Are you stuffed like a giant butterball? Perhaps you are still in a post turkey stupor!
Most of us gorged ourselves this Thanksgiving with too much food, laughed with family and friends, watched some football and took a nap. Its the American way! Right? Perhaps some of you took a moment before or during the mashed potato marathon to reflect on your abundant blessings. The list is long: family, friends, home, job, health, warmth, food…life.
How would you feel if you had no family AT ALL? What if simple things like basic human rights or clean water were the things that worried you most, AND you were a child under the age of 14 with no one to stand in the gap for you? There are an estimated 17.6 million orphans in the world who have neither a father, nor a mother. *
As National Adoption Awareness Month draws to a close, consider this:
85 million Americans have considered adoption.
If one in four of these people would adopt, we as Americans could eliminate the problem across the globe. If one in 500 would adopt, we could provide a family for every child in the USA. **
Are you one of the 85 million? What is stopping you?
– Too old? (Yet you are still working and have enough energy to travel and golf)
– Too poor? (Yet you have a house, two car payments and latte twice a week at Starbucks..)
– Too under qualified for a child with special physical or emotional needs (Yet you don’t let fear stop you in other areas of your life.)
– Too selfish (Because you are comfortable and ‘blessed’ with alot to be thankful for. You are living the American dream of making and saving money for lots of stuff and retirement. You care, but not enough to do something. You are leaving it to someone else.)
Look, I realize not everyone is prepared to be a forever family for a child in need. But even if you can’t provide a home, there are SO MANY other ways to DO SOMETHING:
–Be a foster parent
-Provide respite care to foster parents
-Sponsor a child in another country
-Be a child advocate in the court system
– Donate to a family or an orphanage
– Educate people on the need for parents to step up and step in
As you are reflecting on the abundance we experience in the USA and your personal blessings, please consider sharing those blessings with a little soul who needs a forever family. If you want to help, but are unaware of how or where to begin, below are some links to get you started.
Thank you for considering how you can help. Feel free to reach out to me for more information!
** source – Dave Thomas Foundation
Welcoming Williams 