Anne and I have been reading a blog by a friend of a friend. I have never met this person and likely never will, but they are in the same adoption program we are, and we have learned a lot since they are further along the process than we are. They are in China now adopting a child with cleft lip and palate (one of the most common needs and likely what our child will have) and said a few things that are burned into my brain today.
First, there are around one million kids in orphanages in China. I can't get my mind around that number. It's 5x larger than Knoxville, my home. Still, the government allows only a couple thousand to be adopted internationally, while 18,000 families are on a waiting list. That blows my mind.
She ended saying, "We are thankful that God led us to Hope and that she is not one of the hundreds of thousands who will grow up in crowded loneliness." Those two words have consumed my thoughts today: crowded loneliness. We have heard that there are so many children in the orphanages that the workers don't really even know the kids and have diffilculty describing them for paperwork. The kids are surrounded by people, but unknown. They are in crowded rooms, but lonely.
This is yet another reminder of why we are adopting. The need is real. And hopefully this winter or spring we'll be on our way to China.
To follow their journey go to: http://findinghopeinchina.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment