Orphans on the Brain

I can’t get last night and this morning out of my mind.

Last night, Mia cried all the way home and probably cried herself to sleep. She wasn’t pouting or tantruming. She was grieving. You see, last night was our last official group event for Welcoming Angels, the orphan hosting program sponsored by America World Adoption Agency. It was the last time (at least for a long time) we would see the 5 precious children who wiggled and giggled their way into our hearts in just a few short weeks.

It’s really amazing how quickly one can become attached to someone in such a short period of time. We are not hosting but all of the host families are friends of ours and we have been at every event. Mia became particularly attached to one of the little girls.

“My friend is an orphan,” she said suddenly through tears. “They are all orphans. We have to pray that God finds them families close to us.”

That sparked a conversation about how God answers prayers, about how to handle it when He doesn’t answer them the way we want, and why everyone needs a family.

Fast foward to this morning.

We’re driving up the school driveway when PJ says, “Mom, have you ever heard of an 8 passenger minivan?”
“Yes,” I reply, “I think it has 3 seats in the middle row.”
“Yeah,” he says, “my friend has one. I’d rather have a 15 passenger van though.”
“Me too.”
He continues, “If we had a 15 passenger van, we could adopt 10 more kids.”

I swear I don’t script these things. It’s evidence to me that our kids are watching our every move. What is important to us becomes important to them. Quite frankly, I can’t think of a better thing for my kids to have on their minds.

________________________________________

Melissa Corkum

Patrick and Melissa, who was adopted from Korea as an infant, have two biological children and a son adopted at age 2 1/2 from Korea. They reside in Maryland where they started a ministry called Grafted Families. Its goal is to serve Gospel-centered churches as they care for orphans and vulnerable children. You can get to know Melissa better on her personal blog and Patrick on his personal blog.