Exciting Weekend

This weekend was very exciting for me. I was blessed to serve on an adoption panel with Father George Clements, Founder & CEO of One Church, One Child (in addition to a bunch of other programs). Just to get him speak would have been enough for me, as he is an inspiration to so many in the adoption field. Not only did I get to hear him speak, I was privileged to be on the same panel with him, myself speaking to the same captive audience he was. I felt so honored. After the panel, Father Clements took some time to talk with me and hug me. He took a picture with my son CJ in his arms, and I cannot wait to show it to CJ when he is older and explain to him the awesome man he met when he was only five months old. Father Clements has himself adopted four boys. He was the first priest to adopt a child. Because of his vision and determination to find homes for waiting children, over 170,000 kids have found adoptive homes. What a legacy. Father Clements is not only concerned with adoption, though. He has a passion for the human race. It was so cool to meet a man doesn't say "oh, that's awful. Someone should do something about that." Instead, he says "oh, that's awful. I'll do something about it." Again, it was so awesome to serve on the same panel. As the only adoptee on the panel, I hope I brought a little bit of understanding to adoptive parents about what it's like for the children. As if Saturday wasn't exciting enough, I received a text message from a friend Sunday after church telling me my article was good. Soon after, my mom called and said the article I wrote last week had been published. Chuck, CJ and I ran to the gas station and got a copy of the paper. Sure enough, there it was. I really thought I'd get a small corner of the paper, somewhere where nobody would see it. Instead, I was surprised to see my article in a prominent place, with a pretty big heading. While I can't help but be proud of myself for being in the paper (kind of like a kid who got an "A" in something), I am praying that just one person will read it and decide to make a difference in the life of a waiting child.