It Takes A Village....

I can't believe it is nearly Thanksgiving already! I am thankful for so much. This weekend, I have experienced yet again the joy of watching my kids being encouraged & doted on by friends. We have been at church quite a bit for Glorious Christmas Nights rehearsals. Even in their most restless moments, our church family has been nothing short of encouraging to them & to me. There were some funny moments, as well, like when the music indicating the scene change didn't start quite as quickly as expected & Marcie blurted out something like, "where's the music?" (Or was it, "we need the music?"). Marcie had a ball at a sleepover with one of her friends last night & then we had the joy of taking this little girl with us to Sweet Frog while Charlie rehearsed with the youth. This little girl is full of joy & spunk & just a delight to be around. While at Sweet Frog, we saw some other friends from church & just had a nice time with them. Friday night while Charlie was rehearsing, Marcie was at her sleepover & Kyle & Joanna were quietly playing their DSI XLs, I enjoyed being able to sit & talk with another friend -- it was so nice to be able to talk with another adult, relaxing, with the kids quiet. I really appreciated that time & the support & encouragement especially for my newest adoption quest. I am truly blessed with friends who are so actively involved in my kids' lives & my life both in my community & at church. They don't understand yet the value of having so many caring adults in their lives but I do & I appreciate each & every one of you. Thank you!

Orphan Sunday

Orphan Sunday is coming to a close. Churches all around the U.S. had sermons & other activities to bring the plight of orphans to the forefront of people's minds. My church also did the same thing, beginning with a wonderful video that included the names & pictures of some of the adopted children in our church. I was so moved by the presentation, especially with seeing my children in the video! James 1:27 is one of the most widely shared scripture verses that calls attention to the responsibility of Christians with regard to orphans. Seeing the verse in the video along with some statistics about orphans is haunting. I've seen several numbers: 143 million, 147 million, 160 million.... staggering numbers of children who may have a name but no identity other than "orphan." The babies don't know they are orphans & maybe even some of the 4 & 5 year old children don't know that other children actually have parents and may have siblings but generally do not live in a home with large rooms lined with cribs or beds. Just think about how it would feel to lie down at night without knowing that someone really loves you, is committed to you, wants to sing happy birthday to you... wants to give you his or her last name. A name. A name that identifies you as someone's child, a part of a family. Some of the Chinese orphans have last names that are the names of the orphanages they are in. Sad. I find it really hard to get the little faces that I see on websites out of my mind every night. I don't know what it's like to be an orphan, to have no sense of belonging to a family, to not know how it feels to be tucked in at night by your mom or your dad. But, there are a lot of kids out there who do know those things & the numbers grow daily. We must pray for God's mercy on those children who wait, hoping for a new name, to be able to call out "Mom" or "Dad" & know there will be an answer to that call. May God bless them!