Signing Family

Hmm, I typed that and I realized that some might think what I mean is a family that signs. While we are quickly becoming a family that signs, what I really mean is the actual signing of the word "family". That's what Liza's been doing a lot lately. She learned to sign that word, along with about 50 or so others from the three Signing Time videos that we have. Which she absolutely LOVES!

I can remember one morning, when she'd been home about two weeks, asking her if she was happy to have a family and how she smiled at me so big and then signed "happy". Since then I have caught her a few times just randomly walking through the house signing "family". It's so cute and so sweet and just such a testimony to the fact that EVERYONE wants to be loved! And guess what, they don't care if they have to be taken halfway around the World to be placed into a situation where they will be loved. You will never convince me that orphans are better off in orphanages in their own country so that they can retain their "culture". I assure you, if you go into any orphanage and ask the majority of kids there they will tell you that they want a family - they won't care what the family looks like or where the family comes from, just that the family will love them and be there for them.

So, what am I getting at besides the fact my daughter can sign "family"? This picture below and what hit me today when I looked at it again for one of a hundred times, but this time saw something I'd never noticed before. Do you see it?

Maxim is signing "FAMILY"!! He was telling me the day that I met him that he wants a family. He may not have known that was what he was doing but I know WHO knows every language under the sun and can even speak through a child who has no language!

Today as I watched Liza sign "family" out of the blue once again, I posted about it on Twitter and really didn't think a whole lot about it after that, except to smile every now and then. Then as I was puttering around my kitchen I looked up at Maxim's, Andrey's, and Vanessa's pictures to pray over them and suddenly it hit me what I was seeing. I thought at the time that it looked like he was trying to make a heart with his fingers, but now that I have seen a child who was once an orphan sign "family" I immediately recognized the cry.

I know you can see it too, can't you? Don't you see the pleading in his eyes? Scroll back up and take a look. It's there - that strong longing. The cry of Maxim's heart is to have a family who will love him and give him everything he will need to succeed. It's the cry of my heart as well. "Now that I have seen, I am responsible" (Albertine - Brooke Fraser).

Wow! I have seen and I am responsible. Now, I have helped you to see and you too are responsible. Please share on Facebook, your blogs, twitter, and everywhere else that you can and help me to find Maxim's family. Please don't shrug this off and go on to the next thing. I have held him in my arms and I just cannot let go until he has a family. Please help me and others who love him, like Stephanie, to find Maxim's family.