Nobody's Coming

The last thing we want is for this blog to be all about our family and our little adopted orphan. But the things coming out of Collins' mouth these days are profound, and are a driving force as we put one foot in front of the other to accomplish the mission of Orbie for Orphans.

I'm not a person who cries, but I'm crying as I type this. My husband just held me as I let it out, and before that I spent 15 minutes bawling my eyes out in the shower. Tonight was like any other night. I was putting Collins to bed. Got an idea from a friend to have each of us think of something that we could thank Jesus for before we said bedtime prayers. I told Collins that mine was going to be that she had the incredible experience today of taking a plant and a card to an elderly friends home that just got a cancer diagnosis. On her turn she said, "I fank (thank) Jesus that in China you came. Mommy, I worried you not come! I worried Mommy and Daddy not come!" We talked it about it a little, I kissed her goodnight, and then ran to the shower to release the pain inside. Approximately 153 million orphans. Less than 1% of that number adopted each year. The pain I could imagine my child felt, worrying that we weren't coming TIMES MILLIONS. And guess what? Chances are...nobody IS coming.

That is the very reason we started Orbie for Orphans, and that is the very reason we are asking everybody we know to help us do this. A child that has nobody, and will get nobody....needs to be reached with the truth that "Thee Somebody" is with them. This is the One that will never leave them or forsake Him. The Great I AM. The One that loves them the most, and the only One that can heal them and give them hope for the future.

I've moved way beyond being "worried" about asking people to give to our organization. This is for orphans who are "worried" that nobody is coming. I'm getting courageous because I'm asking for children who have nobody.

2 nights ago we were going to Conner's basketball game and I asked Collins if she was going to sit with the cheerleaders like she normally does. She said she'd rather sit with us. She said, "I'm away from you too long." I said, "No, we've been together all day." She said, "Mommy, in China I'm away from you too long!" Last night, when I asked her what she wanted to thank Jesus for she got a huge grin on her face and said, "A BIG family!" She went from nobody, the big ZERO, to parents, 2 brothers, grandmothers, cousins, aunts and uncles....It blows her mind. When we started this whole adoption journey, we wanted a 2-3 year old. I can see why there was a much better plan. A child who spent ages 2-5 in an orphanage could tell us what it was like being an orphan. After having her 16 months, all those feelings are finally being expressed. It's heart-wrenching, but it compels us. Her pain and the love of Christ compel us to get the message to these kids that Somebody came 2000 years ago just for them. "Even if my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will take me in." Psalm 27:10