Birth momma

Today we received a little note that said, please review and approve the following documents.  Once you do, they are passed onto the US Embassy for us to get a date to go and do whatever it is that you are supposed to do in order to finalize our adoption.

In those documents was a little bit more information as to who Maggie Hilina's birth momma is.  Let me say this, her story is not mine to tell.  I will not tell it.  That is something for Maggie Hilina to review when the time comes.

I know you all are probably so sick and tired of me and my rants.  I am sick of myself to be honest.  So, one would think I would stop right?

Right.  (If you just said right.......you don't know me at all!) :)

So.........

As I am eagerly reviewing the paperwork trying to soak up every, single morsel of info that they provided......I lay my head down and cry......sob like a lil' ol' baby......

There are many, many reasons for my tears.....but I'm only gonna discuss one with you.....

Sometimes I am overwhelmed with how we live and how others live.....or survive every day and how those people, the ones that are roaming this earth with us, can have the ability to see beyond themselves.  They have hope, they believe that better can be provided and they are willing to allow it to happen.

I know many folks right here that can't see anything beyond their own nose......(and I am saying that while the plank is in my eye as well so don't start sending me hate mail).  Please don't mishear me (or to be correct, misread me) our problems are our problems and they are HUGE because they are OUR PROBLEMS.  I know that and I understand that.

But I'm reading over and over about this woman - who may not have ever had the opportunity to see what lies beyond poverty, hunger and destitution, but she was able to have hope and faith that what lied ahead for the daughter that she gave life to was better than that.......

I have been praying for her. I have prayed that she has heard the Gospel.  I have prayed that she and I will reunite with Maggie Hilina one day.  I have prayed for many things for this woman who I may or may never meet.

I'll be honest, there was a point when the thought of meeting her made me sick, made me want to puke.......

but now the thought of not meeting her does the exact same thing to me.....

She has given a gift of love that my heart can't wrap around and for that I am eternally grateful.   

You are welcome

Here is an updated video from my TN friends (the ones I stalked and watched their journey - but didn't tell them or anyone else that I was).

I know some of you like to keep up with them too - and seriously, how could you not!  Jason and Amanda have some beautiful kiddos!

And because I love you too much not to share with you...Click here for some one of a kind jewelry that goes to help women in Uganda as well as help this family as they move forward in their adoption.  I very briefly met Lindsy at an adoption conference a year ago. (she had the coolest Ethiopian Christmas ornaments).

For Mother's Day, I received a necklace and a pair of earrings, so I can say - it's good stuff and really isn't that the best - buy something for you and help someone else out in the process.....tell her Fran sent you.  :)

Easy to ignore....

I saw this today..... (thanks JT and Natalie)

"Orphans are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes…” – David Platt.


It's so true.

How easy is it to overlook the poor, the meek, the hungry....

When I was little, my daddy always said to me, 'Good things happen to good kids.'  (This was his way of getting us to work in the garden or to do whatever chore he wanted us to do.  If we did it and did it well, the result was a trip to the Cash Variety Store where I got a Yoohoo and a bag of Funyuns).

I heard this my entire childhood.  I believed it wholeheartedly.  In fact, I think it was also my moral compass.....'Good things happen to good people.' 


Then years ago, I had the rug pulled out from under me.....and with said rug pulling - my life was forever changed.  I remember thinkin', 'well that wasn't supposed to happen - good things happen to good people.' 

Right?

Big fat WRONGO!

I think it's easy to get comfortable.  It's easy to look at others and think that they did something to deserve whatever it is that they are going through.....sometimes people do reap what they sow but sometimes it's just what they were given.

These kids are a reminder of that for me.  They didn't do anything - THEY ARE KIDS!

We are blessed beyond measure because many of us don't worry about where our next meal is coming from because we have 3 weeks piled in the fridge, pantry and freezer.  We don't worry about our kids getting a cold, getting diarrhea or a fever because we have doctors that will fit us into their schedule today.  We don't have to worry about where our kids are, because we know - we keep them safe.  We send them to the best schools we can find, we make sure they have their helmets on, we don't let them walk outside without us.......

I was talking with a friend the other day and she said (which I agree) you don't adopt because you want to save a child........Please let me make this very clear, Maggie Hilina will not go in our family history as the kid that we saved....she is our daughter.  We will love her as our daughter.  I promise you - when I looked at her she was MY CHILD.  Nothing else.

However, with that being said, I was moved into action because I saw pictures of kids - I learned their names - there was Micah....there was Macy.  There were also so many good organizations (Compassion International, Project 61 and Ordinary Hero) that posted pictures, that told stories.  I saw my kids in those hungry, scared eyes......I studied what the Bible said about orphan care.  I knew and felt strongly about what I was going to do.

I encourage you to learn their names.  Look into their eyes. They didn't deserve whatever situation they are in.  They are little.  They are alone.  Sometimes they are sick (but with medicine and regular treatment they can live normal, healthy, productive lives).

Yes, I trust with certainty that God has a plan for them.  I know His ways are not mine.

I was given the gift of meeting our daughter and was so abundantly blessed by meeting the kids that I did on our first trip to Ethiopia.....we played with them, we sat with them and we talked to them...   their names are forever etched into my heart.

There are orphans here in the US.  They are in Ethiopia.  They are in China.  They are in Russia.  They are all over this world.  I encourage you to find one, learn his/her name and look into those eyes.  I promise your heart will change forever and be so amazingly blessed by knowing them.