Family

What do you think of when you hear the word family?

Do you have siblings?

Do you have a mom and a dad?

Maybe you, yourself are a mother or a father?

Maybe the time for you to become a parent hasn't happened yet?

How many children are there out there that have not had the comfort of a mother's arms?

Being a part of the adoption world I have learned so much about what family is.... or how it's now defined in my mind.

I am not one of those people that always knew I would adopt when I grew up. Never really even thought about it until God planted that seed. Man has he been fertilizing it since then!

My world now is entrenched in the adoption community. My best friend is an adoptive mom who lives most of the way across the country. I have other 'sister's in Christ' that don't live near me but are the people I call...or text :o)...when I need a pick me up, or just to let them know I am thinking of them. I have found 'family' in these women that aren't blood related, but whom I love dearly.

Just this week there was a sweet little boy who needed a family. A plea was made to the community and a family stepped forward. The nanny who cared for him in his orphanage developed a bond with him. Loved him, cared for him, slept with him on her chest... he called her momma. She stepped in until his new mommy could come take her place.

Today he died.

He didn't have a biological family with him when he died, but he was not short on love. He wasn't alone, and he won't be forgotten.

How many other children out there will not be able to say that? How many other children pass quietly into the arms of Jesus without the love of a family? Why isn't there more I can do?

I think of the children that we will encounter while we are in Ethiopia and wonder....is it enough? Do we just make it worse to come in, show them love and then leave? Have they had enough of that? Will we be able to plant the seed of love and hope in them? Share with them that they aren't alone, that there are people out here that think about them all the time, that pray for them and love them...even if we don't know their names? God does. God knows their names... He sees them. His heart is breaking because they hurt.

Family comes in all shapes and sizes...some family we have no choice in claiming...some we choose...to God we are all the same. We are all adopted into His family.