Where to begin...

The other night at my tennis league I mentioned I got a sewing machine and showed some of the others what I had been making.  When I said I was going to sell them and donate the money to the orphan ministry some one said "oh yeah, you're all about the orphans."

Do I really tout my adoption and special needs message that much that I am the Orphan Saving Girl?  So how did I become associated with orphans?  It isn't because I am a social worker and license foster and adoptive homes.  It is because I worked in an institution for children with special needs in Vina del Mar, Chile.

The truth is:  It is IMPOSSIBLE to forget them after you spend time with them.  

These children who have no mother or father, are real to me.  I spent four months visiting them for about 10 hours a week, I watched as the caregivers sat behind a desk or spent time with their favorite child.  I watched them rush from child to child because there were so few caregivers for the amount of children.

Everyone smiles in the same language became my mantra.  The smiles these children showed me and the giggles I heard were often some of their only ones.

These children aren't just pictures of a far off land or words on someone else's blog.  They are REAL human beings and CHILDREN.  Who should be laughing, playing, learning and most of all LOVED.  Sadly the children where I was will most likely never have that.  Some children were lucky and received a Madrina (similar to the Babas in Eastern European orphanages) and their Madrina would visit it them a few times a week and depending on their needs they could even spend the weekend with their God families.  If they were lucky, they had someone to love them but were not able to live in a family.

I don't know about you, but I was born with a family that loved me, I didn't have to be lucky.  In the United States if you have a special need your family may be sad and grieve some of the hopes and dreams they had for you, but they will not abandon you solely because society says your special need isn't good enough.

I have lived a blessed 25 years and this is my way of helping the least of these.  I am not an overtly religious person, but if you are, Matthew 25:31-46 lays out my feelings.  I have been blessed so I am finding my way to bless others that have not been so lucky.