Happy New Year!?!?

There is so much hope with a new year coming. Maybe things will be different this year. I might lose that 20 pounds. Perhaps I'll become organized. Maybe the kids will do chores with a smile. This will be the year my kitchen counter stays clean. Okay, now I've crossed the line between reality and fantasy....

But what I really hope is that this is the year Cupcake comes home. I hope this is the year all of my friends on the long road home bring their kids home. And for those friends who've suffered incredible loss this year, I pray 2008 is the year that brings healing, peace and a new hope for their lives.

As we shouted "Happy New Year!" and blew horns, I was filled with hope, and yet overwhelmed with sadness for the orphaned children of Guatemala. On December 31, 2007, new adoptions of the children were halted. Most likely, they will never open up again. Orphanages will lose their funding, most are supported almost exclusively from private adoptions. Government social services are non existent. Kids will die. The reality of what has happened is too awful to think about. All because the folks at UNICEF talk loudly and have big money. In their zeal to end corruption, they ended adoptions. They literally threw out the baby with the bathwater. For more on UNICEF, click here.

We all want to see corrupt people meet justice. We want our adoptions to be legitimate. But we want adoptions to continue. We want birthmothers to have a choice. If they want their children to have a better life in America, they should have that option. These children deserve to have the opportunity to grow up in a family, instead of an institution. Or worse, to not grow up at all. This is so wrong, on so many levels. The need is so great, and I am so small.

But...

My God is so big. He knows each of these children by name. He knows their needs. He will not stop loving them. I don't know how, but He will make it all right. In the end, His justice will prevail. There is reason to hope, after all, even in this.

Blessings to you,
Mamita J