Hard Realities

A good day, a happy day.  We started off at our home fellowship singing Christmas carols and studying the good Samaritan.  Our sweet little guy hung out with Julie, one of the single women in our group.  She loves him and would adopt him if single people could adopt here.  In our fellowship, there are two single women who foster and another married couple.  It's sweet to see the love the group has for these children.
Out to lunch with many of the same group, listening to a family who has adopted two children here.  Their journeys were long and hard and oh, so worth it.  Our sweet little guy hung out and ate some rice and slept in his stroller.
Home to an e-mail that brought me to tears.  We are asking to have our little guy listed on the official adoption list.  The person who needs to do the asking wrote us back and told us that kids with Down Syndrome can not be listed for adoption.  I've done my research and I know that while it is fairly unusual, kids with Down Syndrome can be listed.  Our advocate agreed to talk to the orphanage but told me that they have refused to list kids with Down Syndrome before.
The truth is that not every story has a happy ending.  Not every orphan ends up in a family. In face, only a small percentage do.  Many end up in difficult circumstances.  Children with special needs can end up in really awful situations.

But when I look at this sweetness... I can not bear to think of his future in an institution.  I just can't.  I know that he is one of many who need a family.  But he is the one before me and the one I can advocate for.
So this week, if you think of this face, storm heaven on his behalf.  Pray for favor, pray that he can be listed.  Pray for his future.