During the month of November we will be celebrating (is that the correct adjective?) Adoption Awareness month. The hope is, that during this month there will be an increase in awareness of children who need families and families who have room in their homes & hearts to welcome another child. You can read more about the background behind Adoption Awareness month here. And even more about Orphan Sunday, here. Today, November 4, is a special day as part of this Adoption Awareness month. Today is Orphan Sunday. We are called to care for the orphan, and this Sunday is a reminder of that call. It's a time to look at how that call is being answered. I am fully aware that not all families are called to adopt. And if you are not, you should not. (I'm sure someone will have something negative to say there....) But many ARE and just haven't had courage to step out in faith and say 'yes'. There are numerous ways you can respond to that call.
First and foremost, prayer. Pray for those children without families, pray for them to feel some sort of peace, a tiny glimpse of the love that they should know daily. Pray for their health, that they can survive until their family sees them. Pray for their hearts to be open to change when a family does come forward. Pray for the adults caring for them while they wait. Pray for the families that are working as hard and as fast as humanly possible to get to those children and make them part of their family. Pray for staff that have to complete the physical day to day, ins and outs of the adoption process. (It is insanely frustrating when a clerk is having a bad day and delays stamping the last form you are waiting for to send off to an agency, just because they are tired or grumpy or just don't feel like doing it today or when a notary writes the wrong date and forms have to be re-aquired and re-signed and re-notarized and on and on...) Pray for the judges who get to unite new families. Pray for the friends of the families to stay supportive, to be accepting. Pray for those parents to keep moving forward, because their new child is just one more signature, one more home visit, one more airplane ride, away. Just pray.
Advocate. There are some great organizations that help share children waiting for families. (This is one of my favorites. https://reecesrainbow.org/ and here is another that is focused on children locally. https://www.adoptuskids.org/) Some that help children in orphanages with extra therapies, additional food options, extra staffing. There are organizations that raise awareness through photography. Getting a child's information out to the world is their best chance at a family seeing them and realizing they were meant to be a part of that family. I saw Josie because someone shared her short little paragraph of a profile and I knew I needed more information. Advocating could be life saving for these kids.
If you feel led, fund-raise or donate. Adoption is expensive. There's no way to tiptoe around it, there are A LOT of fees involved in the adoption process and unfortunately no such thing as adoption insurance. Any family will tell you that you can not put an amount on bringing home a child. If someone says there's another fee before you can meet your child, you pay that fee. If there's more money needed because court dates got switched and stays in country lasted longer or extra flights were needed, you find that money and you hand it over. Most families find themselves learning more new skills throughout an adoption process than ever thought possible. Want to sell blankets to buy plane tickets, you have to learn to sew (or knit or crochet!) Want to make fudge to finish of that final agency fee, you have to learn to bake. Want to sell candles to cover court costs, you learn to fill molds. There is a lot of blood sweat and tears that goes into funding an adoption. Sometimes giving your tithe for the month to a family waiting to bring home their new son or daughter can be the best gift you could give.
And of course, if you feel called, adopt. Look around your house, your living room, your kitchen table. Do you have room for one more kiddo? Could you put bunkbeds in the bedroom for brothers to share? Could another little body squeeze onto the couch? Could you fit one more chair at the table? Maybe your house is filled to every last square inch....but it might be a good time to move? Would a big sister be the perfect addition to your household? Maybe a baby brother? Maybe both!?! Is fear keeping you from saying yes? And if so, maybe it's time push aside that fear and just say Yes. There are so many quotes floating around the internet about adoption and so many seem like the perfect thing to say, but there are three, that I'd like to leave you with:
"There are no unwanted children; just unfound families". Maybe you just found a family...yours?
"Right now, you have the power to say, 'I will not let their story end like this'." Maybe that's your call to adopt? Maybe it's your call to advocate? Maybe it's your call to donate? How can you be a part of a child's story?
"I always questioned if I was ready to adopt and then realized no child was ready to be an orphan." This is a current favorite, because so often people use the excuse that 'now is just not a good time'. And I honestly think that's fear talking, but really, will there EVER be a good time? Of course, there are roadblocks, yes, homes have to be approved, countries have regulations that have to be met, a family has to meet yearly income requirements but when those pieces are already in place...what's stopping you? When is the right time? Could it be now?
Five years ago, I took that terrifying first step. There was heartache along the way and LOTS of sweat and tears and frustration and joy and excitement. And this beautiful soul has now been home with her family for over three years, because someone advocated for her, because someone fund-raised for her, because someone donated to help cover fees, because someone prayed, and because I said "yes".
During this month of Adoption Awareness, while you're finding something to be thankful for each day, could you be thankful for an extra plate at the table, an extra little face to kiss goodnight, a new addition to your family?
Are you ready to say yes?
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