November Is National Adoption Month

A couple of weeks ago I decided to shift gears with this blog and use it as an advocacy blog on the topic of adoption and begin to advocate for children and orphans.  They don't have a voice and so in some small way, I'm hoping to be a squeaky wheel.  With that being said... I haven't shared this on our blog yet but for those of you who have followed along over the last several months...There was a precious little girl named Marlee (Mei Mei) that I advocated for earlier this year while we were in the process of bringing Hadley home.  She was suspected to have CP but it was later determined that she had a rare neurological disease.  I originally saw Marlee on Madison Adoption Associates shared list.  There was something about her that grabbed a hold of my heart immediately and I began to advocate for her, in hopes of her finding a family.  A few weeks after I began to advocate for Marlee, I learned that her condition was getting desperate and she was in need of immediate medical care.  Along the way, someone stepped forward on a yahoo group that was in China working in Marlee's orphanage and was trying to get her the medical attention she needed.  She reached out to me and I was able to stay in contact with her and get updates on Marlee and her condition.  When we returned home from China with Hadley in late August,  I received an email from my contact stating that Marlee had passed away.  Up until now, I've only shared her passing with one of my friends. Sadly, I think I knew that Marlee would not survive in the orphanage.  I would check in with my contact in hopes of hearing good news but somehow knowing that she would be called home soon.  Its difficult to express how it feels to have a connection to a little girl that you've only seen photos of...But the Lord gave me the privilege of seeing her and connecting with her, thousands of miles away.  I'm sharing Marlee's story for two reason...Because I know that many people prayed for her, inquired about her and cared about her.   I'm also sharing because her death reminded me of how many children die every single day alone, without a mother and a father to hold them, comfort them and love them.   It reminded me of something a read in a book not too long ago...I'm going to steel a few paragraphs from, The Hole in our Gospel.   About 26,000 children under the age of 5 die every day of causes related to their poverty.

That is the equivalent of 100 planes filled with children crashing every day. If one jet liner crashes in America, it makes world headlines. There is an immediate flurry of activity: Why did it happen? What does the "black box" say? Is there a safety issue with the airplane? Was it a pilot error? And we start to learn about the lives of the people that died.

But where are the headlines? Where are the hearings, the acts of Congress, the things that would happen if a hundred jet liners were crashing every day?

If you looked at the death certificates of those children you would probably read words like starvation, respiratory infection, malaria, maybe HIV/AIDS. But you could easily cross that out and write apathy as the cause of death. The deaths were largely preventable, but those who could have prevented the deaths chose not to. I know that's harsh but I've seen and I know that it is possible to change the equation. It's the sin of our generation. The sin of my parents' generation in the United States was racism. The sin of our generation will be apathy. 


So here is a small opportunity to do something, to get involved and to not be apathetic.  There are so many children just like Marlee out there...Both overseas and in the U.S. There isn't a person around that doesn't have a full schedule these days but we can all do something.  For each of us, that "something" is very likely different.  The point is...Chosing to do nothing isn't an option for those of us that call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ.  As a very dear friend of mine says..."You either believe it ALL or you believe none of it."  We don't have the option to decide what portions of the Bible we will believe or chose to follow.  November is national adoption month and November 7th is Orphan Sunday.  This is a chance for Christians to get involved and take seriously what the word of God says about caring for the orphans and widows.  James 1:27- Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.


To learn more about how to get involved and what you can do in your local church for Orphan Sunday, please check out... http://www.orphansunday.org/about  There are all kinds of resources on this site that give ideas from acknowledging these precious, innocent lives with a few simple words before or after Sunday service, all the way up to sermons and events that can be done in your church.   If you get a chance, take a look!


Hugs and love,
Robin