Project T.L.C.

What about the ones left behind? That's what I keep asking myself ever since we came home. Because no matter how we advocate or how many children I, or my friends, or your friends, adopt we really can't save them all. Isn't that heartbreaking? It almost brings you to the point of throwing in the towel, huh?

ALMOST, but when I feel that way there's a story I heard once that keeps me moving, keeps me determined.

The Legend of the Starfish

A man was walking along a beach when he saw a young boy. Along the shore were many starfish that had been washed up by the tide and were sure to die before the tide returned. The boy walked slowly along the shore and occasionally reached down and tossed the beached starfish back into the ocean. The man, hoping to teach the boy a little lesson in common sense, walked up to the boy and said, "I have been watching what you are doing, son. You have a good heart, and I know you mean well, but do you realize how many beaches there are around here and how many starfish are dying on every beach every day. Do you really think that what you are doing is going to make a difference?" The boy looked up at the man, and then he looked down at a starfish by his feet. He picked up the starfish, and as he gently tossed it back into the ocean, he said, "It makes a difference to that one." 

No matter how many times I read that story I tear up every time. "It makes a difference to that one."

I have some friends who adopted a few children from Ukraine and two of them brought one child home literally on death's door. Stephanie, Shelly, and Boston decided they had to do something to make a difference for the ones they weren't able to rescue so they started Project T.L.C. to provide for some of the needs of the children that were left behind in institutions in the Crimea region of Ukraine. 

They will be sending someone over with basic hygiene supplies in the Fall and are in need of donations to make this happen. Can we all be like the young man in the story and look through eyes of hope and compassion? Knowing that maybe we can't save them all but we CAN make a difference for just one.