Bare toes in the sand, sun glistening off the water, the soft wash of waves rolling up on shore. One by one he skips stones across the surface, bouncing for a moment, then disappearing beneath the surface, overwhelmed by the vastness.
Thinking about the orphan crisis feels much the same to me. I am the rock and the problem is overwhelming, outstretched in front of me with no end. I can’t solve this, I can’t save them all, I can’t change the hearts and minds of all those involved. I’m just a stone, a stone in the sea.
But that one stone, it still touched the water. It moved the water and changed its direction. It disrupted the path and sent out gorgeous ripples that shimmered with the light. Where the stone touched, there was change.
My son and I read a devotional each night together before bed. We recently started a new one and while this book we started is geared just for him, I, myself, have taken so many lessons from it already. This devotional does a fantastic job of covering the REAL life topics, challenges, and uncertainties a preteen boy will encounter. He and I have been able to hold onto a relationship that still has open and honest communication, and of that, I am fairly proud . With that said, this momma still reads ahead to mentally prepare myself for what I’m going to be speaking out loud to him. Open and honest doesn’t always mean comfortable!
Though it is called a Guy’s Guide to God, Girls, and The Phone in Your Pocket, this little gem popped out at me during my read ahead this week. Or more accurately, it was a bit like a slap in my face.
“Never neglect an opportunity to protect the weak.”
I want to be real with you and admit that I’ve been worried about committing to advocate for another child after “Bethany”. I was worried that people would start to get tired of me and when our own adoption became a reality, they would care less.
It’s okay if you’re feeling offended. Even as I type this I hate that I ever felt that way. I hate that I essentially worried more about ME than the orphans neglected in cribs around the world. I hate that I underestimated people as a whole, when I know there are so many who will rally around our adoption with a joy that matches our own. I hate that I considered standing still, when there was something I could do.
I was neglecting my opportunity.
The truth is, some people are probably already sick of hearing me talk about the orphan crisis, irritated with me asking for shares and donations, flustered with feeling like I’m always pushing.
And the other truth is, I should be pushing harder.
Over the last few years I’ve asked a lot of the people who chose to read my posts.
In December of 2017 I posted about Sealey. He’d lived alone in a crib for 13 years and I asked you see him. See him, and then choose a child of your own to share.
Sealy passed away before his family could get to him.
February 2018 I begged you to see Aura Lee. I asked you to donate money because she had faded from a gloriously chubby toddler to a shell of what she used to be.
May 2018 I posted about her again. She had starved to death.
Along the way, I’ve asked for much, for many other children. Some still wait, some passed away, a few made it home.
That summer in 2018 we signed up to advocate for Bethany. She made it home, but not without first suffering in ways that should never ever be.
Recently, we were blessed with the chance to meet her. I held her in my arms. A child so very close to having the same story as Sealy and Aura Lee. I held her and felt so deeply what I thought I already knew.
She is worth everything I did that might have annoyed others and so, so much more.
And so, we are jumping in again!
We’re officially Guardian Angels for Duncan. We will be launching a series of giveaways and fundraisers to help get this sweet little guy noticed and I pray, help a family bring him home for good! Please consider following our Love Worthy Page to keep up to date and participate in all we have coming up for him.
Did you feel that little push?
Yes!
But isn’t he worth it!?
Below I shared again what I previously wrote about Sealey and Aura Lee. They were worthy of so much more than the existence they endured. Don’t neglect your opportunity. If not Duncan, any waiting child.
Their only way out is adoption or death.
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December 15, 2017: I pick her up when she cries. I hold her against my chest and she presses her face into me, she breathes against my neck and grips my shirt in her tiny fist. I kiss her head over and over and whisper that everything’s alright. She calms, relaxes into me. She isn’t hungry, or hurting, or wet, or tired … she just wants to feel love.
