Beautiful Eyes, Searching for a Mama and Daddy

Look at this face.  This sweet girl is Melodie. I wonder what is going on behind those big, brown eyes.  I have photos of my little ones, pulled up to stand, proud in front of the camera while Mommy takes a picture to post on Facebook or email to proud grandparents.  Melodie's photo here is taken in an orphanage.  She doesn't have a mom or dad.  Her photo is not being posted for grandparent.  It's in a waiting children's list on Project HOPEFUL's website.

Melodie was born around Christmastime in 2009.  I don't know how she spent that first Christmas.  My baby was born right before Christmas the year before, and she spent the holiday in front of a tree overflowing with gifts she was too little to open, wearing a red dress with furry trim, surrounded by family who wanted to hold her non-stop, older siblings flinging gift wrap in the air in a flurry of excitement.

Melodie has spent two Christmases without a mom and dad so far.  She's a toddler, living in Eastern Europe in an orphanage.  She also has HIV.  She really needs a mom and dad.  She needs a home where she can have the medicine so available to us in the States.  Medicines that have caused HIV to be considered a "chronic illness," not a death sentence.  (I didn't even know this a few months ago.  I'm ashamed by my ignorance.)  Besides this medical diagnosis, she is a healthy little girl.

Would you please pray with me that Melodie would be found by the mom and dad the Lord knows by name even now?  Will you pray that God will move hearts and move mountains and clear the way for this little one to find her family?  Please pray with me that she will know the feeling of being a Daddy's girl, that she will one day wear matching aprons with her mommy and "help" in the kitchen, that she will pester an older sibling, or perhaps one day be an older sibling.  Please lift up this little one in prayer with me today, that our God who is the Defender of the fatherless and who "sets the lonely in families," according to His Word, will show up and show off in mighty and beautiful ways in the life of little Melodie.

Please share this post, if you feel led to do so.  If you have any questions about Melodie, or any of the children on the Waiting Kids list at Project HOPEFUL, please check out their website for contact information. This is a wonderful organization, committed to educating families about the truth of living with HIV and to helping children find HOPE and family.  Many of the little ones on the website will be resigned to spending the rest of their lives in mental institutions if they are not adopted by a certain age.  (Have you seen the documentaries Ann Curry did??? God forbid it...)  Please pray.  God has filled His Word with promises for the orphan, and He is true and faithful to His Word!