The Motherless and Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was absolutely wonderful. It was my first time celebrating and I couldn't have been prouder. My wonderful husband and the little boy that I am lucky enough to call my son made the day wonderful. I woke up to beautiful pink roses, two very sweet cards, and a coupon book! The cards will forever be dear to me, but the coupon book is like gold! What's in it? I've got about 30 of those bad boys, and they range from "a romantic dinner" to "a relaxing bubble bath" to "sleeping in" (!!!) and so much more. This is absolutely my favorite thing! Keith also got me a North Face bag that I've had my eye on and it was just so sweet. My boys took me out to lunch and then we spent the day together at our home. It was perfect.

He makes me so happy. :)

While I was overwhelmed with happiness, a part of me was also very sad. I've written before about my desire to do missions in the Philippines and how my heart breaks specifically for that country. A few weeks ago I was researching different mission opportunities and I found a specific trip titled "Work with Street Children in the Philippines". This caught me off guard because I had no clue what they were talking about. Street children? As in orphans? Well, yes. But these children are not just orphans. They are orphans who live on the street and survive by begging and digging through trash. More specifically, "In the Philippines, more than 250,000 children live on the streets and around 20,000 a year are imprisoned every year. Most of these children survive by begging and scavenging in dumpsites and garbage piles for plastic bottles to recycle for small amounts of money" (via). Furthermore, these children often "resort to prostitution, and are addicted to sniffing industrial glue, which is cheap and helps silence their hunger pains" (via).  

Reading about these children and the extent of their desperation truly cut me to my core. Why God, why?? Why are children living like this? Why isn't anyone taking care of  them?!? I've always had a soft spot for children, but since having Gavin my sensitivity level has risen by much. I hurt and cry for these children and wish so badly that they didn't have to live this way. So, the night before Mother's Day, I wept for the motherless. I stared at my son and thanked God for his life, and I also prayed for those precious children in the Philippines. I prayed that one day I'd be able to look into their sweet faces and tell them how much God loves them, how much I love them. I know that one day Keith and I will adopt, and if it were up to me I'd take them all in (that's right, all 250,000), but I know that's not possible. Well, what do I know? As I typed "I know that's not possible" I felt my heart tug. God is the master of making the "impossible" happen. So I guess we'll see. I don't know why my heart aches the way it does, but I am hoping that God will use me to make a difference. 

 You are Peter. God already knows that you will make a mess,

but His plan for you is great. Go. Feed His sheep. 

-- Katie Davis, Kisses from Katie --