She has a room
D preached this past weekend on the Gospel of adoption. While I was away for the weekend and missed it live, I listened to the podcast. I think it was probably a good thing that I wasn't in the audience Sunday. I would have been weeping the entire sermon. I may have been quite the distraction.
As we are moving forward in this process, I am learning new depths of emotion. It has only been a month since we embraced the calling to adopt. God has broken me in places I didn't know I needed to be broken. I have searched out stories and documentaries on adoption. The facts I am learning are heart breaking. My eyes are opened to a whole world I ignored. I had known orphanages existed, that is true, but did not know the details. I was fine until I started learning the details.
Adoption has drastically decreased in the past 5 years due to new laws and implementing new systems. While the aim of this process is to protect the children, it is harming them in the fact that they are stuck in an orphanage. Children sit in waiting for years before they can go home to their families. Some children sit in their own bodily fluids for hours on end. They do not cry anymore. They deal with the pain. They know that crying does not bring anyone to their aid. These children stare at the wall or out the window with little hope and no understanding of love. They may hit themselves or rock back and forth as a type of stimulation, because they do not get handled often. They are malnourished and underfed. All the while, the child has a loving family with open arms ready to embrace them, show them love, and provide a nurturing environment for them.
It takes upwards of 3 years and an average of $28,000 to adopt a child right now. Add in all the legalities. Add in the home study. Add in the physicals and doctor appointments. Add in the applications of many many documents including a dossier, passport, immigration, etc. Add in the fact that it is a matter of your stack of papers making through the American government, Ethiopian (or your country of adoption) government, Ethiopian courts, American courts, and anywhere else they want to traipse. The process is daunting!
All the while we are here trudging along in the process, Izzy may be out there in Ethiopia in the orphanage. She may be 5. She may be 12. She may not even be born yet. But we will continue to carry on and fight to bring her home. One day, she will see the deep love we had for her before we even met her face to face. How we have prepared a room for her and God has prepared our hearts. He has filled my heart for love for this daughter I long to meet. She has a room....and it's pink. It's not the stained concrete walls of the orphanage.
As we are moving forward in this process, I am learning new depths of emotion. It has only been a month since we embraced the calling to adopt. God has broken me in places I didn't know I needed to be broken. I have searched out stories and documentaries on adoption. The facts I am learning are heart breaking. My eyes are opened to a whole world I ignored. I had known orphanages existed, that is true, but did not know the details. I was fine until I started learning the details.
Adoption has drastically decreased in the past 5 years due to new laws and implementing new systems. While the aim of this process is to protect the children, it is harming them in the fact that they are stuck in an orphanage. Children sit in waiting for years before they can go home to their families. Some children sit in their own bodily fluids for hours on end. They do not cry anymore. They deal with the pain. They know that crying does not bring anyone to their aid. These children stare at the wall or out the window with little hope and no understanding of love. They may hit themselves or rock back and forth as a type of stimulation, because they do not get handled often. They are malnourished and underfed. All the while, the child has a loving family with open arms ready to embrace them, show them love, and provide a nurturing environment for them.
It takes upwards of 3 years and an average of $28,000 to adopt a child right now. Add in all the legalities. Add in the home study. Add in the physicals and doctor appointments. Add in the applications of many many documents including a dossier, passport, immigration, etc. Add in the fact that it is a matter of your stack of papers making through the American government, Ethiopian (or your country of adoption) government, Ethiopian courts, American courts, and anywhere else they want to traipse. The process is daunting!
All the while we are here trudging along in the process, Izzy may be out there in Ethiopia in the orphanage. She may be 5. She may be 12. She may not even be born yet. But we will continue to carry on and fight to bring her home. One day, she will see the deep love we had for her before we even met her face to face. How we have prepared a room for her and God has prepared our hearts. He has filled my heart for love for this daughter I long to meet. She has a room....and it's pink. It's not the stained concrete walls of the orphanage.
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