Prayer For All Children

I have tears in my eyes (and streaming down my face) as I read a post from my friend Janice on FB.  She was describing in detail her trip to an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  She was in Ethiopia recently picking up her daughter, and this orphanage was the 2nd of 3 orphanages her sweet Shaya was in. 

It just really hit me how blessed we are to have a roof over our heads, and food in cupboards, and our children in our arms.  Not all mothers are so lucky.  Not all chilren are so lucky.  But we are no more deserving than they are - every child deserves someone to kiss them goodnight.  Every child deserves limitless hugs and kisses from a parent who loves them more than life itself. 

My reasons for adopting have morphed throughout our journey.  I want to adopt because every child deserves a home.  Now that my eyes have been opened, I have a hard time changing the channel or turning away.  I must do something.  I know I can't change the world, but I can change the world for one.  And that's how we change the world - one life at a time. 

This was also shared on Janice's post and I just had to share it:

My Prayer for All Children

I pray that all children will be loved for who they are, for no reason other than that they are.

I pray that all children will be loved as first best, not second best; that they will be loved with an intensity that can move mountains, because life will present plenty of mountains that will need to be moved.

I pray that all children will have someone who will...

- seek them, and only them, out of the crowd on the stage;

- push them to reach for their goals and discover their unique gifts;

- hold them accountable for their actions with love and dignity;

- advocate for them through this maze called life;

- explain the unexplainable; and

- smile when they walk into the room, just because they did.

Mostly I pray that all children will have someone who knows them well enough and loves them deeply enough to see the divine spark that is unique in them.

I pray that this be the birthright of all children throughout the world. And since this birthright can only be fulfilled by parents, I pray that each child, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, finds their parent and each parent finds their child.

Thanks God.

Amen.

***Taken from The Complete Book of International Adoption by Dawn Davenport***