Today is Orphan Sunday!!!

Facts taken from the website cryoftheorphan.org

Over 140 million orphans and waiting children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents.i

Over 13 million double orphans under the age of 18 have lost both parents.ii

Sub-Saharan Africa, with 48.3 million orphans, has the highest proportion of children who are orphans at 12%

Asia has the largest total number of orphans with 73.7 million orphans, which represents 6% of all children

Latin America and the Caribbean has 10.7 million orphans, also representing 6% of all children.iii

Over 15 million children have lost a parent due to AIDS, and that number is expected to rise to over 20 million by 2010.iv

Without AIDS, the total number of double orphans in sub-Saharan Africa would have declined between 1990 and 2010. AIDS, however, will push the number of double orphans in the region from 9 million to more than 10 million by 2010.v

Orphaned children are much more likely than non-orphans to be working in commercial agriculture, as street vendors, in domestic service and in the sex trade.vi

Orphans are more vulnerable and at risk of becoming victims of violence, exploitation, trafficking, discrimination, or other abuses.vii

Domestic Orphans

More than 500,000 children are in United States foster care.viii

Over 120,000 children in foster care are waiting to be adopted.ix

Only around 50,000 children, or 18% of those waiting in foster care, are adopted every year.x

On average, children in foster care wait over 2 years to be adopted.xi

Adoption

Over one-third of Americans have ever considered adopting, but no more than 2 percent of Americans have actually adopted.xii

Who is that man in my minivan??

Well, not exactly a man, but a nearly grown man!!  A few nights ago we all got in the minivan for an errand.  I was stopped somewhere and looked in my rear view mirror.  Jumbled up in the way back seat was a stranger with knees sticking awkwardly out to the side, hairy legs and a handsome young man face.  The voice coming from that young man was part-time kid, part-time adult.  Where did my little red head son go???  This isn't right!  We pray for our teen as he navigates the rough waters of becoming a man.  We pray that God would make him into a mighty man of valor.  He is a precious gift.  Ohhh, to have one day back with that funny little boy who got lost all the time!!  Treasure your days people.

Can you help kids like Carlos?

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 2, 2009) – His name is Carlos Daniel, and at just 6 years old his mother died and he became an orphan. After living on the streets in cardboard boxes for several years, this little boy has finally found a “home” and the chance to dream at an orphanage supported by Food For The Poor in the Dominican Republic.

Instead of begging on the streets for food, Carlos now enjoys playing sports with other boys his age in his new home. With newfound hope, Carlos says he wants to be a pastor when he grows up.

Through a new monthly program established by the South Florida-based Christian charity, we can all learn more about Carlos Daniel and other children Food For The Poor helps by participating in “Child of the Month” — a new giving program beginning November 2nd

I cut and pasted the above picture and article piece from Food For The Poor, an organization we support monthy.  It is a pitiful 12.00 a month that we have deducted from our checking account.  Twelve measely dollars that we dont even miss.  Heck, last night was 1.49 kid meal deals at Sonic and we spent 10.50 just in one night on kid burgers. 

So thankful

I have so much to be grateful for:  1. I got a raise yesterday! A good raise! I go back to work this week(just 2 twelve hour shifts). Amazingly enough, I miss my job and am excited to be back at work.  2. Hudson went to the sitter all day yesterday, for the first time. He did great. The sitter was surprised at how easy he was. I had been so worried that he might think "Oh, great, here we go again with a new family!". I prayed and prayed for the Spirit to speak peace to his heart.  3. We paid off our credit card. We want to live according to God's budget plan and do what we can to give to others. And, that leads me to say, once again, a HUGE thank you to all who selflessly gave us money to help with Hudson's adoption. From the anonymous person who paid for our homestudy, to Dillon International's Building Families Fund, to the several individuals who gave us donations. I'm truly humbled by your generosity. I've prayed that God would return those blessings upon you ten-fold. And, once we get our savings a little beefed up, we plan to do exactly what you all did--give to other families adopting.

