The Difference In a Month

I've been kinda emotional the last day & really feeling the need to be a voice for the children we left behind in China.  I've started 2 blogs that I've not been able to finish since yesterday.  One was a letter to GiGi's biological mom & the other is filled with information/stats/facts about GiGi's orphanage & other orphans. 

I hope to get atleast one blog out tomorrow or the next day.  The blogs have been very difficult to write because GiGi is my daughter PERIOD THE END!  I do not want to think of her as an orphaned child as she is not that to me!  That is why it is hard for me to revisit the images permanently embedded in my mind & the pics from her orphanage!  
I do not want to think about my baby being there!  
I do not want to remember my child was
"ONE OF THOSE KIDS" or an "ORPHAN"!  

I do not want to think & wonder
"What if I had not followed God's plan & she was still there waiting on someone to Love her & give her a forever home?"

I want to know her as the HAPPY, SILLY, GIGGLY girl I know now!  Granted she IS that girl, but I do not need to forget that the orphanage & her past is part of who she is! I do not need to forget those children we left behind!  

We left part of our heart in China when we left!  Tears rolled down my face the day we rode away to Hong Kong!  It was that very day that Phil said to me "GiGi is special to us but NO MORE deserving to have love & a forever home than any other child in that orphanage!"  He is absolutely right!  Every child deserves a home & love!  They NEED us and these children will bless your life!  GiGi could still be in that orphanage looking at each adoptive family that passes through with the looks of terror, hopelessness, abandonment we saw in these poor children!  The look on these children's face would tear the heart out of anyone with a pulse! 

 That WAS my child!  We cannot change the world, but we can change one life at a time!  We are not finished & will speak out until EVERY orphan has a forever home & love!  For this post I will leave you with before & after pics of our angel.  You can see in pictures alone what a difference a family will make in a child.  GiGi was placed in our arms 7/16/2012.  ONE month ago today, we signed the final papers making her our daughter forever & not an orphan!  See the difference for yourselves

Pictures of GiGi from orphanage:

 
These last 2 pics were the last we had gotten prior to heading to China.  They are about 5 weeks prior to adoption completion. 

Do you recognize this child????  

I can see the same features, but I know a different child than these pics show!  She is no different than all the other orphans except she was the lucky one that got a forever home!  Some of the children will never have a home & will go out to the streets around age 15-16y/o with NO ONE & Nothing~

Click the link below to see:

The Difference A Month Can Make

We cannot turn our backs on these precious children & simply go away or forget as they look for hope, love, help, and a forever family:

Rather we must take them by the hand 

& walk with them!