There are seven billion non-profits doing a great work that you can throw your money at. Seriously, each town has local non-profits, and of course there are the big ones that span state to state. They serve the underserved and often with minimal resources. In my current role, I work with dozens of local non-profits every month and am impressed at the scope and vision for their work. Last Saturday night was no different. We attended an event raising funds for a noble cause.
Orphan care.
Nothing gets under my skin like babies with no mamas and daddies. Absolutely no child chooses to be without them. We sat among friends and heard from DSHS about waiting children, and about orphans who were sexually abused in the Philippines and unadoptable ones in Honduras. Everywhere we looked we were presented with pictures of little eyes and little smiles of children yet to be in families and ones who were in families, loved and protected.
As a mama I know I can do something. If I have room in my home I can open it to a child who needs love and affection. I know that the struggle doesn’t stop once it’s final on paper and they are snuggled in their bed down the hall. The struggle starts somewhere around that point. The fight to sow roots that were once ripped from their native place is hard and painful but can be bear fruit. I’m watching my son fight to understand his identity and my role is to encourage, speak life, and be a safe place. He didn’t choose this trauma and pain that so easily confuses him. It is part of his story that he will process as life progresses.
I know not everyone feels led to adopt and I don’t think everyone is, but we can all do something about the babies who need love and affection. Even if its calling your local foster or adoption agencies and asking what they may need help with. Every month we have friends take pizza to a teen boys foster home. They eat, play basketball and get to know each other. Those boys know they are loved. I have a mama who organizes others to decorate pillow cases and stuff them with essentials for a child ripped out of their home and placed in foster care with nothing to their name. Every month, friends and I call the state department who handles foster kids and find various ways to meet needs and serve families. Our newest venture is to make snack bags for kids who are in waiting rooms, as social workers call through lists of foster parents to see who can take a child that’s been displaced. No baby, whether 2 years old or 12 years old should have to sit in a waiting room wondering their fate. Yet it’s the world we live in. We can do something.
Derek, on the left, our adoption referral that fell through after a year. Jericho, on the right, our sweet son.
You can adopt. You can give to others trying to adopt. You can love on foster kids. (google local foster care agencies to find who to serve) You can provide respite for foster families (google Safe Families). You can provide basic needs for orphaned children. If you are a mama I ask you to search your heart to do something for someone. I couldn’t imagine my babies or any baby alone, scared, wishing for someone to love them. Let’s love our babies and other’s babies.
