Yesterday I received my package from Nancy Thomas' organization.  It had a number of books we ordered on RAD.  One is a wonderful little handbook that has a different idea on each page to help your child heal up. Exercises. Not just for RAD kids.

I liked that book.

The other books sent me spinning. Especially Nancy Thomas' book...not a biography so much, tho it covers her life as well. But stories about the children she took in and was able to help.

I had no idea.

I had no idea that such evil existed.

I'd heard about it. I knew that very terrible things happened. But when I read something, I become a part of whatever I'm reading, whether it's technical or fiction or historical.

I could not bear becoming part of the stories, including Nancy's, that I read.

As I tried to read each book, I found myself shaken, and one by one, they went back in the box before I could get even a third of the way through.

I called my friend who has Jumoke right now. She's adopted 5 chlidren out of the foster system. None of them have RAD, but the places they came from were just as horrendous as many of the stories I had been reading.

I told her I was sending her the books.  I couldn't keep them here. I couldn't read them. I knew she would be able to garner good from them.

I found myself erecting a thick wall of impenetrable stone. The wall had no doors. I could not see over the top of it because it was so high.  It stretched to the horizon on either side of me, so there was no going around it.  The words written on the wall said, "Jumoke could not have lived with this kind of torment. I will not allow it.  I will not accept it."

Even if he is not RAD, something is wrong, and there is a reason for that something being wrong, and my mind cannot concieve nor accept that my son went through something as horrible as the stories I read.

There are many heroes in this world.  And the men and women who take these children out of their horrendous circumstances and give them a home and help them heal up from all that has been damaged are among the greatest of these heroes. 

I've adopted. I've taken two little boys out of a war torn country where they were starving and given them food. But I'm no hero.

Jesus said that anyone can love those who love them back.

What is exceptional is loving the unlovely. Loving those who hate you.

I am humbled. I don't even know if I have the courage to ask the Lord to make me different.  I see myself in a whole different light.

I'm grateful, so grateful, deeply grateful, that the Father loves me even in this pitiable state. And that He's given me people to love me, even though they see me for what I am.

I want the same gift for Jumoke.

Pray for the real heroes today. Thank God for them.  Here's some names....Nicole, Traci Ann, Connie, Pat, Katie, Katie, Margaret, Tia. These are the names that leapt into my mind, but they are only a tiny, tiny portion of the great list of heroes who sacrifice to rescue the souls and minds of children.  I didn't list the husband's names, but the husbands are right there with them. 

Pray for them today. And join me in thanking the Father for these remarkable, living examples of His great sacrifice.