The Snodgrass journey...

...orphans.



This is the Snodgrass' journey of adoption. By God's grace, we step out in faith to "add" to our family and "minus 1" orphan.

Well, it WAS "minus 1" orphan, but now it is "MINUS 2" ORPHANS!!!


"He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” ~Ephesians 1:5

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Do They Know It's Christmas?

There are songs that linger deep in our souls.
This is one of those very few songs for me.
Band Aid produced this song in 1984 due to the famine in Ethiopia.
The words stung then.
Those same words sting today.

I hear it randomly every Christmas season and it hits that same chord inside of me.
Making me stop in my tracks and just "be" for a moment in time.
Pondering, thinking, contemplating…

What is that like?

Many, many years I wondered.

And then one day the Lord set me and my family on a mission to adopt from Africa.
I would one day have the opportunity to see what life in Africa was truly like.

And I did.

Multiple times, in fact.

It is 180 degrees different from this life we live in the US.
It is the comparison of Night and Day.
There is little.
Little work, if any.
Little homes, if any.
Little money, if any.
Little medical assistance, if any.
And many times, little food.

That last line, it is very true.
For many.
As well as for one of my sons, whose life was on the verge of death because of no food.

I recall shopping a few Christmases ago in one of a million department stores we have in this part of the globe.

This song came on and I stopped.
I wondered about the child in Africa, in Ghana, that would someday call me mommy.
I wondered if they were OK?
I wondered if they were getting enough to eat?
I wondered if they even knew it was Christmastime?
And I cried.

"In our world of plenty..."
How does that line NOT strike a chord in you?
Yes, plenty…
Too much plenty.

Our sons, they did experience Christmas in the orphanages they were from originally.
A very different Christmas than we experience here each year.

No, there weren't beautiful Christmas decorations with lights.
No, not even a fake tree to decorate.
No individual presents given to the children.
The gift was a nice meal, with meat.
Yes, a meal with meat.

The weight of that is heavy on me in this moment, typing this blog.

This song has been stirring in me for quite some time and I knew I had to release these feelings inside.
But, it's not easy to write about something that hits so close to home.
Because our sons, they are HOME now.

"There's a world outside your window..."
And we are so caught up in our own "world" on this side of that world.
And I want to scream from the roof tops, 'words I am unable to share right now!'

Then, just a few weeks ago.
Here, in good ole' St. Chuck, MO.
I am driving to the gym on my now typical stop with F & J after dropping off G & Sissy at school.
I pull into the parking lot.

"And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime."

And just like that, I am frozen in that moment.
The boys have no idea why mommy is so still.
The boys have no idea of the loftiness of this song.
A flood of emotions overwhelm me.

These boys.
Our sons.
WILL experience a NEW Christmas this year.

And at this exact moment in time, our sons are in our back yard.
They are playing with their sissy.
In the TINY bit of snow we got this week.
And it is a beautiful sight for my eyes to witness.

Last Christmas, Scott moved them to a different orphanage for various reasons.
They received ONE gift.
It was the MOST they had ever seen or received before in their little lives.
If you ask them what they want for Christmas this year,
They will reply with "2 gifts".
It is sweet and sad all at the same time.

There is something so very beautiful about the simplicity they were shown last Christmas.
And in all the Christmases they had in the past in Africa.
They DID receive A gift.
And they were grateful for the ONE gift (meat or toy).

I pray in my world of plenty, that I can show them the best gift this season.
And that has nothing to do with physical presents, although there will be those too.

Lord, thank you for the daily "hard" we experience in our daily lives through adoption.
Continue to send me reminders of the beauty that comes from that "hard".

Today, December 20th, 2016.
Christmas is FIVE DAYS AWAY, ya'll!

"Do they know it's Christmastime at all?"
Yes.

There is NO doubt in my mind, that THIS year, they will… 

No comments:

Post a Comment