Thanksgiving in an orphanage

Last night I was looking around the Internet for videos of kids in orphanages giving thanks. Not sure why, just curiosity I guess, since Thanksgiving is only a holiday in a handful of countries.

I found several videos... Maybe Americans have spread Thanksgiving to other places! I found one video from Bali, one from somewhere definitely in Eastern Europe, and one from an Asian orphanage. Each orphanage had fun meals and special activities... They didn't look so bad!

Then one video was of the children singing a song of thankfulness to the workers at the orphanage and the workers were crying. That's when it hit me. I wish every kid had Chloe's "thankful list."

The past week I have heard what Chloe is thankful for every day when she arrives home from school. These are the things...

God
Jesus
Mommy
Daddy
Violet
Gammi
Poppy
Moo Moo
Grandda

You can sum it all up into two categories: her God and her family. She isn't concerned about her basic needs, safety, etc. She doesn't need to be.

I don't know why the workers were crying. Maybe they were overwhelmed with emotion by the sweet children's actions, maybe they thought about what the children were missing in not having a family, or maybe like me they were overwhelmed at the attitude of happiness and gratefulness the children had in the midst of a seemingly hopeless situation.

My video search challenged me in multiple ways. I thought about how our child might be sitting in one of those orphanages, having some kind of Thanksgiving dinner, while we are doing all this paperwork and fundraising. Two years of waiting just got longer in my mind.

I'm reminded that we are so, so blessed and once again I'm humbled. Humbled by my blessed life, humbled by the blessings of others who join with us in this journey, and humbled that my God has chosen this path for us.

My prayer is that sooner, rather than later, our little Bulgarian child will have a similar thankfulness list, with Chloe's name added in.