Treasured Pearls: 13

Who said 13 is an unlucky number? For JA, he thinks it's a pretty good number.

You see, he just turned 13 this week.

He is excited to finally be a teenager!

(Yikes - that makes TWO of them!!!!!)

JA is a wonderful kid and in many ways a typical teenage boy.

He is adjusting to a new homeschool curriculum and two new brothers.

He has slipped into the role of "younger" brother as if it were a glove. He really enjoys having an older brother to hang out with.

I sometimes forget to tell him that he is a great kid who makes me proud to call him "son".

Happy 13th Birthday, JA!!!

Orphan Statistics

Inter-country adoption has decreased 59 percent from its high in 2004, due primarily to restrictions by sending countries.
81.5 million Americans have considered adoption. If just 1 in 500 of these adults adopted, every waiting child would have a permanent family.
Every year more than 23,000 children age out of foster care, leaving them without families of their own.
The average waiting child is 7.5 years old.
Last year, nearly 9,000 children were adopted internationally
Of the estimated 238,280 children who exited foster care during 2013, the median amount of time spent in care was 21.8 months.
In 2013, California and Texas were the two U.S. states with the most children in public foster care waiting for adoption.
As of 2013, an estimated 17.7 million children worldwide had lost one or both parents to AIDS. Most of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa.
The births of nearly 230 million children under age 5 worldwide (about one in three) have never been recorded, depriving them of their right to a name and nationality
http://showhope.org/9-stats-about-the-orphan-crisis/

Thursday, September 22, 2011