Seeing the Entire Picture

I Spy.

Take a moment and study this picture. What do you see? What really stands out? Immediately I noticed the serene blue water in the back, the ships ready to sail out to sea, the blue sky, the man on his motorcycle and the green trees. But then I start to look closer and I see a tarp covering a small building being used as a roof, the many umbrellas lining the street as vendors try and make a daily wage, a tap tap carrying passengers and many buildings. I could probably continue to stare at this photo and find more and more things that did not initially stand out to me but my point to this blog post is this…We travel to these countries, adopt from these countries, and give back to these countries but sometimes we are not always aware of what is actually right in front of us.

Sometimes as we find ourselves getting caught in the hustle and bustle of working or trying to give back I think it is easy to forget the realities of the countries we are working in and/or adopting from. Countries like Haiti that have no infrastructure are striving everyday to rebuild their country from the earth quake, get a stable president, keep their families together, find a steady income and essentially survive. Unfortunately this is the reality. These are all of the things we need to make sure we are not forgetting. We should always try to see everything in the “picture” because this is also the education piece we need to be passing on to adopted children. The good and the hard side of where they came from. Haiti will always be their home, their birth country, and where their birth parents are but it will also be where they met their forever family for the very first time.