Mad Season

I wish I had some good news to report. The latest thing is that a lot of babies in the northern provinces of Vietnam have been infected with a very bad rhino virus. If you look further down in the blog, the latest pictures of Kamryn show a little girl with a pretty bad cold. Luckily for her (and us) that's all it was. 2 children have died from this virus while waiting for their families.

The cold and rainy season has lasted WAY longer than usual in Vietnam this year. According to our agency reps, temps usually start rising in January. Here it is almost March, and they've just been hit with a really strong cold front again. Some of the orphanages do not have heat, some just don't have sufficient heat. Many of these same orphanages do not have adequate cooling systems for the tropical summer months.

When I'm asked why I just don't adopt "one from here", more and more I'm inferring that at least here in the U.S., children don't grow up in orphanages. Even with it's flaws, and believe me, I have a laundry list, parentless children still have a HOME, a "family". We don't subject our children to orphanages and the perils of institutionalized care. Foster children here have adequate heating and cooling, an endless supply of ready-to-drink water, enough formula, enough food, adequate shelter. That is not the case in developing countries.

Some think that we feel we're "saving" a child...to follow that line of thinking, which i don't, foster children here are not in as much need of saving, in my opinion. It's just my opinion, though. My ready answer as to "why (fill in country here)" is that "that's where my daughter is". It's that simple.