Now I lay me down to sleep...

Every night at bedtime, this is the prayer that Kristina and I recite:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

God Bless:

Mommy, Daddy and Kristina,

Grammy, Poppy and Buddy,

Auntie Erin, Uncle Jim, Jimmy, Andrew, Finnegan and Sugar,

Nana and Grampa,

Uncle Bryce, Griffin and Alex,

And all our friends and family near and far,

Especially those who are sick (we add special names here).

And a special prayer for all the boys and girls in the world

who don't have a mommy and daddy.

And an extra special prayer for Vasily

(little boy [Kristina's friend] in Ekaterinburg who touched our hearts)

We pray Vasily finds a mommy and daddy to take care of him and love him.

And most of all, we thank God for bringing us together as a family.

AMEN.

We've been saying these exact words in prayer every night for almost 2 1/2 years and Kristina's pretty good at reciting parts of it on her own.  But last week on Sunday, November 6, this prayer touched my heart a little deeper.

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and Sunday the 6th was "Orphan Sunday."  Exhaustion from the "red-eye" flight to FL the night before couldn't keep my mind from the fact that Sunday was a day to think of all those children in the world (more than 145 million) who don't get loving hugs from a parent, who don't have anyone to kiss an owie, who don't have anyone to sit and read them a book or simply hold and caress them to provide comfort.  Aren't these the simple things in life that all children should have and deserve?

I feel so powerless as one person because I wish I could do so much more.  I could watch the multitude of YouTube videos of orphans and feel my heart tugged over and over.  But 2 1/2 years ago, we lived it -- we visited one of the many orphanages daily for 4 weeks and played with the children who don't get that special love or touch.  Those images and moments are engrained in our hearts, soul and memory ~ forever.

Kristina's Grupa - two weeks before leaving her friends behind.
(Kristina is 3rd from front on the left, and Vasily is far left back "corner".)

The children looking out the fences to the "real world."

All the kids go "choo-choo" when lining up to go back indoors.  NOTE:  Kristina's friend, Roman, is on the very far left.  I took this photo for my friend, Trish, thinking her little one was in the group - but it turned out that Christine and Stephen's son, Roman, was in this photo!

Kristina's friend - he touched our hearts with his sweet and cheerful demeanor.

The children with the only people they know who care.

Kristina (on the left) with one of her friends.

Adoption is a beautiful act of love.  Not everyone can adopt but what I do ask is for you to take a moment this month to say a prayer, or think a special thought, for all the parentless children of the world.  One can never underestimate the power of prayer.  I think about that every day when I look at our little blessing who is blossoming in front of our eyes.

Kristina on April 30, 2009, taken the day after we went to court.
I like to think she's praying...
but in reality - she's holding onto a penny with all her might!