No Apologies

Chances are you will answer many different questions from many different people as you travel down the "Adoption Highway".  Some you will be prepared for, others you won't.  This is the one that I was not prepared for...the one that hit my ears much like fingernails running down a chalkboard:

"Does it really matter if that gets done today or tomorrow?  What difference does a day or two make?"

F.I.N.G.E.R.N.A.I.L.S  O.N  A  C.H.A.L.K.B.O.A.R.D!


Close your eyes and just IMAGINE your child:

• ...sleeping in a room with twenty-five other children, alone on a cinder block bed without a blanket.  It is so cold.
• ...being fed meals that were either piping hot or ice cold based on his position in the feeding line.  The portion given was never intended to fill his belly.  He is always hungry.
• ...is lactose intolerant, but soy formula is not available to her.  She hurts and has endless diarrhea.
• ...strapping plastic bottles to his feet so he can go outside.  He has no shoes and nothing to play with.
• ...injured or sick, but there is no one to kiss a boo boo or wipe her runny nose.  She is fending for herself.
• ...scrubbing his own clothes in a bucket or trickling stream to get them clean so they can be worn again.  He has no time to chase butterflies or build a sand castle.
• ...sitting in a crib with a crib mate.  Her diaper needs to be changed.  She has no toys, no music, no books, NO ONE.  Sunrise to sunset, she is lonely.
• ...with no opportunities.

Now, let me ask you a question.

If your child found him/herself in any of the above situations,
"What difference would a day or two make?"

My answer, short and sweet, is that to Thunder and Lightning and every other orphan in the world, every day without a mommy and daddy matters.  Every day without a family is a bleak nightmare.  Every day separated from the ones who love them matters.

No apologies, like it or not, I will proceed with this adoption declaring everyday in every way that every minute matters!

The REALITY is that there are approximately 163 million orphans who will...

• NEVER know a mother's smile
• NEVER hear her encouraging words
• NEVER feel her warm embrace
• NEVER know a daddy's love
• NEVER hear his reassuring voice
• NEVER feel his strong arms

There is NO time to waste.  There is a crisis among the children of the world.  I am needed.  You are needed.  Together we are ALL needed.

And we must believe that every day matters.