This Little Light of Mine

I'm gonna let it shine

Let it Shine, Let it Shine, Let it Shine

lyric source unknown

On the day we went to the orphanage, they brought us into a conference room to complete the adoption paperwork. While we were doing the paperwork, they brought Joseph in. We did not have a chance to get prepared to videotape our little man or to have everything at hand to meet his needs. In fact, everything happened so fast that we do not even have Joseph's Gotcha Day on video because they had Chris finishing the paperwork while I was holding Joseph trying to console him. He was crying and I started looking in my bag, frantically, to find something for Joseph. Thank goodness I had brought Cheerios because Joseph loved them and quickly quit crying. Usually, they will have you complete the paperwork and then will announce that they are bringing the child in or like Mali, they took us directly to her in her room before doing the paperwork. After Chris was finished and we had taken a few pictures, they were ready to see us go but then I ask if we could see Joseph's Room. They got really uncomfortable and decided to have a "meeting" to discuss it. Finally, they decided to let me take a picture of Joseph's bed but not of the children or anything else. I could not understand why since I had a totally different experience with Mali at the same orphanage.

As we went into the building where the children were, I knew why. The orphanage looked run down compared to when we got Mali. There was even a giant hole in one of the walls that led to the outside. All the lights were out in the whole building and there was no air conditioning in 90 Degree Weather. In fact, by the time we reached Joseph's Room, I was soaking wet. When I walked into his room, the lights were off and all the children were in saucers which explains why Joseph could not walk because he went from a crib to a stationary saucer. The orphanage workers quickly led us to Joseph's Bed where we took a few pictures. Then Chris ask if we could see Mali's old room. They got really uncomfortable again and had another "meeting" then told us it was okay. As we walked to Mali's Room, they started apologizing about how the orphanage looked and said they were building a new one in a couple of years. Even though the appearance of orphanage was dark and depressing, the most haunting thing to me was there were over 1400 children in the building but no noise. I never remember hearing any laughter or any crying just nothing. It was totally quiet. Even when we went into both Joseph and Mali's Room there was no noise. Only when Chris touched the children, did you hear laughter.

As we came out of the dark building into the light of the day, I was so thankful that we finally had Joseph but I also could not help but think of the children left behind. The China Adoption Program for Non-Special Needs Children has a waiting time that has reached almost 2 years. I complained one day to God about how does He expect me to be able to get families to want to adopt from the China Program when many families are already waiting almost 2 years for their referrals. He reminded me that the "wait" is what many children feel in the orphanage their whole life. He also reminded me that the Special Needs Program only has a wait of 4 months after your paperwork goes to China. So I'am asking families who have a desire for more children to meet the desire of a child to have a family. I'am asking those who are longing to hold a child to meet the need of a child longing to be held. I'am asking you to tell many so that we can bring many out of the darkness and into the light.