A moment in time to focus on those who have lost everything, the most vulnerable in the world. The statistics are overwhelming, numbers you can't even grasp; 143 million orphans in the world! Who can even imagine what that number looks like?
It looks like any child you see as you walk your kids to school, go to the mall, sit in church. Except an orphan has no one.
They don't have anyone to walk them to school, or they can't even go to school.
They don't get to go shopping or sit in church.
They don't know who God is or if He even exists.
And they did nothing to deserve being abandoned and left alone.
But God knows each and every one of their faces.
God SEES them and he calls us to care for them.
He called me to care for them, and by marriage, he also called my husband Rich, much to his dismay in the beginning! Ha!
I will never forget the day almost 12 years ago, when I was home alone one evening watching a show on TV about a celebrity who was taking gifts to orphans in Africa. My two kids (biological) were sleeping and my husband was away on a business trip. I was watching as the children all gathered and one by one in an atmosphere of jubilant chaos, were given Christmas gifts. They had never been given anything in their lives before that moment. The look on their faces was pure wonder, confusion and JOY all at the same time. What was happening? I can't imagine what was going through their minds. I remember seeing one little girl and I couldn't take my eyes off of her. And sitting on my couch, all by myself, I HEARD God say, "NOW, your child is waiting, it's time for you to adopt your child. She is waiting." It may sound crazy, but I HEARD God! And I cried, really cried, because I knew He was right.
You see, I had thought for many years that I wanted to adopt a little girl from China. My heart ached for the plight of girls in China. The one child policy, boys being preferred to girls. Girls being killed at birth or at best case being left in the dark of night to be found and taken to an orphanage. And I would talk to Rich about adoption a few times, but as in life, we worried about the cost, the upheaval to our current life with two kids.
But after that night, I knew what I was going to do. A day later Rich returned home and I just said, it's time. We need to adopt NOW! He looked at me like I was nuts. We had recently been relocated, my father had just passed away, our lives were in upheaval. But with only the strength God can give, I told my husband there were no more excuses. The time was NOW. Our little girl was waiting for us, and we were going to get her!
To say Rich was hesitant would be an understatement, but soon after we began the process.
Fourteen months later we were in Wuhan, China where we were handed the most beautiful little girl. Annabelle Faith JiaChun was handed to me and though we were overwhelmed with love, she was terrified and screaming after one look at me. But she was perfect! She was three days shy of her first birthday. What I remember most of that time in China was Annie's courage. Her will to survive and thrive. I have often said, that orphans are the bravest people I know. They have lost so much, and yet they will cling to Hope, for the chance to be loved, to belong.
We went back to China two and a half years later to adopt our son, and this week, after eight years of waiting, we will once again travel to China to adopt our daughter, who just turned eleven!
Yes, we are older, yes we have grown kids, yes, Rich will have to work a few extra years, but neither of us would do it any differently if given the chance.
Adoption is hard, it is loss, it is pain, it is suffering.
Adoption is also Faith, Hope, Trust and above all these, Love.
God has a plan, and when he whispers in your ear, or in my case yells at you on the couch, LISTEN! He is calling you to do one of the BEST things life has to offer. Trust in Him. The reward is beyond anything you could ever imagine!
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