Saturday night/Sunday morning Prayer Request

As I lay in bed, reading/listening to music on my kindle, I open up the internet to Facebook (a habit before bedtime... which I'm now thinking twice about).

Tonight I had the misfortune (or fortune...) of coming across something one of my friends linked to.

I broke down right away. I went into the dining room with tears streaming down my face and showed Paul the picture. He had been deep in his books studying but he got up right away and put his arms around me, letting me cry into his t-shirt.

As I write this, my glasses are catching my tears.

This picture. This girl. Why am I so struck by this image? I'm still weeping. 

I have a loving mother whom I depended on for comfort and who gave it to me when I was this little girl's age. 

Maybe it's because I am a mother now. After a few minutes of crying, my husband and I went in to check on our little girl in the next room (we do this every night together). She was sleeping soundly on her side holding, in one of her arms, her baby doll. As Agnes switched positions to her other side, she did not let go of her doll, but rather held on with her other arm.

The girl in the picture above; do you know who I see? My Agnes. She's a little younger than this girl, but, honestly, this girl could be purple and I'd still think of Agnes. 

And that's what I realized. I might have said this before, but I guess it never really struck home in this way. Everything changes once you have a child of your own. Before, I probably would have shed a tear or two and kept scrolling down looking for funny posts; anything to get that picture out of my head. Now, every child I see, (either happy, sad, lonely, grumpy, etc.), I think of my own child. This girl yearns for her mother; a mother she has never even seen. It breaks my heart even thinking about not being able to comfort this little girl... let alone my own child.

This picture has done what the photographer had intended for it to do... and more. First, gratitude could never be lost when you look at this girl and her creation. Second, how many times do we pray for an end to abortion, but forget about the babies that have been born (because their mothers chose not to abort) and need love and care? Third, what's the first step to becoming adoptive parents? Don't act like you didn't think about it as soon as you saw this picture... I can see myself wondering this even if I were 15 years old! 

Now, at 12:19am, my tears have finally dried, but my heart still aches for this beautiful daughter of God. I can't not thank Him for the amazing gift of motherhood; but I have to start praying for the intercession of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton for this little girl and for all children who've lost their parents, and for the intercession of Saint Monica for all mothers, that they never lose their patience, love, and care for their children.