Making the Connection, “Immie and Mixie”.

So many heartfelt gifts of love this year.  My heart melts as I reflect on the generosity and kindness toward our families and how Embrace Compassiona is blessed to be the conduit to help make some of the deliveries.   So many of you make it possible to make dreams come true and to literally change lives!

I can hardly wait to watch this dream unfold for one of our families…  a dream that began with two hearts in Oregon.

We were let in on a secret inner office email from one of our Champion Sponsors, Immix Law Group… I hope you are blessed by peaking into this story and then in February will have to watch to see how the story in country is revealed.

A secret inner office email from Robert to his fellow attorneys…

Your gift this year comes with a story.
I struggled to decide what to get everyone.  How much should I spend?  Should I get everyone the same thing because that seems most fair?

From Jerry and Heather, I learned about Embrace Compassion and the work they are doing for families in Africa.  Donating a gift for a family, on behalf of my Immix family, seemed like a good idea.  I looked at the Embrace Compassion Wish List and didn’t see anything that fit the bill.  I was hoping for chickens or something, so that each of you could give a chicken, or a goat.  But those were not on the Wish List this year.

Near the bottom of the Wish List was a request that jumped out at me for a couple of reasons, “Two Oxen for Plowing to Help Someone Provide for Their Family.”  That sounded great!  It was a family gift, like I wanted.  But they were pricey, those oxen.  Why couldn’t you just buy one ox, I thought.  I wasn’t quite sure why, but I really wanted those oxen.  Over the next few days, I thought long and hard about the oxen, and it clicked.

A pair of oxen is a team.  They are inseparable.  They work together.  A team of oxen makes life possible for a hard-working entrepreneur and his family.  With a team of oxen, a family can plow a field, sow the seeds, and reap a harvest that will support that family for a lifetime.  Without the oxen, there is no field and there is no harvest.  Yet oxen are humble creatures.  They need no credit.  They work hard with no complaint, as if that is what they are designed to do.

We are like the oxen.  We work best as a team.  We work hard to empower our clients.  If we do our jobs well, their fields will be fertile, and they can sow the seeds that will grow into thriving enterprises.  And we are humble.  We do this work.  We love this work, because this is what we are called to do, at least right now, in this time and in this place.     

This was the perfect gift, I thought, but this expenditure would require spousal consent.  The first response was an unequivocal “no”.  I will save you the details.  Suffice to say that I was disappointed and back to the drawing board for a couple of days.  After much consideration it seems, and quite out of the blue, Sonja looked to me and said, “You can buy the oxen, but only if I get to name them.”  I will play this game, I thought.  “And what would you name them?,” I asked.  With a big smile, she replied, “Immie and Mixie!”  I was impressed by the spirit of the answer and conceded to the condition.

Thus, your gift from Sonja and I this year is a 1/12th interest in the undivided whole of the charitable contribution of Immie and Mixie, the team of oxen, to a family in Africa.

Merry Christmas!

Thank you Robert and Sonja, we are honored to be your messenger.  This story is To Be Continued…