Dear God, hi.  I really want to pick up the phone and start calling my people, but I need to shoot this Your way…but my brain is too swampy to just think at You, so I’m blogging at You.  You know, I’ve been pretty fine with the waiting for a referral.  But now I’m a little past the “average” wait time and even though I know it’s just an average, I’m still getting really antsy.  I’m sitting here listening to my new Aaron Ivey CD (soooooo amazing) and weepy and NOT patient.  Every time he sings, “The orphan finds her home,” my eyes well up and there’s throat lumpiness.  I’m so aware of my lack of control.  I have decisions to make for the future and I can’t even see tomorrow.  Help!  I need some serious wisdom right now.  What’s headed our way?  Who’s headed our way?  When?  Give me the strength to invest in TODAY.  I kinda just want to have all my people over for a big sleepover and drink coffee and stay in my jammies until I get the call.  Breathe.  Surrender.  “I’ll find a way to get you here, if it takes my fleeting breath.  Another sunrise hits the ground and it’s a dark, lonely sight.  Lightyears away, I hope you know there is somebody searching for the way to get you here.  So close your eyes and dream of a better day with me….”  God, help me get Slash here!!!

I’m an overcooked noodle after the Children’s HopeChest Partners’ Conference and Together for Adoption Conference back-to-back.  I can’t decide whether to hop a plane for Uganda, go adopt five kids from the foster system, or crawl in bed and yank the covers over my head.  I have a lot of blogs bumping around in my head, so I guess I’ll start with one little one and slowly unpack my brain (hopefully quicker than I unpack my suitcase, which will sit on the floor of my room for another week until I get around to it).

Ugh, blah, having a hard time choosing which thing to pull out of my head and pour into this blog.  I could soooo use a Dumbledore-style pensieve right now!  Um, okay, Tom and Vince’s child trafficking breakout sessions.  I’ve been saturating myself with information about the horrors of trafficking for awhile now, but every time I hear a story I’m enraged and helpless and frustrated and useless alllll over again.  So after two solid hours, I didn’t think I could get up from my seat.  I was literally sitting there thinking, “Now what?”  I mean, no matter how I get involved, in my own tiny way, it’s never enough, and it’s enough to pin me to my chair.  So I think we’re all sitting there not sure what to do but so desperate to DO…SOMETHING…anything, get involved, don’t just let this be another breakout where you take notes and then turn the page.  Earlier in the session, Tom or Vince offhandedly mentioned that Indian Rescue Mission had three rescues that they can do but need funding.  A guy asked how much they’d cost.  At the end of the session, he stands up and says, “I’ve done the math, and if each person in here gives $30, we can fund a rescue.  I’m a local businessman, and my company will match whatever you donate.”  A call to action!  Everyone’s pulling out cash and checks, and we all swarm to the front, where a pile of money begins to grow on the table.  When all is counted, we didn’t fund one rescue.  We funded all three.  Isn’t that beautiful?  Everyone left that room having already joined the fight against trafficking. 

It reminded me of the power of community.  When a whole group of people get together, they can make a difference.  In this case, they didn’t even have to know each other.