Beautifully Absurd

When we arrived at the orphanage the morning of Day 3, Wednesday, April 6th, we got a rare glimpse of the groupa of children who are HIV positive. Ian’s orphanage is one that is especially for children with vision and eye issues, so these sweet babies also have some sort of vision problem.

What they have no problem with, is shining a beaming light. As we watched them Wednesday morning, they were in a dance class, you would never know the precarious situation of their health. One little toe headed boy looked at me from inside of the room as the children formed a circle around a stuffed purple horse, a child sized velvety purple rocking horse. His smile shone so brightly, he was so handsome, so sweet, so “normal” in his appearance. He smiled big at me for what seemed like ten minuets. He waved at me too, and I waved back. For a brief moment, I considered asking our facilitator about him, but that thought had to be suppressed, for I believe that we are doing all we can in bringing Vasya-Ian home. The burden of what God has shown us however, is heavy.

Such beautiful little souls, such alive little faces, such perfect children....and then you remember, as they imitate trotting around this funny looking over stuffed purple rocking horse, doing what must be a dance based around some sort of silly traditional tale...

that what you are witnessing is ABSURD.

That you stand in an orphanage that is at capacity with little humans, only four to seven years old...that is ABSURD.

That to rescue each one you have to cross the oceans three times, spend a year buried in a paperwork, and pay the powers that be in excess of thirty five thousand dollars to rescue just one of them, IS ABSURD.

That the children housed in this place are the LUCKY ONES in terms of being orphaned, a majority from birth, is completely ABSURD. They are lucky because a person knew they were there and rang the bell one day, proposed to start a new program...finding families for kids previously tossed away to those PAID to look after them. They are lucky because in this two story, half a century old building, the innards are clean and in decent repair. That they are not starving to death – yet. That they have a few toys lying around, and that the director and social director show signs of life – they care.

That some of these beauties suffer from the smallest of little things, like crossed eyes, and that has rendered them unwanted, untouched, and unloved, is totally ABSURD.

...and amidst all of this absurdity, you stand stunned, feet almost unmoveable, by the weight of how BEAUTIFUL Ian is, how beautiful every face we have seen is, how beautiful each hand that reaches for you, each word they say to you, no matter the language.

This evening, as the tears streamed down my face, my mind sunk down deep into trying to make sense of the absurdity of it all, my eyes again feasted upon the absolute, steeped in rich tradition and history, ornate BEAUTY that we as humans are capable of.

The Kirov Ballet. What a pleasure! Seated just feet from where Tzars sat, watching and hearing and delighting in the incredible artistry of the dance. The story itself, The Little Humpbacked Horse, absolutely ABSURD!...

The Mariinsky Theatre, in its 228th season (yes, that’s rights, in it’s two-hundred and twenty-eighth year of presenting ballet and opera performaces).

WOW, was really all I could say.

A replica of the Marinnsky, model size, to help people find their seats

The Tzars box seats

There I sat, juxtaposed between the HIV orphan horsey dance, and an entire two hours of highly trained dancers acting like silly horses! It is truly just a degree that separates the orphans life from ours, and what is ABSURDLY BEAUTIFUL about that fact is that with one thought (or many),

WE ALL HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE FATE OF AN ORPHANED CHILD

The most amazing moment of the night was when our facilitator leaned over to me and told that her son, who is a very sophsitacted twenty year old young man, remarked to her that he believes her work with special needs orphan adoption has changed him and their family for the better.

He said that in part because on this night, as the crowd took to their seats after the third bell to signal the start of the Little Humpbacked Horse rang,

This young man walked by us

In the United States, you might not even notice him. I only would because I have been immersed in everything related to Down Syndrome that I could find for the past nearly one year. But here, he was unique. Other people starred and whispered. Us three marveled, and we saw it as a sign of hope for this society.

Maxim, our facilitators son, remarked to me that the dance playing the Little Humpbacked Horse was...beautifully absurd, and obviously, that notion stuck with me as a way to organize my thoughts on what we are experiencing here.

Reece’s Rainbow has an arm of their ministry called Voice of Hope. Seeing this young man out and about is what Voice of Hope is all about. Please visit Reece's Rainbow to learn, to know, to see, and to pray about how you can make a beautiful gesture to right this absurd reality.