It breaks my heart because that means that when my sweet, precious son was born, that I wasn't even thinking about him or praying for him. I had no idea of the amazing gift that God was about to bring into our lives. I will never be able to repay his biological parents for the privilege we have been given to raise their perfect little boy, and am beyond blessed that I'm his Mama.
Lots of you know that when we began our journey, we didn't know where God was calling us to adopt from. We looked into just about every option, and a slew of different countries. China was it. I'm now on several advocacy boards for waiting children in China, and guys, it's so hard. It's so hard because every day I see these precious faces in front of me of kiddos who have no mom or dad, and for most of them, four walls of an orphanage are all they have ever had to call home. So many of them I have seen lately are older, and getting close to aging out of the system. Yes, I said aging out. In China, you age out of the system at 14. 14 YEARS OLD! Now I don't know about you, but I don't know any 14 year old children that are ready to face the world on their own...let alone children who have nothing. So many of these children's orphanage and agency fees have been waived or greatly reduced to try to help get them their forever families before this day comes, and yet still so many of them end up alone when that birthday arrives. Heartbreaking. So many talented, beautiful children who desperately want a family more than anything in the world who never get to know what it feels like to see the pride in their parent's eyes at a ballgame, or wipe away their tears when they have a bad day. It's not fair.
Each day that I see these faces, they plea with me to help them. To do something. And each day, I fail them. I see them and want so desperately to share them with my friends on Facebook to advocate for them, but no, my friends aren't crazy adoption nuts like I am that feel the unending need to bring a dozen or more children into their homes ;) Then I realized that I was wrong, which is why I'm writing this insanely long blog post. It was one Facebook post that lead us to that little guy who's fast asleep down the hall from me now. So maybe for just one person who is reading this, this is what they need to start their journey to a wonderful and unexpected blessing. By the way, it's not just in China folks. There are 153 MILLION orphans in the world and I'm nondiscriminatory :) Every child in every country is equally as important and all of them need the love of a family. Maybe adoption isn't the road for you, which I'm definitely not saying it is for everyone, but we are called to care for our orphans and widows, and there are other ways to "care for" them. Pray for them. Support those who are adopting. Foster. Sponsor. Advocate. The list goes on and on.
Each little voice just wants to be chosen. They are asking one question, "Do you have room for me?" The same question that Jesus asks us, and the same question that during this very season of Christmas, Mary and Joseph asked at the Inn. Let them in. In whatever way you can.
Annnnnnd....since I've made you wait this long. One month home tomorrow and we are doing awesome! We are so completely blessed, and he is such an amazing little guy! I could go on and on about updates, which I will soon, but my "confession" above was on my heart tonight and needed to be shared. Please forgive me for that. So here are a few pics of my newest little cutie pie...with some of my other cutie pies as well :)
