An Angel is Born Today

It's so hard to understand, and even harder to accept. The little boy whom I have been in constant prayer for for the last five months has died. I never knew him, but that will never matter to me, or the hundreds of people who I asked to join me in prayer from places like Ireland, New York City, and the Liberty University Prayer Force.

In some of his photos, he looks like my Ari. My heart is breaking over and over again for Will's mommy Jennifer. As a mommy, I cannot image what is happening right now in her heart. Watching my cousin loose his daughter, I hope that Jennifer can find many ways to celebrate that beautiful boy's life.

Will, you inspire me. I am going to do MANY, MANY good things in your name! I have already begun. Look after your mom and dad and brother and your puppy and dog.

Will Williams, God's newest Angel. May peace be with you.

FJ answers my own question

Yesterday I posed a question, how does one "choose" from children in an orphanage? How do you change one child's life and leave the rest behind? Yesterday, God led me to the beginning of the answering of that question, in order to prepare me for the day I travel to a Russian orphanage and am forced to make a choice of a human being from amongst many in need.

Meet FJ. She is my new "child" and Ari's new sister. After agonizing over how I would ever make a choice in children to "save", I began checking on all the blogs I follow. Some I follow daily, others from time to time. I was led back to Kelly's Blog and low and behold she had posted the most amazing story and photos regarding Compassion, a Christian organization that helps children living in extreme poverty go to school and find faith in the teachings of God. I must have spent 2 hours looking at her site and the Compassion site. Finally, there was no way I could just turn the computer off without looking through the many, many children's photos whom are waiting to be sponsored. I really did not intend to sponsor a child at that time, especially since I have just enough money in the bank to get to my next check, yet something stronger than myself pulled me towards answering the call to give a child a chance at a better life. So, I did it, I chose one from THOUSANDS, and just by clicking a mouse, made a big difference in the life of a chidl. Later that day, before I really had time to stress and worry about where that $38.00 was going to come from this month, praise the lord, I went out and got the mail and there was a check that had been lost in the mail for about a month! It was enough to cover the sponsorship this month with a little extra! God never fails you when you answer his true calling.

In any event, looking through the pages and pages and pages of waiting children and then reading their stories was hard. Then I thought back to Kelly's story and the video of her meeting her sponsored child. I began to think of ways for me to make a connection to a child. I mulled over the issue of African children and how to me, they seem so much more needy than others, but then I also thought that there would likely be a slim to none chance that I would ever get to Africa to maybe meet my child. Then I went back to thinking well, I am African-American, maybe I should sponsor a child in Africa, and the debate raged on within my head for about another 10 min. until I came across a photo of a young girl in a blue dress. There was a heart on the left side of the photo, meaning she had been waiting for a sponsor for more than 6 months. I clicked on the details of her life. She lives in Hati (hmmm, I have always wanted to do a service mission to the Haitian orphanages), her parents are both teachers (hmmm, I'm a teacher), and so it was decided, FJ became my sponsored child, and I made the pledge to sponsor her until she is 18 years old. I calculated it, and the cost to do so will be about $6,000.00. To me, that is a pittance to save a child, change a life, and to ease some of the burden her parents feel in not being able to provide the basic needs for their children. I know in my heart that I will meet FJ one day, and I cannot wait to write to her. I think I am most happy about the approach that Compassion takes, as everything is centered around faith and love. I always think that to have a strong faith as a child, one does so much better through life, having the strength, knowledge, and belief that God is always at your side.

And....praise God! Kelly reports that because of her blog and story on her sponsorship and travel to meet her child, 78 children have been sponsored so far this week! Wonderful news!

The beginning of my Russian Connection Story and other things

Anastasia L and I in New York City, 10/21/09

My Russian Connection

So, why adopt from Russia of all places? Well, as I have mentioned, I have a deep affinity to mother Russia, her land, her people, the language. The time I spent there in 1988, just before the falling of the iron curtain, was life changing. The people I met, traveling from Odessa to Kiev, were amazing. I recall meeting one old women who told me that she had not seen Americans since the ending of World War II. She was frail and humped over, using two twisted canes like sticks to stand. People treated us like rock stars there, when our tour buses would pull into a town or place, we would be swarmed for autographs and pictures. People gave us their worldly goods. As an African-American, I got even more special treatment (the good kind of course). People were curious as to what life was like for me in the United States as a minority. The International Peace Walk, or IPW, from Odessa to Kiev in August of 1988 most certainly informs my wishes to adopt from Russia. I would love to see the country many, many more times, and bring my children along too. I would love for me and Ari and "hope" to all speak Russian and English in our home and I plan to keep my new child's cultural ties strong with education in the Russian language, as well as trips to Russian cultural venues here in the US.

On October 21st of this year, I was truly blessed to be able to travel to New York City to meet with my beloved friend from the IPW, Anastasia L. We had not seen each other in 22 years! She looked the same, and all the more a picture of her mother. We were able to spend about 12 hours together, walking and riding the bus around the city. We ate and talked and laughed, her life since we were 16 and 18 years old has been nothing short of a true life movie! Seeing her really made me want to travel to Moscow again. My next trip there MUST be my first trip on the last steps of my adoption journey.



Other stuff

From what I understand, you travel to Russia to an orphanage and "choose" your child. Choose your child? I am fearful that I will get there and want them all! How do you choose a child? What makes one child more deserving than another to escape life in an orphanage? How do you look into a child's eyes and another and another and make a choice? I can't imagine "debating" with myself, or anyone else, over what child to choose. I am sure there will be many mixed feelings on that visit. I look forward to it but I am also fearful that my heart will break, for a long time, over those I had to leave behind.

This morning I woke up before Ari did (a rare thing indeed!) and I could not fall back asleep so I got my computer and turned it on. I felt the need to check on the children I follow. I checked on Will, a five year old boy from Virginia who has a very aggressive brain cancer - but no new news as of late, which makes me worry for him; checked on Jonah, his blue eyes are so beautiful! For this child, God do I ache. I wish I could take even a little bit of his pain away. I would do it gladly. Still, he amazes me with his smiles; I checked on Noah B., the little child in Michigan who won't live to see Christmas this year to due to cancer. I sent Noah a Christmas card, and I was so overjoyed by the news report from the South Lyon, MI post office that they have received 30,000 cards and 1200 packages for this child of God! What a blessing! I hope Noah can hang on so that he can enjoy opening some of his cards.

Update on PHASE 1:

Well, I for went going somewhere this morning in order to get my "paper on!" I'm going to try to finish it this weekend.