As for an update on the little fella, well, he is amazing. He is so darn cute and kissable. His cheeks are probably calloused from me kissing them all the time. He sings and jabbers from the minute his eyes are open in the morning, to the minute they close for sleep. He copies big bro Dillon. He has added the sign for "eat" to his sign language vocab. The only troubling issue is his eating. He will shove every bite on his plate into his mouth until he chokes or vomits. We can only give him a few little bites at a time, check to see that he has swallowed the food and then give him more. All the while he is furiously signing "MORE." I am writing a letter to his foster mother and birthmother today. His foster mother must miss him terribly. She will enjoy the pics I'm going to send her. As for Hudson's birthmother, she may never get the letter or pictures. But, I my heart says that I must send them to the agency in Korea. If she never comes to read his file, at least Hudson will grow up knowing that we respect her and love her and realize the huge sacrifice she has given up.

Video to watch

My mother sent me a link to a You Tube video that touched her. It was the Contemporary Christian Music artists Leeland and Brandon Heath on a mission trip to Cambodia. The video and pictures are powerful, but the song is what is so strong! The song talks about taking Jesus into broken homes and such.   Cambodia, a small country ravaged by decades of war.  A country of about 14 million people.  I just read a UNICEF report that estimated in 2004 there were 553,000 orphans living in Cambodia.  Yep, I did type half a million orphaned children in that one tiny country alone!!!!!!!!  Inconceivable!  This really breaks my heart and I'll be transparent and tell you why.  You see, the end of August 2000, we had been in the adoption process for about 7 months.  We were losing it.  It was soooo hard to sit and wait and not know when we would get a referral call.  I knew there were kids out there waiting for homes, and here we sat on a waiting list.  It seemed crazy.  So, we began looking at some waiting child sites.  We found a darling 3 months old girl waiting for a family---in Cambodia.  We were so naive and thought we could just make a few changes on our paperwork and Voila, jump over to Cambodia instead of Korea right?  Fortunately, the director of Dillon International was very forthright with me about the challenges of changing countries.  Then, the agency who was working with this little girl informed me that Cambodia had just closed to adoptions, but they expected them to open in just a few months and we could go get the baby then.  Thankfully the Holy Spirit nudged us to stay with Korea and Dillon Int.  That was 9 years ago and Cambodia still hasn't reopened to adoptions.  I think about that dark skinned, chubby baby in the picture we had.  Her name on the file was "Rath Theary."  Many of the Cambodian children were named 2 names.  The first one was always Rath.  Do you know what the name Rath means in Cambodia?   
                        UNWANTED
                       
Can you  imagine growing up with the name Unwanted???  That precious angel baby girl is the same age as my beautiful daughter Abigail.  Do you know what the name Abigail means?  Her father rejoices! 
Both little girls began life without families somewhere in Asia.  One little girl becomes the beloved only daughter whose name means Her Father Rejoices.  One little girl is most likely still an orphan, spending her days in an institution, full of other children whose names mean Unwanted!
Pray for the unwanted.  Give to the unwanted.  Bring in the unwanted.  Go to the unwanted.  Spread the word about the unwanted!

Genius and Adorable

Just in case you need a "cutest kid in the world" fix, I attached 2 pics of Hudson reading his favorite book.  He has only been home 7 weeks, heard Korean his whole life until now, but he understands most of what we say.  This morning I got a spoonful of oatmeal and said "Hot".  He blew!  Amazing.

So, I'm not cool?

Carter asked if he could make his own lunch from now on.  You see, I embarrass him with my lunches.  Yesterday morning, the groceries were low.  I hate grocery shopping and so I really try to save up the list and go once a week.  Yesterday morning we were out of snack crackers, pretzels, popcorn and such.  I don't give my kids chips in their lunches.  I made the kids a bean and cheese burrito, apple slices, little packet of M&M's, Caprisun drink, and a baggie of Alpha-Bits cereal(in place of crackers).  It looked good to me!  Last night Carter said "Mom, it is a little embarrassing for an 8th grader to pull out a baggie of Alpha-Bits and a Caprisun."  So, I bought some groceries and I just gave him a dollar, against every mother instinct in my body, to buy a drink out of the machine at school!