I'm sitting here thinking about the new year. Tonight my newest baby is far away. He doesn't understand that his mama and papa are moving mountains (of paperwork) to get him home. He doesn't know that he has a sister and two brothers that are excited to meet him. He has no way was comprehending the how his life will change in just a few short months. He will be loved and cared for in ways that are not open to him in Russia. He will have educational opportunities, friends, a chance to become a productive member of society, and a chance to live and never be considered "less than."

There are children all over the world who will never have that chance unless we do something about it. Children who will be shamed and abused. Children who will be abandoned to mental institutions instead of nurtured to their best ability. They will not have the medical treatments they so desperately need to make their live productive-- things like hearing aids, prosthetic limbs and education for the blind. Some kids will make it and some will be scarred . Some will die due to lack of love and care.

Tonight I'm asking everyone to think about what they can do.

Can you open you heart and home to one of God's forgotten children? We are so much stronger that we think. You don't have to be Super man or Mother Teresa to adopt a child with special needs. I'm sure not. If you had asked me two years ago if I though I would be adopting a child from Russia with life long medical needs, I wouldn't have believed it. And yet looking back, I can see how God prepared me for it through the people we met and the circumstances we've encountered.

Can you financially support another family's adoption? Did you know that there are adoption grants to help families pay for their adoptions. Brittany's Hope and Reece's Rainbow are organizations that help defray the initial adoption costs.
http://www.reecesrainbow.org/
http://www.brittanyshope.org/
http://kidstoadopt.org/donations/helpthechildren.htm

Finally, if those options are not open to you, consider "spiritually adopting" a child. Pick a child and pray for him. Pray that he has enough to eat. Someone to comfort him in the night. Good doctors to care for him. A family to love him forever. No prayer is wasted. Ever.

(All of these kids need a home and your prayers)
http://kidstoadopt.org/waiting_children/photolisting.htm
http://specialneedsadoption.rainbowkids.com/WC/