Anita Bowden

‘All I have’ “This is all I have that I can claim as my own,” says the note from an anonymous donor who gave almost $4,000 to ease the suffering in Asia. Many Southern Baptists have responded generously after the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami. As of Jan. 6, gifts through the International Mission Board totaled $1.4 million. Photo by Roy M. Burroughs

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Checks. Thousands of them. Overflowing mail tubs and filling work bins. All for tsunami survivors.
      The checks –- and online donations –- have been streaming into the International Mission Board from Southern Baptists around the nation since tsunamis ravaged Asia Dec. 26.
      Among them, one stood out. Clipped to it was a colorful, butterfly-decorated note that read, “This is all I have that I can claim as my own.” The cashier’s check for $3,963.01 and unsigned note left no clue who had been so generous. But the intent was clear:

Carrie’s recovery Carrie McDonnall, shown in a video taped in Iraq with her husband, David, continues recovering at a Dallas hospital from injuries sustained a drive-by attack in which David and three other humanitarian workers were killed. Photo courtesy of IMB

DALLAS (BP)--Along one wall of Carrie McDonnall's hospital room, arms and hands made out of construction paper reach out, as though inviting a hug. Between the arms, messages of love and encouragement nestle, lovingly written by children from Cedar Ridge Baptist Church in Thomasville, N.C.
      These "hugs" are especially appropriate for Carrie, herself a "hugger."