Let me tell you a tale. Several tales.

My wife and I dont’ believe in coincidences. My friend Tracy Griffin calles them “Godincidences” and I think I’ll just keep on stealing that expression.

I do voice over work for radio and television as well as on-camera work and my roles as Santa Claus. Part of the fun of that job is never knowing when I’ll get paid. I trust my agents at Moore Creative and know they’ll get me top dollar and send it to me when they get paid. So I don’t worry about it beyond knowing what the product is for the spot. (Can’t do certain items because of conflict of interest with my day job, and some spots I wouldn’t do for moral reasons.) As a result, I sometimes am lax in asking what a job pays. I figure we all have a vested interest in treating each other well and when the check comes I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Background now in place on that little tidbit, let me tell you about Yolencia. When we were in Haiti with KTIS and Healing Haiti in February this young girl became my friend in a fast way. She’s delightful and I felt an instant bond. So did my wife, Kip. We talked with Jeff Gacek, the founder of Healing Haiti about arranging to sponsor her until she turned 18 and had to head out into the real world beyond the gates of Grace Village. He let us know that they were working on that and soon we would be able to do it all on their website.

Time went by, the website got overhauled, and yesterday I decided to check and see if it was ready to take sponsorships. I went to the web, found that it was ready, but was surprised that the monthly amount to sponsor a child was different than what Jeff had told me. It was actually less than I’d planned on spending.

And then the dollar amount to sponsor Yolencia for one year hit me like a brick in the face. Earlier that day I’d gotten one of those random checks from my agents at Moore. It was substantial and for kind of an unusual dollar amount. That amount was the exact amount to sponsor her for one year. I sat there stunned and then read her profile again. Now I’m almost ready to cry. This precious child and I share the same date of birth – November 1st.

My wife and I took up sponsoring Yolencia on Tuesday. We’re too old and set in our ways to actually have children in our house. But we can help out from here and as soon as we both looked at it together we went for it. Ideally Yolencia will find a family to adopt her and love her like God meant it to be. In the meantime we’ll make ure she’s taken care of in Grace Village.

I’m trying to work it out so that we can make it happen for another child we met in Haiti as well. But I feel today as though I have a new child. A daughter in Haiti. A girl who will grow to be an exceptional woman unless I’m mistaken. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even know that we’re her sponsors yet. But I couldn’t be more proud if my wife had carried her for 9 months.

God is working in my life. And my wife’s life. And in Yolencia’s life. She may never see the home where I live, but I will surely be back to her home at Grace Village in the coming years.

Are you ready to let God work in your life? Are you up to the challenge of taking on the sponsorship of one of those children at Grace Village? (I’d grab them all up myself if I had the money.) Will you open your heart to Haiti? I have, and I’m a better man today for it all. And I’ve got a new daughter as a bonus.

So, Yolencia- Hi! It’s Papa Noel and I’m proud to say that I’m your sponsor on this journey through life. I’ll be seeing you soon and I can’t wait for the three of us to sit down and have lunch together. In the meantime – we love you.