ALL God's Children

Our adoption agency has a site that connects families in the adoption process. We can be a great source of information and encouragement to each other. I have found this group to be AMAZING! This past week, five families from the group were in Ethiopia to appear in court and adopt their children. They were able to send this email back to us from there:

We (the five families in Eth for court right now) visited an orphanage today.
We all walked away with broken hearts, stunned at the reality of life for the
kids there.

They do not have any diapers. Yes, you read that correctly. An orphanage full
of babies and toddlers, and there are no diapers. They have rags and ripped
pieces of sheets that they wrap around their bottoms, and keep them in place with
onesie t-shirts. Every single baby we held today was soaking wet (or worse),
their entire outfit. They lay on the floor, soaking wet, and get changed on the
floor...where they all crawl around and play with the few toys that they have.

In addition, they had no mattresses in many of the cribs. Babies sleeping on
the wooden bottom of a crib. I don't know that I would have believed it if I
hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Tears filled my eyes when I read this (as they do now). My daughter could be one of the children in this orphanage. Can you just imagine the difference we could make in this world if we thought of every one of these children as ours. Well, God does! Every one of these children are His.

Next Sunday, November 7, is Orphan Sunday. One day out of the year set aside to remind the church that God is the Father to every one of these children and that together, we CAN make a difference!

The five families that visited this orphanage had their guide take them to a store to buy mattresses right then. Members of our group that are traveling to Ethiopia soon have rallied together to bring mattress covers and tons of diapers.

What does God want you to do?