Our Rechelle's LDP Graduation...

When I woke up this morning, I scoured my Facebook news-feed and stalked my email inbox with eagle eyes hoping for photos and perhaps even videos to either be posted or to appear in my inbox.

You see, because April 30 is a very special day!

A couple weeks ago, I posted this on Instagram...

#1000gifts ~ Overwhelmed by Grace... just received our last official letter from Rechelle, our @compassion LDP student as she prepares to graduate from the program this month! We are so proud of her & so grateful to be a part of her life in such a meaningful way. My fave line in her letter... "You teach me how to give and how to live a life like Christ." She is now a school teacher & has received three job offers to teach in private schools in Cebu (Philippines) which she temporarily declined in order to fulfill her promise to God to serve one full year at the @compassion project she grew up in. So, so, so awesome... I am moved to tears!

A photo posted by Aimee Esparaz (@mama2greatkids) on Apr 16, 2015 at 8:00am PDT

And yes, today is Rechelle's graduation day from Compassion International's Leadership Development Program (LDP). She will be among the last sponsored children to graduate from the LDP as Compassion transitions from this program to focus on youth development in order to benefit even more young people in the developing world!

And since Philippines is twelve hours ahead of us, when I woke up this morning the graduation had already happened {while we were sleeping}.

This is the first photo of Rechelle that we ever saw.

We first met Rechelle four years ago. It was during our first trip back to the Philippines after twelve years of not being back, the trip that broke my heart anew... for the things that break God's. 

One week before our departure date, God made our path cross with Rechelle's in a way that only He can. You can read that story here.

We arranged to meet Rechelle in person and at the end of that meeting, we knew that, despite the steep cost of LDP sponsorship as compared to regular child sponsorship, we would be sponsoring her. You can read that story here. 

I can truly say that sponsoring Rechelle has turned out to be one of the best decisions we've ever made!

Then last summer, we visited her again.



Please hop on over to my blog to read the rest of this post and to see photos and a video from Rechelle's graduation day!

About Aimee Esparaz... Aimee is mother to two teens and is passionate about living out Micah 6:8 with her family. She is a sponsor and advocate through Compassion Canada and works in global marketing. She loves to read and garden, and blogs at A Mom On A Mission.