Birthday in an Orphanage

God gave me the words to this post as I tried to fall asleep last night.  Needless to say, it took a very long time for me to fall asleep.  Grab your kleenex...

The little orphan boy we are praying for, Deacon, has his third birthday sometime this month.  In thinking about how much fun my son's birthdays have been, I starting thinking about what Deacon's birthday would look like.  Or rather, what it WOULDN'T look like:

No hugs and kisses and wishes of "Happy Birthday!" from a mom and dad when he wakes up.

No balloons or streamers or fun decorations.

No picking out a Thomas the Train or Elmo cake.

No friends coming to the birthday party.

No blowing out the candles or making a wish.

No shaking the presents to try to figure out what's inside.

No unwrapping a racecar or a toy train or a stuffed animal that is all his own.

No games of pin the tail on the donkey or musical chairs.

No special birthday dinner.

Nobody to sing them the Happy Birthday song.

No falling asleep in a sugar-induced coma, exhausted and happy and loved.


Instead, it will probably just be another day in the life of an orphanage, with a meager portion of food and a minimal amount of interaction with the workers.

God can move mountains!

I read a thought-provoking quote today.  "What God orders, He will pay for."  I have found this to be true in my life, time and time again.

My husband and I are prayerfully considering adopting a special needs child, possibly from overseas.  We have one son who is 3 1/2 years old.  Before he was born, we had considered adopting as an option.  However, God answered that with a resounding NO!  Good thing, too, considering that otherwise our son would not have been born!

My friend Grace (lovesransom.blogspot.com) has adopted a precious girl, and is in fact still in Bulgaria with her new daughter.  Her adoption was sort of a catalyst to us thinking about adding to our family in this way.

Our son has some special needs, and I think that one reason that God created him this way was so that my husband and I could see that it is not impossible or even difficult to love and raise special needs kids. 

God is calling us...insistently, firmly, lovingly.  Sure, we could ignore Him, living out our comfortable lives just how we want...but He can give our family fulfillment that is beyond every expectation.

So much needs to happen so we can adopt.  SO much!  We need a bigger house or apartment, we would need to sell our current house, I would need to get a job and our son would need daycare or full-time preschool, we need to save up lots of money...and the list goes on.  BUT - God can and does move mountains!

So for now, join us in prayer.  Pray that God leads us to a child or children who need our particular family.  Pray that our very long to-do list leading up to adoption readiness gets completed by the grace of God.  And please pray along with us for this sweet boy, Deacon:

And by an interesting coincidence, he is almost exactly 9 months younger than our son.

His profile and that of other special needs orphans is at www.reecesrainbow.org.