Who are our neighbors?

For some reason, that thought weighed heavily on my mind last night. The story of the Good Samaritan kept running through my mind. And then that follow-up question. The question of all questions. Who are my neighbors? How can I say I love my neighbors as myself when I am overweight...nay, obese, and yet there are those who have no food to eat at all? Heavy thoughts for 11:00 at night.

This morning I woke up to a letter from All God's Children . I look forward to their newsletters whenever they come because it is so heartening to read about the work that they do. This letter was not heartening. It was terrible, and I have shed many a tear over the news that it held.

This is a long post: Bear with me, but it has a backstory.

Almost six years ago, Dustan and I felt that we wanted to add to our family. Adoption has always had such a large place in my heart. Adoption is one of my favorite Biblical principles and I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame. So, we began a long journey into adoption. We looked and waded through an overwhelming amount of information and agencies. One agency stood miles above the rest. One agency grabbed my heartstrings. All God's Children . They not only were an adoption agency, but they did relief work. Amazing relief work. Their story is incredible (I urge you to order and read the book offered on their site). They would go into what seemed to be a god-forsaken country and offer the greatest thing of all. HOPE. They began to help out existing orphanages. Government ones, nasty places, where no child should be. They painted and provided workers to hold and care for the babies. All babies need love, oh how much they need love. Can you imagine never being touched except for a diaper change? And so, these babies began to be loved, and held, and nourished, and so many of them found families, that would love them the rest of their lives.

But do you realize that their are children all over the world who will never be adopted? Either they have health or mental, or just legal issues that won't allow them to be adopted, or just realistically speaking, they will not be able to find a family. There are thousands of these children. Flooding government orphanages around the world.

All God's Children takes care of these children. They offer them a home, and caregivers who provide more than just food and clothing. These children are given a place to live, to eat, and to be loved. They now have beautiful homes filled with hope.

Back to my story: Dustan and I eventually went with another agency because All God's Children Did not yet have an adoption program in Guatemala, our country of choice. we felt such a strong pulling there, it was the country who would birth our second child. Or so we thought. Right after sending off a check to the INS, I got some funny news. I was expecting the very child who will celebrate his fifth birthday tomorrow! Weston Mathis King has filled our lives with joy, and on the eve of his birthday I read what has to be the saddest most heartfelt letter ever written.

The writer of the letter says that because of lack of funding, they have had to close down one of the Hannah's Hope homes that they had begun in the very country Dustan and I had chosen to adopt from. Right before Christmas, Jan had the horrible task of choosing which children would have to be returned back to the government orphanages. Please remember that these are not children who will temporarily be there. These are children, who, for one reason or another, will live there the rest of their childhood and maybe longer.

Are these children my neighbors? These precious beings, created by the very loving hands that created my precious Weston? Am I somehow responsible for this tragedy? My heart is heavy...and somewhat heartbroken. In y mind, everything about this points to a very clear declaration of what God wants me to do. He wants me to give. I only wish that I had done more, and done it sooner.

Please, dear blog readers, in honor of my son's birthday, will you visit the All God's Children website? Will you read about them? Will you read about the work that they do? And then will you consider making those un-adoptable, but not un-loved or un-wanted, children you neighbors?

The letter mentioned that if everyone on the mailing list could send in a one time gift of 30.00, that it would allow them to continue one home they still have in Guatemala, as well as Ethiopia, and China. And, what's more, they could increase what they are doing.

My wish, is that by sharing my heart, I can find three readers who are willing to give. It's a one time gift that will bless the hearts of a child, all the way across the world.

If, this ministry is not calling to you. I urge you to be generous to another one. The season of giving may be over for most of the world. But the season for caring for neighbors will be here, every day, every year.