Dear friend,
She was just a baby when we first met her. They let us hold her but shook their heads when we tried to take her picture. Here, what about this one? Someone will want this one. We’d agree. Yes, yes, he is precious, a treasure. You’re right. But, can we see her too?
It wasn’t that they didn’t care about her; we witnessed how they did firsthand. But, just a few years ago, their hands were tied. Someone somewhere put a red stamp on a rule that said no children from this orphanage with her disease were made available for adoption.
But, that has changed. At some point in the last 3 years, someone at some higher level noticed that children with Down Syndrome from other orphanages were getting families, that families wanted to see them and when they did, they saw them as precious and desired to make them sons and daughters. I don’t know if there was an edict with another red stamp or what. But, whatever was decided and sent out meant that Eden was given a chance.
She’s not a baby anymore. She’s a big girl, and she wants people to know that (just like any little one her age does). She also wants people to know she’s pretty smart. Her nannies want people to know that too (hence the video I was sent showing off her hard work on stacking squares). They aren’t turning the cameras away anymore; they want her seen and seen as precious. So do I.
Tomorrow, mothers all over the states will be getting crayon-colored cards and wildflowers. My guess is you’re one of those mothers. I want you to be encouraged that what you are doing is good, that your mothering is significant and worth all the hard. But, I want you to be a bit unsettled and uncomfortable too. Hear me out. I want you to see this sweet one and be rocked a bit. I want you to hear part of her story here and wonder if you should be in the next part of it. I want you to consider that maybe just maybe she belongs at your breakfast table, that maybe just maybe you’re the mommy she needs to know her preciousness, that maybe just maybe the red stamp she needs next is the one that will make her your daughter.
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“Eden” is eligible for adoption through Madison Adoption Associates and is still waiting despite her super cute pigtails and superb stacking skills. Email me or Sarah@madisonadoption.org right away for more information. They only have her file for a short time longer.