This Is For Real..please do something

There are orphans in need, around 147 million, way too many. You don't need to adopt to make a difference. To make a huge difference, I mean, isn't saving 1 child's life a huge difference? When people say they admire me, there is one thing that goes through my head, and that is "don't". When we adopted our Anastasia (www.1moremakes5.blogspot.com) we were not out to adopt a special needs child, or to even save a child, or even to adopt internationally. Step, by shaky step God lead us that way. And I can tell you, these orphanages do not have the resources over there, it is scary to say the least. It is not right for a 5  year old to weigh 17 lbs. And this is not a rare occurrence. Time after time you can read about real families, families I know online, that within weeks of meeting their 2-3 year old child, the child has learned to sit up, make eye contact, reach for a toy, roll over, etc... This is not an exaggeration. I myself used to think it was, even after Anastasia's adoption I was ignorant.
This week, the RR community got a huge reminder of how real this is, one of their "healthy" waiting children passed away. Several families have seen her recently while picking up their own children from the same orphanage. Ann Marie, was about to get sent to the institution. 4 is the age in Ella's country where these babies are sent to an institution for a life of little hope. Ann Marie was a household name for all RR families. We all knew who she was and many families advocated for her and loved her.
It is not know why she passed away, she is not the first Reeces Rainbow child to pass away while being on the waiting child listing, and unfortunately she will not be the last.
I want to share a poem that Meredith Cornish wrote : www.cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com

While we were...






While we were eating…
… they were hungry
While we were playing…
… they were restrained
While we were tucking our kids into bed…
… they were alone
While we turned up the heat…
… they laid in the icy cold
While we wrapped our children in blanket sleepers…
… they laid in their own excrement
While we sang songs and listened to music…
… they listened to the screams and cries of those around them
While we rocked our babies…
… they silently rocked themselves
While we hugged our kids…
… they scratched at their own faces and pulled their own hair for stimulation
While we cried over scraped knees…
… they moaned in their loneliness
While we brushed our daughters’ beautiful hair…
… they had their heads shaven to stave off the lice
While we fought off the flu with love and nourishment…
… they got the flu and went Home.
No longer suffering… but so many more still are.
In memory of those that have never felt the love of a family, but have passed away alone.