Thailand Tuesday

For the last few days I've been wondering what I would write about this week for Thailand Tuesday. The more I thought it over, the more clear it became. This week's TT is very appropriate as it has to do with something that has been on my heart lately.

For as long as I can remember I have felt as if I would like to adopt a child someday. Even though J and I are still several years away from having children (God willing), adoption has been brought to light in my life multiple times lately. I don't think it is because adoption is something we are supposed to do right now, but maybe because it's something that needs to be kept in the forefront of my mind. I know that adoption can be a long and expensive process; I just want to make sure that if it truly is something that God wants J and I to do at some point in our lives, that we will adequately prepare for it.

As I said, adoption has been brought to mind multiple times lately. One instance is because Chic Runner is doing "Adoption April." She is telling her story of how she was adopted and how that has impacted her life. You should definitely check it out if you haven't already. Also, a couple of TV shows I've seen recently have highlighted adoption. Most recently, however, was this morning when I opened up my picture folder to pick some pictures for today's post. The first folder that popped up was of photos of an orphanage we went to visit while we were in Thailand.

We planned a day to visit an orphanage near Chiang Mai. Before arriving at the orphanage, we stopped at the local store to get some treats for the children. Upon finally arriving at the orphanage, we realized that some of the children were having class, so we were able to observe them learning for awhile before we got to interact with them. Some of them were a little shy initially, but it wasn't long before they opened up and we were able to talk and play. We didn't do anything super organized...just spent time loving on them.

One of the biggest things that sticks out in my memory from that day, aside from the children of course, was the woman who owned the orphanage. As you can tell from the pictures, this woman did not have much of anything. She lived there with the children and fed them, taught them, and took care of them. It broke my heart to see how compassionate and selfless she was to give up her time and resources to give these children a place to live.

That day gave me an even greater desire to give a child a home someday. There are many excuses that I have come up with in my head of why not to consider adopting, but they really are just excuses. It may seem easier to me to only have biological children, but easier isn't always better. I'm not saying that this is something we are definitely going to do. J and I need to still spend a lot of time discussing and praying about it, but I know it's something God has layed on my heart for some reason. We'll just have to wait and see where He leads.

I'll leave you with some pictures of our day at the orphanage. I'm so happy to have gotten to share about another impactful day of our life in Thailand.

Our Thai friend, P'Nong, was helping us translate. You can see some of the kids still having class in the background.

Learning from the whiteboard.

Looking out from the orphanage

Our car parked in front of the orphanage

P'Nong playing with one of the kids

My sweet hubby

This is the sweet lady who owns the orphanage



All tuckered out from playing

sweet baby

She loved stickers:)

Question: Have any of you ever thought of adopting or have a story about adoption?