The World Has 142,000,000 Orphans!!!

Starving girl in Guatemala waits for her orphanage ration!!!

Many starving children in an African country and many are homeless.

This baby languishes in an orphanage without mother or father to quench his desire for love and comfort.

Boys in a Russian orphanage who just need a family to guide them into God's Will for their life rather than left to their own devices for survival.

Orphans inside a cold and poorly heated room. They need the warmth of a mother's heart!!!

Orphan's shower room where they often hose off in cold water just to feel a little clean and comfortable!!!

Orphanage bathroom which doubles as a storage closet. Not even a roll of toilet paper for personal hygiene!!!

Sinks to wash dirty little hands and faces in cold water!!!

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I am getting so excited as we have 7 days until we travel. I never count the day that we travel as that is a day of haste;-). Then to make it seem even closer, I don't count the day we are in as it will pass in a matter of hours;-). So, I am in Friday, and have Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday to wait, and we have lift off!!! That's eight nights and eight days until we start the journey which will once again change our lives forever.

It will also change my family unit and throw us all into a state of transition and we will be adjusting to an altered family unit. A brand new cohesion of the family unit. Some of my family will transition well and some will have difficulty. I may have difficulty or it may be smooth as glass for me. It can not be predicted!!!

So, A little girl sits half way around the world. This child has no awareness of what is about to happen to her...to her life as she knows it. The adjustments she will contend with in regard to a foreign country, living with people she only slightly knows, who poorly speak her native language and vaguely understand it. A place where the food is strange and the customs are different.

Even the daily care of herself will differ greatly as she will have a mother to care for her when she needs assistance and to constrain her when she has been use to living without anyone with expectations of her performance for her needs. A mother to tell her that she must do things this way, or that way, when she is accustomed to being alone with her decisions. She is used to an institution's daily routines and taking care of herself all alone and with only the bare minimum.

If she didn't want a bath or shampoo her hair...okay whose to tell her otherwise. No clothes or furniture or space that belong to her. Many things will be different for her when she walks into her new life. But, for now she has no mother and no father. What family she might have in Russia is far too poor to care for her regardless of whether they love her or not. So, they might as well not love her, as it does no good for either one to love her. She is unloved due to her own physical limitations and the economics and social restraints of where she has been born.

Even if her family decided to try to take care of her, they would suffer great social stigmas associated with her physical handicaps, that would bring shame and degradation to her family. In Russia, less than perfect children or adults, are unacceptable and both the disabled person and their family are treated very poorly. Her future is likely to be a life of prostitution, begging on the streets, starvation, social abuse, unemployment, and eventually suicide from total despair.

This week is orphan week and I want to give my readers complete awareness in regard to these 142,000,000 orphans who are facing these very odds that my daughter-to-be is facing. Although, she does not know I am coming to give her hope and a future, at this point in time she knows only the things I have described above. In addition to her physical disabilities she is an older child. Unfortunately, her age also becomes another detrimental factor for her demise in her home country.

Vika's next stop in life, at age 10 years old (without us), is that she will next go to the institution for permanently damaged people. This institution houses children through adults for life or they can run away from the institution and become street rejects. Sound like a pleasant blog post??? Well, it's not...welcome to "orphan reality 101 class". But, do not despair, as Jesus has other posts to show you which will greatly satisfy your soul with joy.

At the moment that I write this post let's go to Vika's side.....Vika is sitting in an orphanage knowing that she is slated to go to the institution for damaged children. She probably is wondering why she has not been transferred yet. I can only assume, that at this point she would not dare to dream that a family is coming for her. She awaits her fate like a murderer would wait the death sentence on death row. She knows that the mortality rate in the institutions is 80%.

She also likely knows that she is a virgin at age 10 years old and that she will certainly be repeatedly raped and sexually abused once she is in this next institution. How would you feel as an adult....think of it...she's a 10 year old child thinking these things. It would be maddening to think of this fate as an adult...but, as a child!!!! I am so sorry this post is so straight forward. It is needed to help everyone pray precisely for this child and for those children left behind without parents. We can not save all the children like we are Vika.

But, perhaps through your awareness, other children will be saved, if not by direct adoption, then through sponsorship. Because, even though I can't save ALL the children, and make a huge difference in their lives. I can save this one child and make a magical difference in her life. So....it is now eight days and eight nights before, one little girl is brought down the hallway of her orphanage, and will see a woman (me) standing before her to say "Privet, dara guya dochinka. Ya tibya lu blue. Men-ya-za-vout Mama." or in English..."Hello, dear darling daughter. I love you. My name is mama!!!"

How will she respond??? I can not say for sure...but, I think her hearts desire will be met on that beautiful and special day. Please be there with me through the blog. Look at her darling face and see the photos of her attaching to Casey and Mama!!! Please, pray for the other 141,999,999 orphans still awaiting their fate!!!! Forgive me the boldness contained in this post. Happier posts and thrilling days are forthcoming!!! I love you all and therefore wish you many blessings and much love in your lives...Trisha (mom2Vika)