Precious Orphans~ Adopting 1 child does not change the world... BUT for that 1 child the world will change!

Ok.... so I first heard this statement at Ruslana's (Eliana) banquet and it touched my heart.
 

Adopting 1 child DOES NOT change the world....BUT for that 1 child the world will change! Adopting Mina will not change the life and outcome of all these other children here.... it will not make their lives any better but for Mina her life will forever be changed. She will forever be loved and cared for. She will forever know what it feels like to have a mommy and daddy to shower praises and kisses and hugs on her. Her world will forever be changed! It is so hard for me to see all these other children and think unless someone comes for them their world will not change, their lives will not change, their future will not change, they will never experience love of family, they will never be fed enough to nourish their little bodies, and sadly many of them may die. That just breaks my heart! I just wish we could love on them all, kiss them all, hug them all, sing to them, read books to them, play with them.... although I know it is completely impossible! There is soooooo..... many orphans in this world! It is so hard to look in the eyes of one of these children, kneel down and hug them or hold there hand and think and imagine what they must be thinking, what they must be feeling, and wondering will they even still be here... will they even still be alive a few years down the road. Oh how I wish so badly I could change the world... I could change the lives of all of these precious innocent children. That the little girl that bangs her head on the wall in Mina's groupa will no longer have to do that for stimulation, that the little boy that always greats us at the door will no longer get in trouble for just wanting a second of love and attention, that these little babies won't be left to lie on their backs and never learn to sit up or walk. I pray that through our adoption journey others may come to realize the need for adoption and the need for these orphans survival. I pray that God would embrace each and everyone of these precious angels with His love and comfort them. I pray that God would stir the hearts of His people to hear the calling and to receive and perceive children as gifts and blessings from Him. That our eyes would be open. That we would look at these little ones and think Wow.... God you made a beautiful creation, this child is wonderfully and perfectly made, this is a special blessing and gift of Life and I will gladly say Yes and accept such a precious gift! I can't imagine if we hadn't said yes to accepting Mina as our daughter. My mind thinks and wonders.... how much time would she even have left to survive in her current situation, how long would it take till her tiny frail body gave out on her, how long would she just stare at the wall and what thoughts would fill her mind. Would she ever learn to sit up on her own, or walk, or talk... most likely not. Would she ever smile, and laugh, and cry tears of joy? Would she ever know what love and kisses felt like? I praise you Lord for putting a burden on both of our hearts that we could not ignore. That no matter what negativity came our way you continued to reconfirm to us that we are on the right path and we are doing what you have called us to. I praise you Heavenly Father for protecting our little girl and keeping her safe till we could get to her. I praise you for calling us and blessing us with this precious gift of life and thank you for giving us the most precious blessing there is in the world. I thank you for giving us a glimpse through your eyes and feel the hurt and burden for these children. I can't even begin to imagine how all of this must hurt you. I pray that you never let us shake and ignore all these tragic things but that we would continue to do something about it. Please make the things that matter most in life always be more apparent and the things of this world disappear in our hearts. I remember the first day we met Mina looking at her thinking oh my goodness what in the world did we get ourselves into. We had thoughts and envisions of what we thought she would be doing developmentally by now, how big she'd be, what she'd look like. We thought for sure she was sitting up because that is what we already where told and we thought since she has been working on crawling surely 6 months later she'll be crawling by now or close to it. Which I firmly believe she was able to sit up when her parents brought her to the orphanage when she was 6months old and probably getting close to crawling but then after left in the orphanage no longer experiencing the love of her parents, no longer being individually worked with on a daily basis and just laying down on her back all day everything she could do went down hill. Jim and I together thought are we really going to be able to do this, have we completely lost our minds.... but of course looking at that tiny frail malnourished body and all these months of loving her and dreaming of her being our child we couldn't look at her and say no we are just going to leave you here and hope for your survival... because the odds in her survival for years to come are slim to none. There is no way in our hearts we could ever do that to this precious girl! In just a few weeks time it is amazing to see the leaps and bounds she has already made. It is amazing to us that she is already doing such a great job at sitting up and that she is smiling, laughing, interacting with her sister, and loves playing with toys. She seems already like a totally different girl than the one we met a few weeks ago. I can't wait to see all God has in store for her and all the progress she continues to make.. I look forward to helping her develop and grow and do everything she can do! And I am so thankful that we get to be there and experience these changes with her. She has already melted our hearts and already has daddy wrapped around her little finger. We are so thankful for the blessing and gift God gave us in giving us this little girl and entrusting her life in our hands! What an honor it is to be her mommy & daddy! There are so many precious precious children that we saw in Mina's orphanage and there is children left without parents ALL OVER the world who need someone to say yes to them. Here are a few pics of these precious children who we got to see, smile at, wave at for a brief moment to pay them a bit of attention and show them that they are worth far greater than the way they may feel.     Some of them might have a parent or family member that may come visit them but several of them never have anyone that comes for them and I can't imagine how forgotten they must feel.  They would get big smiles and grins, wave, blow kisses, call you momma and papa and all the while my thoughts and mind wondered what each of their future will hold.  For the special needs children will they be transferred to an institution far worse than the orphanage they now reside in. Will any of these precious children end up tied down to beds or pass away before they get to that point or from malnourishment.  For the ones that get older and reach 16 resulting in them having to leave the orphanage to make room for the others will they turn to crime, prostitution, or commit suicide.

• 60-70% of boys will become involved in crime for survival after leaving the orphange
• 60-70% of girls will become prostitues for surivual after leaving the orphanage
• And 1 in 6 will commite suicide before their mid-20s because of hopelesness

When I looked into the eyes of these children my thoughts and prayers for their innocent lives wondered what hope or hopelesness they might experience in their future to come and my heart breaks for them. What precious babies, children, blessings, gifts from our God above just waiting for someone to come for them so that they to might have a better changed life as Mina and so that for them there world may also change!  

If anyone is considering adopting I encourage you to step out in faith, trust in the Lord, and just say yes. You will be receiving one of the greatest gifts on earth!