Orphan Sunday

“We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes…” – David Platt

Today is Orphan Sunday.  So I'm sharing with you the three faces I couldn't ignore. The pictures I saw that made my insides ache to pick up the phone and do something about it.  

  
8 months, and a few papers later, we took a short plane trip halfway across the world to meet the orphans that changed my world. 
 

 First meeting with sweet and timid Joel

 (Stella actually wanted nothing to do with me for the first 2 trips)

And Liv sat scared in my lap the whole visit

And you know the rest of the story. Orphans no more, adoption changed us all.  Jay and I have witnessed the joyful chaos of three souls coming alive.  

 Our days and hearts and hands are full. 

I wake up every morning to the family I always dreamed of.  (Admittedly, I'm not sure they spoke Russian in my dreams, but that's just a very minor detail...)

If you're thinking about it, make that phone call.  Adopt. Foster. Mentor. Sponsor a child.  Go on the mission trip you've never been brave enough to take.  Volunteer locally.  Pray.  Follow a blog or a FB page advocating for waiting children.  Get to know some of the faces you can't ignore.  They'll change your life.