Why Adoption: Part #1

Who remembers the commercials from when we were little of the kids in orphanages, I believe they were all in Africa (maybe not, but I always thought that's where they were from) those kids looked so sad, and hungry, and missing their families. It broke my heart, it also made me grateful for what I had! For just $20 a month you could "sponsor" them, which basically meant you'd help pay for their stay in the orphanages, it wasn't a lot, but it made a difference.

Well when I was a little girl, I had the privilege of being close to a set of Great Grandparents, my Mom's Grandma and Grandpa. We called them Gram and Grandpa.

Gram and Grandpa owned a dairy in So Cal, "Cal-Va Dairy", and were very well off, but what I remember more then them being rich, was how generous they were! They were always giving. My Mom has so many stories from her childhood about them giving her money or helping her pay for things as well as so many others. They did the same for me as I grew up. It continues to inspire me!

I remember going to their house as a young child, sitting on their kitchen table were pictures of dark skinned kids, along with drawings and letters from them. They were those kids in an orphanage you'd see on the commercials. My gram and grandpa were helping them! I remember just looking at them and feeling so happy that they were helping them! They sponsored several of them a month, I honestly don't know just how many they helped. But to little Jessica, it was a lot.

When I was old enough to understand what those kids were living in, and what they were living without, I knew one day, I was going to adopt a kid like them...