Ivan

This little guy totally stole my heart. I went to the orphan hospital a few days ago with a ministry from our base called Mother's Care. There are lots of babies there with lots of different diseases. Some have physical deformities, some have severe Down's Syndrome, some just have simple colds.

This baby's name is Ivan. He's five months old and is here in the hospital with a pretty bad cold. I picked him up and just held him and talked to him. He was just so adorable and little and so cute! As I played with him, I noticed that he also had a cast on his leg. I have no idea how a baby this little broke his leg.

There's nothing very serious wrong with Ivan, but as I held him, I began to think about his situation. My mom just sent me some pictures of my new little nephews, Lane and Olly. They're just adorable! But as I held Ivan, I thought of the difference between him and my nephews. Lane and Olly have parents who would do anything for them. They have grandparents and plenty of aunts and uncles that would take care of them if anything happened to their parents. Lane and Olly have nothing to worry about. But Ivan has no one. I come into the hospital and the people from Mother's Care come to the orphanages and hold him for a few hours and play with him, but we put him down and go home. We try to help and pour as much love into him as possible, but we're not his parents. He has no one who cares about him. It hurt my heart so much.

Of course I can't save everyone. Even if some wonderful family adopts Ivan, there are thousands like him, and most of them even have physical barriers to having a fully functional life. I'm not trying to be all bleeding heart, but it's something that is heavy on the mind these days. It's such an eye-opening experience to go there and see these babies.