Family

At my job, there are far too few success stories. I had one today that I have to share with you. Every year Children's Home puts on a Christmas program and invites the kids' families, friends, social workers, therapists and many others. It's a big day for the kids. They each get a new outfit, the girls get their hair styled by a professional hair stylist and have their nails painted. They practice their songs and speaking parts for several months in preparation for their big day. One of our first graders last year said "I've waited my whole life for this day"! 

Along with this excitement however, our kids must deal with big disappointments on this special day. These are kids who have not had a reliable parent in their lives. There's often a ton of anxiety, wondering if Mom or Dad is finally going to be there for them. For those without families, it can be sad and lonely. They have social workers and CHS staff that come to hear them sing, but as much as we try, it's not the same as a family. Two years ago I had a sweet little 6 year old boy, who was so excited for his dad to see him sing. He sang his heart out during the program and afterwards waited at the back of church for his dad to find him. It was a huge crowd and he asked me to hold him so he could see above the people to watch for his dad. His smile disappeared as the crowd got smaller. As kindly as I could, I told him that it didn't seem like his dad was coming. He didn't want to believe that, so we waited until there was no one left in the church and then we both cried. It was one of the saddest moments in my 5 years at CHS.


Today, I saw this little boy with his adoptive family. He told me that his school Christmas program is next week and that he has a solo! I asked him who was going to be there to watch him and he told me with a big smile, "Too many family to count". I cried again. What a difference a wonderful, loving family has made in this child's life! 

When you are at your Christmas programs this year, please take a minute to think about and pray for those children without loving families. And pray that someday they too will have "too many family to count"!

Heather