If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know that our adoption journey started with us being called to adopt our little one from Russia. Jeremy and I were both very sure that this is where God was leading us, and so that is where we started. After a year of paperwork and much time and money spent, the president of Russia, Putin, decided that Americans could no longer adopt children from Russia, and placed the ban on US adoptions. We of course were devastated, but knew that God still had plans for us to adopt, so we made a detour and absolutely ended up with the little girl that was meant to be our daughter. We now have zero doubt that she was meant to be part of our family, and wouldn't change a thing.
That being said....with all of the coverage of the Olympics, it seriously makes my blood boil every time I see Putin putting on this show for the world to see. I know that I should be over it, as we obviously are thrilled with our outcome, but I can't help but think of all of those children that have been left and all but forgotten by their president. This show that is being put on makes Russia seem like it is a place that in reality it is not. There are pictures of the people living without plumbing and electricity living just minutes from beautiful structures built just for the Olympics. I wish that the Russian government would take even a fraction of the interest that they are putting into the Olympics and put it into their forgotten children. I realize that these orphans don't bring money to the country, and they don't make the president look good to the world, but they are humans....they are lives....they are tiny beings that are being forgotten.
I know that I need to get over this...but after knowing what is going on there, it's not something you "get over". You can't ignore the fact that children are dying EVERY DAY. Children are laying for days in a crib with no attention. Children are learning that there is no reason to cry because it doesn't do them any good and they are becoming numb. Children are going hungry, feeling cold, and feeling no love, no affection, no warmth. I guess that seeing this circus being put on really brings these feelings to the surface for me. It's wrong....that is a fact. It's something that happens all over, not just in Russia. It is something that most of us can't truly fathom. It's reality, and my heart still breaks to know that children like my daughter are left every day to learn to comfort themselves instead of having a family to bring them comfort.
