Bringing Smiles Across the Sea

     Earlier this year, I mentioned a website I had discovered that facilitates the process of writing to children with severe illnesses.  For many of these children, having a pen pal, or receiving a letter or package in the mail can really brighten their day.  The site, based in England, is called PostPals.  (When you write to a child, whether by e-mail or snail mail, it gets delivered to a different address and then forwarded to the appropriate person.  This is obviously for security/privacy reasons).

     Today I decided to write e-mails to 2 different children.  The website tells about their family and their interests so it's reasonably easy to make conversation related to their interests.  I also told them a little about my family so they can feel a more personal connection to me.  I hope that my e-mail made them each smile a little more today.  I also hope they'll write back to me so that we can begin to correspond more regularly.  

      Speaking of e-mails, I also exchanged e-mails with my adopted soldier in Afghanistan today.  He received the package I sent last week and was particularly excited to get the peanut butter I sent to him!  You never know what little things people will miss when overseas.  He's also from Kentucky and is a big University of Kentucky basketball fan, so he's one happy soldier right now.  It's been so great to get to know him over the past months.  I can only imagine how important these connections are when you're so many miles from home.