On Thursdays I post from the vault. This post is from December 2008.
I woke up to a gift in my email inbox this morning – some amazing new photos of Keanan. My blogger-friend Jamie Ivey and her hubby are in Haiti visiting their own kids who are waiting to come home, and they took some amazing shots of our little boy. It is such a treat to see pictures of him and hear reports of how happy he is. It makes the waiting so much easier. Thank you, Jamie!!
Jamie’s husband Aaron wrote some pretty profound sentiments on his blog today. He was musing about how kids are kids, no matter where they grow up. Click here to read it – adoptive parent or not, I think you will be moved. But perhaps grab a tissue first.
He also reflected on feelings about the coming Christmas season as he witnessed the poverty of Haiti. I think these words are so important for us to think about right now:
You want to know what really pisses me off? being unable to convince people to even think about something like Advent Conspiracy… and hearing friend after friend say they’ve had the hardest time getting their own families to want to sacrifice gift-giving this Christmas so that others can simply have clean water and/or bread in their belly. i was furious today as i saw nine year old kids working in the street to get a few pennies…hopefully adding up to purchase bread or a cup of rice. really? we want to hold on to our $15 gift exchange this Christmas instead of pooling that money together to actually KEEP SOMEONE ALIVE? seriously SO angry today as i passed children with swarms of flies around their face holding out hands for anything. KIDS. and families all over the country refuse to say NO to trading Old Navy giftcards, discount scarves at Target, and I-tunes gift cards. seriously? in Haiti, that is translated to “merde.”
I’m not gonna translate that word for you, but I think you get the point. How can we respond to this poverty that seems so far away, and yet is so real for so many people? I am feeling challenged today.
