H is for Hope 31 for 21 Day 13

On Thursday I see a group of the same families (for the most part) at therapy.  One couple brings their adopted son for services.  As we have sat in the same waiting room for months on end, we naturally started talking about our children, the weather, and all the other details you feel like sharing.  She has spoken openly about foster care and how her son came to be a part of their family.  Today I really got the full scope of what she has done with the last 20 years of her life.  She has seen 100 foster kids come through her home.  Her daughter whom she adopted many years back was her foster child for 4 1/2 years before the courts decided to allow her to be adopted.  She said it is very different now and that they don’t wait that long anymore.  You can tell how much they love their son and how well taken care of he is.  He has Cerebral Palsy and is non-verbal.  You talk to this young man and his face lights up.  He Is full of joy.  One person, one simple act, one life changed.  She has given hope to these children who didn’t ask for the circumstances for which they were left without parents.  She opened her heart and her home 20 years ago and she has been blessed 100 times over.  Amazing!  I stand in awe of her. 
As I have said before, I am proud to be a part of a network of moms who have a passion for their children.  Within this group of moms is another group who have or are in the process of adopting children with Ds.  How wonderful is that?  I have talked about Reece's Rainbow in the past and it is a wonderful ministry helping to get children out of the orphanage’s , especially in Eastern Europe.  We are lucky to have a waiting list here in the United States for children with Ds looking to be adopted.  I don’t mean that we are lucky to have any of these children without a home, but I am so happy to know that children born here with Ds can be adopted so quickly due to many people waiting to get them.  I wish we didn’t have any waiting list or orphanages period.  What wonderful hope we give to these children when we take them from a life of living just to be existing and we take them out of these places and they blossom.  I love the slogan Reece’s Rainbow has adopted:  Every child with Down syndrome deserves life, love and a family of their own.  It really is that black and white.  That about sums it up plain and simple. 

As the lady said today at therapy—“I believe that God placed these children with me all these years because I am to help nourish them, to help them blossom.  They start out as seeds and I am the water and food.  They leave me loved and taken care of and their roots have grown and become stronger.”  Can you imagine how much the children who are taken out of the system forever feel?  I follow these stories of the families and I see the before and after pictures and really, there are no words.  Not all of us are called to adopt, but I do believe that we can all play a role in changing the life of one, ten, a hundred, and so forth just by being prayer warriors, donating funds, and speaking out to others about adoption and possibly sowing seeds within them. 
One of the most inspirational people that I follow blog wise is Adeye Salem over at No Greater Joy Mom.  Her family has added the blessing of 4 children via adoption. She writes so passionately and with such conviction from the Lord that you can’t help but be inspired by her. She recently posted links to 32 different families in the midst of adoptions. She is challenging us to make a difference by reading their blogs and donating to their accounts, ten dollars if you have it.  If you don’t have any extra money, pray, send good thoughts, send an encouraging word to these families.  All of these things makes a difference.  This is the link to the blogs---here. Stay home instead of catching a movie, skip the venti latte, wait to pick up your favorite magazines next week, just one small change today adds up to one big change for someone’s future tomorrow.
We can be part of the hope that these children need.  Hope to believe that a parent is waiting for them instead of just lying in a crib waiting for a touch from anyone; hope to believe that they will be read bedtime stories instead of lying alone in their cribs waiting to fall asleep; hope to believe that someone wakes them in the morning with a kiss and an I love you instead of lying there in their cribs covered in filth; hope to believe that they will sit around the dinner table and share stories with their brothers and sisters instead of being fed assembly style as quick as the food can be shoveled in; hope to believe that they will one day be accepted just as they are and that orphanages can be shuttered forever.  When you look at the big picture it can be overwhelming, depressing, and seem impossible that you can make a difference, but you can.  All it has ever taken is for one person to help be the change.  Could that person be you?  I am 100% certain it is.