Adoption Statistics

~ Every 15 seconds, another child becomes and AIDS orphan in Africa

~ Every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans

~143,000,000 orphans in the world today spend an average of 10 years in an orphanage or foster home.

~ Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but every year 14,050,000 children still grow up as orphans and age out of the system. 

~ Every DAY 38,493 children AGE OUT

~ In Ukraine and Russia 10% - 15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before the age of 18.

I wondered how I'd feel about the 143 million orphans worldwide after we brought Hannah home. Was my heart really softened toward them? Or was my heart softened for them only because of the paperchase that we were on to bring Hannah home? Would I just walk away and forget about them? Would I be just as on fire for the Orphan Care and Adoption ministry, Hands of Hope, that I helped to lead at our "other" church? Would I still advocate for these precious ones?

The day after we arrived home, I was going through my mail and read a newsletter from Harmony Outreach in Beijing. They have a foster home for special needs children. Tears came to my eyes as I read the stories of these children. They are victims of a fallen world. 

I look at our Hannah. She is our daughter! And yet she, too, was an orphan not that long ago. How can this be? I look at the children that our friends have adopted and wonder how can this be? How could they have been orphans? And yet, they were. Because of God's perfect plan, they have been given forever families and we have been blessed by His gift(s) to us.

But what of the others left behind? How long must they wait for families to love them? Some children will never know the love of an earthly father and mother. This reality breaks my heart. Some of these children will never get a chance to be all that God created them to be because of circumstances beyond their control. 

I don't know if you've seen the bumper sticker that goes something like this: Man says, "God, when are you going to create the guy who is suppose to cure cancer?" God replies, "I created him and you aborted him." What precious gifts are waiting to opened in these orphanages? 

The orphan epidemic is huge. I look into the faces of these children and wonder what I can do to help bring them home? What is my responsibility to them? I am overwhelmed. Incapacitated by the sheer magnitude of the issue. I am just one person. Small. Insignificant. Then, I realize that all I have to do is say yes to God and He will take care of the rest. 

That leads to the next question: "What am I saying yes to?" Do I say yes to the many organizations who advocate on behalf of orphans? Do I say yes to sponsoring a child? Do I say yes to going an serving in an orphanage somewhere? Do I say yes to a fund raising opportunity?Do I say yes to adopting another precious one? So many options. I realize that I am talking way too much and listening not to the voice of God! I am praying for the opportunity to use my gifts to serve orphans in some way be it big or small.