We Are Changed

We are not the same people today that we were just a few months ago. Today, we live with not just the awareness, but the intimate knowledge that not all children are fed, loved and cared for the way children should be. We have always known that this is the reality but now our eyes have truly been opened and we cannot look away. Once you’ve seen the face of abuse so horrific you’re sure you yourself wouldn’t have survived it, or have held a tiny child who has not had even some of their most basic needs met let alone been appropriately interacted with, you cannot turn back. It burns in your heart and in your mind.

Our family has been blessed to be able to love and hold a few children in our three months since we’ve been licensed and our lives have been forever changed by them. Survivors in their own right, these kids are absolute miracles, but nobody has told them that. We get to. We get to love them and feed them and rock them to sleep at night assuring them that they are safe and secure and the next meal is sure to be served.

Each child comes with a different story…a different reality and no two seem to be just alike. We’ve had four children placed in our home over the past four months and one common thread has been woven through each one and been a real eye opener to our privileged family. Each of these kids has come with little more than the clothes on their very back. Often times those clothes don’t even fit and sometimes they aren’t even weather appropriate. Taken from everything they know and love, they don’t even have a blankey or a trusted snuggly friend to join them on their journey that they didn’t ask to be on.

It has been overwhelmingly heartwarming though to see that with each child who has walked or been carried through our door, the outpouring of love we’ve seen from friends and family. Not everyone can open their home (though I’d encourage you to really think and pray on that) but we all need to open our hearts to these kids and from our experience folks are eager to do so, they just don’t quite know how to help. I am here to tell you that something as simple as providing these sweet ones with just a little something to call their own, can make a difference. I have had the honor of being able to hand a four year old his very first stuffed animal and a five year old girl her first doll and I am here to tell you they are moments I will never forget. I’ve given my own children plenty of gifts, yet giving to a child who truly has nothing is an experience everyone should know.

Two amazing friends of mine have started a blog of their own, it is called Soul Purpose and their goal is simply to seek out needs within the community and try their best to make that need known so that people have the opportunity to make a difference and meet those needs. The immense need out there is overwhelming if you look at it so by breaking it down, one need at a time, we are given specifics and one by one these needs are met. This month they’ve chosen to bless some of these sweet kids who come into the system with nothing and give them a little hope and security in a few simple items. They are looking for small tote bags so the children have a way to carry their belongings, blankets so that the children have something of their own to wrap themselves in and a small stuffed animal for the children to love.

So, as you go about your Christmas shopping, we’d invite you to maybe pick up an extra bag, stuffed animal or blanket and open your heart to these kids. They’ve endured more than we can probably imagine and they deserve a safe and loving home with a few things to call their own and having something handed to them at the beginning, that could be a constant as they transition could be huge for them. I encourage you to stop by Soul Purpose and see the great work that is being done there and jump in and join us! Let’s make a difference! Once you’ve opened your eyes and heart to the need there is no turning back, you’ll be changed too and I promise it is worth it, these kids are SO worth it!