To Anonymous Sue

I had an "anonymous" comment on my most recent blog post.  And I had a feeling as I was writing this blog post that I might get a comment such as this.  The blog post that I left was somewhat vague...but then I did say it was really meant for me to remember the date. The comment was this:

Hi there,

Have you ever considered opening up your heart to an older child? I know it's not the "norm." Everyone wants a six-month old baby girls with little to no special needs. I understand that - I used to be like that. Then God opened my heart up to older children. They have such beautiful spirits and I have a burden for those left behind because everyone wants the youngest thing possible. Please pray that God would show you the right child, even if it's not exactly what you always imagined.

Love in Christ,
Sue, mommy to Kayla (5)

I have every reason to believe that Sue left this comment with completely good intentions. Her heart is for those children who are older and left behind.  I'm right there with you Sue!! If we could all swoop in and rescue them all!!!  The thing is, Sue doesn't know what age we have said we would accept or all of the special needs that we are willing to take.  Our decision to adopt a special needs child was not one taken lightly.  We prayed over the age limit (which is far from a baby of 6 months old) and all of the special needs......some would consider quite severe. Our decisions were based on not only what we felt we could "tackle", but also on the needs of the children that the Lord has already blessed us with.  Life is NOT always as perfect as it may appear---especially on a blog!  :o)  Our little blessings that we have here at home have their own unique struggles and challenges.  Some may (and have!!) call us crazy to even be on this journey of adoption!!

All this said....having children, having more children, adopting children, adopting children with special needs, all of these are incredibly personal decisions and every family is so wonderfully unique.  What might be God's plan for one family....would not be the right plan for another.

We know that the Lord is continually leading us on this adoption journey.  We are in absolute reliance on Him that He IS leading us!!  Oh my...how could we do it any other way!!?  My greatest comfort is that the Lord has a plan for us and for our darling Karleigh Mei--whoever she is, however old she is, and whatever special need she has---the Lord has already placed His hand on her!!!

Again...please be praying for all of the precious children that need families...all over the world....not just special needs children...or older children....or Chinese children....or Russian children....or African children......or American children in foster homes.....or...the list goes on and on and on!  It reminds me of the story about the starfish:

Thousands of starfish washed ashore. A little girl began throwing them in the water so they would not die. “Don’t bother, dear,” her mother said, “it won’t make a difference.” The girl stopped for a moment and looked at the starfish in her hand. 
"It will make a difference to this one."