Starting this journal is an opportunity to reflect on the 13 years that have passed since I sponsored my first child, Punya Lama, in Kathmandu, Nepal. At the time it seemed the most natural thing to do... help a child get an education. Share my good fortune. Make a contribution in Nepal, a country that I had come to love deeply and whose people had captured my heart. I had no way of knowing that this would evolve and grow and take me places I could never have envisioned.

Now we sponsor 40 children and have plans to support many more. Punya has grown up, graduated and is finding his footing as an adult. We still email and chat regularly and I have a special affection for him… he was my first “child”.

Along the way, I have had many experiences, some tough learning and some amazing joy in watching the kids grow and thrive. I want to share some of this journey with you here in these pages. In a world filled with so much bad news, each of us is challenged daily to find our own ray of light and something nourishing and hope-filled to hold to. I believe we each crave the nourishment of knowing we are making some contribution to lightening the load for our human family. Every life has it’s ups and downs and it’s inevitable hardships. But I also believe that when we extend the proverbial helping hand, we transcend the shallow concerns of our day to day and touch life’s true meaning: love.  And life is never quite the same.