They Marched

They Marched.

The numbers ranging between 20,000 - 50,000 people.

They Marched.

Not a march like here.

We don't have streets lined with soldiers when we march.

We aren't being counted and recorded when we march.

Our names aren't being written down and our pictures aren't being taken so that the powers that be will know who we are.

Despite all of those worries - they marched.

They marched for THEIR children.

Pure and simple.

They carried banners to shame their leaders KNOWING the risk.  

Knowing just how high the stakes are for them.

They threw those banners of shame in a trash bin at the end of the march.

Making a statement for all the world to see.

They marched for their children.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Krem*in met the protest with swarms of riot police, who hemmed the crowd in with metal fences and drowned out their chants with the thumping of a helicopter that hovered overhead.

Yet despite all this - they marched.

They marched mostly in silence, chanting "shame" from time to time.

“They expected that, as usual, we would swallow it, keep quiet,” Ms. Rostova said. “We have had two weeks to think about this law, and not everyone understood right away, but as time passed, people realized what it means to leave invalids, sick children, in Rus*ia, where there is no help. Everyone knows what kind of medicine we have here.” 

They marched knowing that the ban "effectively condemns Rus*ian children in state care to lives of misery in what they say are underfunded and sometimes brutal institutions.  Nearly 130,000 children were eligible for adoption in the country as of late December, according to official figures. In 2011, that number was 82,000, while just 7,400 were adopted by Rus*ian nationals that year."

They marched for the children.

They marched to show support to the 500-1,000 US families who are currently in process to adopt.

They marched for the 120,000 other children who are desperate for families to cross the ocean for them.

They marched in the capital and they marched in smaller protests across the country.

Seeing the pictures makes me want to cry and rejoice at the same time.

I weep for people who are forced to march for their children.  

I weep because their system IS broken and it DOES need to be fixed and children DO need to stay in their own country.  I weep for the Mamas and the Papas in that crowd who gave up their precious treasures at birth because that is just what you do over there.  You give up the ones who are broken.  I weep because we are no better in our abortion happy America.   I weep because poverty and alcohol and sickness and despair causes so many to send their children away in hopes of giving them a better life.  

I weep for people who are forced to march for their children.

I do weep but I also rejoice.  I rejoice that they are recognizing, maybe some for the first time, the worth of their children.  They are not pawns to be played with by government officials.  They are their precious offspring.  They are worth the risk.  They are worth having their names written down in books and their pictures taken by officials.  

They are their children and they marched for them.

I can't march with them but I can stand and applaud what they did.

I can applaud what they did and I can pray that their voices will be heard by the powers that be over there.

They came out in support of  the US.  They came out to support adoptions by Americans.  

They came out because they know that their system is broken and until it is fixed - their babes need to get out of the institutes over there.  

I applaud them.  I pray for them.  I pray for their children.

I pray for the 500-1,000 families in process who are being told that the doors may again close.  I pray for the hundreds of thousands of children who are shut away behind fences and walls.

I pray and I weep and I rejoice.

PLEASE PRAY WITH ME!  The powers that be over there are making some major heavy decisions and hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance.  The news is ever-changing.  It is a roller-coaster ride of emotions as we watch with held breath. Please continue to lift up the families.  I know that they are being held up only because of the prayers being lifted on their behalf.  

Especially pray right now for the 46 families who passed court and are all either on their way or getting ready to leave to get their children.  Pray that NOTHING stands in their way and that this first wave of babes is able to get out.

They Marched.  

We Pray.