Yesterday I looked at Reece’s Rainbow. I follow them on Facebook, I see the updates, but haven’t visited the site in years. I looked at the faces of these sweet babies and felt helpless. I looked at my sleeping girl, peaceful, full of trust and content in my lap and it broke me. It doesn’t matter what life or circumstances these children are born into. It doesn’t matter their disability or limitations. Inside of each of them is a child, just like my daughter, just like my son, who needs their momma. I wanted to quit looking, it was too hard, but guilt is a strong motivator. I couldn’t, in any small way, be another person who disregarded them. So I looked at them all. Every. Single. Child. And I read about their life. I saw my children in their faces and wondered who loves them. Who cuddles them close when they are scared? Who puts their hand on those little chests when they whimper in the night? Who breathes love across the top of their heads and makes them feel safe?
The answer is no one.
I dress my kids in cute Christmas outfits and go out shopping for gifts to put under our tree. I play music on our Amazon Echo and make gingerbread cookies. I drink my peppermint mocha and watch Hallmark Christmas movies. All while I know that there are children, laying abandoned in cribs, lonely and aching for love at the same time. And they’ve been there for years. Kind of makes you feel like a selfish monster.
So I’m asking a favor, out of my own guilt and sadness (which, I know, is selfish in itself). Go to this page on Facebook and Instagram and follow them. Share their posts. So many children have been adopted after their faces and stories were shared over social media. Look at them. See them. Pray for them. And if you donate to a cause, consider this one. It’s small things, but sometimes small is enough.
This boy is Sealey.
He’s been missing his momma for 13 years.
“Around the world children are left in cribs and locked away in institutions. They are starved, neglected and hidden away.
These children, and many others like them, deserve freedom.
Sealey is 13 years old this year. All he has ever known is loneliness and abuse.
He needs a family.
He needs medical care.
He needs love.
He needs freedom.”
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February 2018: Will you bear with me for a long post about something weighing heavy on my heart?
Her name is Aura Lee.
I saw her first a couple years ago as a toddler and her sweet eyes stuck fast in my memory. And then recently she showed up in my Newsfeed. It wasn’t even related to her, it was Saving Baby Ryan and a post from his mom who was raising funds for her. My heart broke when I saw how she’d suffered since I saw her last, but even this wasn’t a recent picture.
And then it happened again. Maya’s Hope(Keshia Melton) ran a series about kids confined to their beds and in a video there was a black and white segment with a girl chewing her hands and I recognized her eyes immediately. I couldn’t ignore her anymore.
I truly believe that when something/someone keeps showing up like that, it’s God. And He’s saying “do something.”
I don’t know everything about her story. I know she’s starving. I know she’s neglected. I know someone has used her to raise funds personally and then walked away with the money, never intending to come for her. I know she is deteriorating physically and mentally. I know she could be so much more. I know her eyes still hold light and life. I know she also has an army of people she will never know praying, donating, advocating, and worrying over her. I know she can be saved.
So I’m sharing her with you all. Her adoption grant has gotten up over $9,000 because people have shared her story. We’re adding to that grant ourselves because we’ve seen her story and can’t sit here knowing she can be saved and do nothing. We want so desperately to enable her family to come rescue her.
This Facebook thing can work in powerful ways sometimes! Will you share her too? Will you consider a donation?
It’s easier to ignore her because it hurts less than knowing this happens to innocent babies. It’s easier to wonder why God doesn’t do something to save them. But I love the Matthew West song that says, “I shook my fist at HeavenSaid, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did……. I created you”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNO5K_lSwig ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 24, 2018: You see this gorgeous toddler pictured here. Her chubby cheeks, adorable little nose, sad eyes searching….you see how she changed as she was starved…starved to death.
After knowing for a bit that something terrible had happened to her, today I saw conformation that the worst was true.
She literally had life drained out of her. By neglect. By ignorance. By cruelty. By being ignored. I sat in my classroom and cried for this girl when I saw confirmation of her death, because she had a future, she had life, and she had so, so much worth. And it was all taken from her.
This is why I share their pictures, this is why we chose to advocate for Bethany. This is why I will continue to annoy you with too many posts about the kids who touch my heart and try to raise money for their adoption grants…because what if?
What if the right person could have seen her at the right time?
What if I don’t share them and their opportunity is missed?
What if I could have done something….and didn’t.
The Other Side of Fear 
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