National Adoption Month

National Adoption Month. What does that mean? It means that some mom, some where decided that the world needs to know children need to be adopted. She wanted everyone to know about the option of adoption. Has this month made a difference in someone's life? Sure it has. Adoption agencies at one time always waived a percentage of fees this time of year. They promote adoption in every available agency, church, county fair, etc. Somebody looked, listened, and made a decision to change a child's life forever. There are people today that find it hard to believe we adopted. They just don't get it. Why would you do that? It costs so much money. The expense of taking care of a child you know has medical problems, it just seems crazy. My answer is I could not live without either of my children. Never has there ever been a day that I have thought about any of those things. Not once. I can not ever imagine my life without my children. I know the pain of not having my son here and I don't want to imagine being without my girls on this earth. I am working daily on convincing them to go to college locally and living in a garage apartment in the back yard. My children are a gift to me. I think people who don't get adoption don't read their Bible. There are so many references to orphans in the Bible. God expects us to take care of His children. These are His babies that are being abandoned. I watched the news this week and saw the horrors of Haiti once again. I would go there in a heartbeat and rescue as many babies as I could. I truly would. I am just overwhelmed at times by the misery that goes on there. They have survived an earthquake and now flooding from a hurricane. There are hundreds of islands in the Caribbean but this hurricane landed in Haiti. It is just sad to me. People are living in tents and now those are flooded. I am not aware of any changes in the adoption process for Haiti. I know that it is a tremendous burden on adopting families because the wait goes on forever. I think most agencies right now have a hold on their Haiti programs because of the chaos that continues there. Before the earthquake there were estimates that 350,000 orphans lived in Haiti. Today, I bet that number has doubled. Many people think International adoption is an atrocity itself. They believe children are stolen and sold for profit. Many people we know think we paid China for our daughter. Wrong, the most expenses we incurred for our China adoption were United States fees and Airline tickets. Our fees for China were really minimal. We paid a great deal to have our paperwork interpreted but those fees were paid here to Americans. China's government fees are really some of the cheapest and our donation to the orphanage was not that much either compared to other fees. Our money went straight to the orphanage. We paid it there to the orphanage. That money allows the orphanage to feed another child for another day. It would be no different than writing a check to FOOD FOR THE POOR or some other charity. China was a blessing to us. Our adoption experience was a gift. We were given a gift. I may not agree with all of China's political policies, but I will be forever grateful for the LOVE that they have given me and our family. I feel in my heart that every child deserves a family. Everyone of them. If you have any extra love in your heart, you should consider bringing an orphaned child into your home. I know so many adoptive families. We are all so blessed. I could talk about adoption all day long because I am now a member of this club. This club was created out of the love for a child. Not just any child but one that needs a mommy and a daddy. Children need parents to love them and care for them. Each time I think of the millions of children that have no one to love them I am overwhelmed. The LORD has great plans for these children. As an adoptive mom I feel that it is my job to share with every person I know about my experience. I may tell fifty people or five hundred and fifty people. If only one person of 550 decide to adopt, just think how that child's life will be changed forever. I will continue to share my story and I will continue to be an advocate for these babies that need mommas and daddies. I think about MA's friends that are home now. She has been with us for 4.5 years. It just does not seem that long and yet at times it seems like she has been her for always. Her friends started coming home before she left. Her best friend however, left a year or so later. A few weeks ago another little boy from her group came home. He is six. I can not imagine being without her all this time. I just cry thinking of her waiting so so long to be with her forever family. It just makes me cry deep in my heart. There are children waiting at 12, 13 years of age to be with a forever family. Their cry is loud because in China they will not come home to a forever family after age 13. In the orphanage system in China you age out of the adoption system at 14. You may stay in the orphanage, but you are no longer eligible for adoption after age 13. My friends little girl is 9. She will be 10 in February. She is beautiful and such a delight. Her friends in China are getting closer and closer to aging out. It just hurts my heart. China is not the only one to age out children. It happens all over the world, Russia, Romania, etc. Who are these young people going to be in a world where no one cares about them? Once again I leave you with this, "I am utterly and completely ruined."