Merry Christmas to our kids, wherever they are.
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/18/2155743.aspx
Went up another notch on the list. One family got placed with a sibling/cousin group in our age range and they had been waiting 16 months. We are just at 12 months. So….April? May? Next week?
Here is an interesting blog analyzing the latest Disney hand-drawn animated film, and the first to feature an African-American in the lead role.
After today’s weekly update from the agency, we went down two more on the list!
http://www.worldhelp.net/cotw.aspx
They performed at our church tonight during the Advent service. According to their website: Children of the World is a special group of orphaned and
disadvantaged children from several different countries around the
world. They travel the U.S. for 10 months putting a voice and face to
the desperate needs of children whose lives have been devastated by
civil war, famine, poverty, unclean water, and preventable diseases.
I think the countries represented were Nepal, Uganda and Philippines. If you look at the website, we had the West Team.
What did I get out of it? Ok, let me get on the soapbox. As you know, we did not choose to adopt our children in Ethiopia because we want to help poor disadvantaged orphans in another country. The simple reasons are: we want to adopt children, the US adoption system scares us to death, and Ethiopia had a program that appealed to us. That’s it. There is nothing special or commendable about our choice. Still, we can’t help but be touched by the plight of children in Africa and in other developing/disadvantaged countries. When you get involved in something like adopting children from another country that happens to be developing or disadvantaged, you can’t help but learn more about what’s going on, and then you become more sensitive to it. I absolutely know that there are poor and disadvantaged kids in the US, and my donation money goes towards programs that help them as well. However, there is a huge difference and disadvantage between the children here, and the children in other countries. In most circumstances the poorest of the poor here, and in most Westernized countries, still have access to clean water. Can’t say the same for the rest of the word. I have heard this before, but the message in the concert really drove it home with the statistics. Bad water causes more death and disease in children than anything else, including starvation, including AIDS, including war. Education has made huge inroads in Africa, Asia, Central America, as examples, but the bad water makes the kids sick, and sick kids don’t go to school. Even in a third world country, you can’t get a good job without an education. You kind of can’t get a job if you are perpetually sick either.
Clean water is definitely something we take for granted. I forgot what the figure they gave was, but I want to say it was something like $16 million a year we Americans spend on bottled water alone, even though for most of us, perfectly clean water comes out of a faucet for fractions of pennies on the dollar less, and we still buy the bottled water.
Whether or not we want to admit it, folks, we live in a global community. Helping someone on the other side of the planet will help us. Maybe the person who is destined to cure cancer is currently having to walk 4 hours one-way carrying two 40 lb containers to fill with water to supply his family, and currently can’t go to school because all his time is spent getting that water. Our economy really sucks right now and no one has extra money, so the last thing I’m going to do is tell people to donate, so don’t take this that way - I didn’t give a whole lot of money, myself. However, if you know someone who is sponsoring a child, or paying for a well to be dug in Uganda, keep in mind that it’s a pretty cool thing, and it just might make a difference. Also, maybe you can suggest to your church to look into having them make a stop there on their tour.
Ok, off soapbox.
Amazing kids. Amazing concert. Just a bit too close to home, so it was a good thing I had tissues in my purse. Of course there was a door offering, along with CDs, DVDs and other stuff you can buy. For those of you who are into the Christian music thing, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Janna Long of Avalon, wrote some of the songs and helped produce it. The money for the door offering, etc. goes towards projects to bring clean water to villages, all over the world. I emptied the few bucks in my wallet into the door offering plate and bought a CD. Another option was to sponsor a child for $30/month, which will provide that child clean water, food, clothing, medical care, and an education. I wanted so bad to sponsor a child, but Adam is kind of worried about our finances right now. A near and dear buddy of mine suggested I wait until we get our kids, and maybe do it as a family. I think that would be a really cool family project. Where did the tissues go…