll. Part of our group, including Trina, was going to a village where we worked in the past so she agreed to arrange the adoption. I wish you could know Trina. A senior education/Spanish major at Harding University, Trina will greatly improve the ranks of the teaching profession when she begins her career one year from now. She has been on five of these trips, including one with Madison's daddy, the aforementioned Mike. Trina has a heart for the poor and their children and she gladly took on the responsibility of facilitating the exchange. When I returned from one last round of mixing concrete, Trina excitedly filled me in on the details of her adventure. She had found a beautiful little girl to be the recipient of Madison's gift. Even better, her new friend was named Tania, the Spanish equivalent of Trina! Tania clutched Barbie, Trina held Tania, the camera clicked, and a picture of joy emerged. I showed Madison the picture yesterday morning before worship service and she was thrilled. She should be. In her own innocent way, she made a terrific impact on a child in an impoverished Central American village. Madison also left an imprint on my heart. It's easy to give away what we don't want. It's quite another to part with a possession we hold as precious. Jesus taught us to lay up treasures in heaven. I think Madison just opened her account.Applicable quote of the day:
"I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old."
Billie Holiday/American jazz singerGod bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

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