i wanted to write something meaningful to mark our being on the waitlist for one year tomorrow.
but, instead, all i'm thinking about right now is how the ethiopian government is now requiring that death certificates for deceased birth parents should be included in referral paperwork. those words just loom heavy: death certificate.
it is a reminder to me of why we started this process. the world isn't right. and as christians, we believe we're to be little vessels for God to use to make those wrong things come undone. no child should face a future in an orphanage. no child should have to grieve the loss of a birthparent alone. no child should go a single day without hearing a mom or dad tell them "i love you." i hate that poverty and disease and war have killed off many thousands of mothers and fathers who otherwise might have been wonderful parents.
and i especially hate thinking about my toddler-aged child (though i have never seen his/her face or heard his/her story) sitting in an orphanage quietly mourning the mother he/she has lost and wondering if there will ever be another mother to hold him/her again. i think that he/she must be old enough to remember what his/her mother's face looked like, how her hands felt, how her voice sounded, how she smelled...and also old enough to remember how suddenly she was gone...when all the sights, sounds, and smells just disappeared.
but, in adoption, there is hope for redemption.
tonight, i claim for my children and all those who need families words of scripture, promises from God...he sets the lonely in families...he defends the cause of the fatherless... he is close to the brokenhearted...he knows our sitting down and rising up...he never leaves us or forsakes us.
i will not leave you as orphans, i am coming to you. -- john 14:18
in him the orphan finds mercy. -- hosea 14:3
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This post perfectly represents adoption. The pain, the loss, the sadness, the promises, the hope and the beauty.
ReplyDeleteLove you friend, your day is coming.
The cost of redemption is great. The brokenness is great, too much to even imagine these little ones or their parents bearing. The 'death certificates' as you say have been a heavy reminder in my heart of the ashes surrounding adoption. So much destroyed and lost. I stand and pray these scriptures with you...over all those left in the ashes of this broken world. May God bring forth His mighty restoration in your children's lives...a restoration that only His heart can conceive and bring to pass.
ReplyDeleteThis tugged at my tender heart repeatedly. Beautiful post. I re-posted parts of it on my blog. I hope that's ok. :)
ReplyDeletePraying praying praying for your referral to come.
heavy, heavy stuff.
ReplyDeleteit all comes from deep pain, and death.
it's hard to look at sammy and not have my heart break into a thousand pieces for why he is with me.
not sure how to ever reconcile it all, other than just love him fully... and i do, of course :).
love to the deans!