Orphan defined!

My friend Jody put the definition for orphan on her blog. It is: "a person or thing bereft of protection or position." That hit me right between the eyes! If you take this as the definition, is is "just" the children who have no mother or father? I have so many people ask me where Toben's parents are? Why would they give him up? But its funny how no one asks me that about Noah....why is that? Is it because we in America think so highly of ourselves that we have the right to do whatever is comfortable for us (ie: place a child for adoption), but people in Africa should only do that if they are dead?

If you see an orphan as a person or thing bereft of protection or position, then the statistics are all wrong! I would venture to say there are MANY more orphans in the world than UNICEF or anyone else will ever know!