Joy of a child

Tonight my heart is so full.  It is amazing how encouragement comes in so many different forms and God always knows exactly when I need it.  Tonight I was working the second part of my third double in a row.  I love my job, but it can be exhausting sometimes.  I was quite simply worn out.  One of my favorite regulars walked in.  I had no tables and her baby girl was sleeping.  So I got to take a few moments to just hold and enjoy her.  This was followed by some great conversation, and a little bit of playing peekaboo around the pinball machines.  Tonight I needed the joy of a child to fill my heart.
I also needed to be reminded why we are on this long, stressful journey.  You see, people say to me all the time, "Well wouldn't it be easier to just get pregnant."  This statement is usually preceded by "Oh, can you not have "your own" children?" with a sad and somewhat sympathetic look.  First of all, please don't ever say this to someone who is adopting.  If we were struggling with infertility, you just tore that wound back open.  Now that you know that we are not, you are often confused, which is what lead to your second statement.  Let's be honest in many ways it probably would be easier to just get pregnant.  But adoption did not become part of our story because it seemed like the easy option.  We believe wholly that this is God's plan for our lives, that our family was meant to grow through adoption.
But tonight I needed to be reminded that we also chose this path because of the joy of a child.  A child who is an orphan can have their joy stolen so easily.
So while we know we can't change the world...we can't save every orphan...we can't even make a difference for 1%...maybe for a child or two we can return their joy.