Okay, so this is weird. I mean the fact that I’m writing something. The reason is because I don’t write, and I don’t journal even though I know I probably should. So please bear with me I am new to all this. Nevertheless, here we go! So, some of you may or may not know, but as of the first of the year I started a new job. I am now the Director of Public Relations and Customer Service at Small World Adoption Agency. Small World is a Christian nonprofit organization that’s sole purpose is to find Godly, Christian couples who want to adopt children who have no home. We do adoptions here in the states, but we also do adoptions in many different countries all across the world. In addition to that we also do orphan care as well as mission trips. It’s a family run business and just about all of my in-laws work there. Pray for me! Just kidding, I get along with them all quite well.
In my former job, I was a Freight Team manager in a warehouse where we shipped iPhone accessories, and I did that job for almost 10 years. Needless to say, this new job was a total career switch. I have actually been a part of Small World for about 15 years or so as an outsider. My wife also works there and so much of what I know or knew about Small World was because of her. So, going into this job I did have a little understanding of what I was getting into. Kinda…..
For the past month or so at Small World, I’ve been going through old and new video footage and pictures of trips my father-in-law and brother-in-law have taken. The things I have seen have been beautiful and terrible. I say beautiful, because the landscape is just gorgeous in some of these places. The Great Wall of China (which I have been to), the jungles in Uganda, the safari in South Africa, and the snow covered mountains in Mongolia will just absolutely take your breath away. I say terrible because of the pictures and videos of these little children they visit in other countries, who in some cases are the same age as my own kids, have NO Mommies and NO Daddies. The statistics that I have come across in my two months here are devastating. Did you know there are an estimated 150 million orphans worldwide? 150 million children don’t have families. Also, every hour, 1,604 children age out of institutions with no place to call home. Did you hear that? Every single hour another 1,604 kids. This just blows my fat, happy, comfortable American mind!
I realize I have written a lot already, but hang on; I promise I’m going to land this plane. Today, things got real. I received an email from one of my co-workers, (let’s call her Alanna cause that’s her name) of a little boy named Kurt. Kurt is a little boy who is about 5 years old from China, and he is waiting for a family to adopt him. Kurt is considered a “Waiting Child.” What that means is he has disabilities and because of that people are less likely to adopt him. Thus, he is “waiting” for someone to adopt him. He represents many of our kids who have been forgotten. Kurt was diagnosed with limbs deformity and contracture of joint. He can walk with assistance, and he did have corrective therapy for his club feet, but it wasn’t very good treatment. He is not a perfect little boy from China as some would say. However, mentally he is perfectly fine. Anyway, Alanna wanted me to upload a video of Kurt to Facebook. The first time I watched it, I could not stop smiling. To be honest with you, I have watched it about 5 or 6 times now and still have the same reaction. This kid is awesome! So awesome that I had to show Julie the video when I got home. I pulled it up on the computer, and she and my three kids watched this video of this amazing kid. After it was over we explained to our kids that this little boy lived in China in an orphanage without a Mommy or Daddy, and that’s when it happened. My 5-year-old said, “That is so sad. He doesn’t have a Mommy or Daddy? Who will tuck him in at night?” My heart jumped up in my throat, and I cried like a baby. I remembered all the times I was too busy to help my wife with bedtime. Or how I may have rushed through tucking them in because I had other things to do. “Who will tuck Kurt in to bed at night?” Julie said, “I don’t know sweetie but you know what? That’s what Mommy and Daddy do, we find Mommies and Daddies for little boys like Kurt.” Yep, that’s what I do now. I don’t manage a team of people trying to ship iPhone accessories, I help find godly Christian couples to adopt these waiting children. Perhaps, people like you. Maybe not. I don’t know. But you know what? That’s my job now. How rewarding and how devastating. My outside view of things has become very clear now because now, I’m on the inside and these children need homes. They need someone to tuck them in at night and more than that, they need to be raised in a godly home where parents can teach them about the Lord.
The truth is, folks, I have learned a lot about adoption in the last two months. I thought I had a pretty good understanding before, but I really didn’t have a clue. Here’s the reality of it all. We are all lost and orphaned without Jesus Christ. The Bible says in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” Thanks be to God for that truth! Without The Lord, I am fatherless, broken, and deformed in my own way. I am defeated, broken, and poor. However . . . aren’t you thankful for that “However?” With The Lord, I have EVERYTHING! I am a child of God! Jesus said in John 10:10 that, “He comes that we may have life and have it more abundantly.” He rescued us from the miry pit and we are orphans no more. He is the father to the fatherless, and He loves us all more than we could ever know. If you are interested in learning more about Small World, holler at me. If not, no worries. But please pray for Kurt and all these waiting children. They, just like us, need a family and someone to rescue them. Thanks for reading, and be blessed!
-Wade