Passed on, with permission

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. Today we learned of the passing of these two girls in Eastern Europe.

Margarita

Katarina

I'm supposed to be in the car on my way to get Lila's thickener but here I sit, crying. I struggled with wondering whether or not I should pass this along. It's so incredibly sad. I don't want to make people sad, right? Wrong. We get so caught up in our lives, our problems, our kids, our families, our errands, our friends, us, us, us. Me, me, me.

May we never forget how blessed we are. May we hug our precious children tighter today and say a prayer for those children that go without hugs. May we have a new awareness and appreciation for the people that make huge sacrifices to welcome one of these beautiful children into their families.



Linda