Day 24: St Petersburg, Russia.
I met her in 2007 at Orphanage 2. People said it was the best place for the discarded to live, because the director there had true compassion and longed for the children to be in families. Most of the orphans would live out their days in institutional care, caught in a system that offered little support for family reunification or adoption. But Sasha was a true orphan, and she and her brother prayed for a family to call their own.
I saw her again in 2009. She had been practicing English. “I can count 20!” she said with a smile. “I good girl. I hope family.” She and her brother had traveled to the United States to visit – but the people who wanted her didn’t want him. So they returned to Orphanage 2. And she prayed.
I returned to Orphanage 2 in 2012, just before it was closed and the children were scattered to other places. Sasha wasn’t there. Her prayer had been answered. She and her brother had been adopted by an Italian family with lots of land and love to share.
She had prayed for five years – most of her life – for her heart’s delight. Sasha gives me courage to do the same.
*****
Sasha’s photo was originally part of this post. Three of the prayers have been answered. I’m still praying for rain – and I won’t stop till it comes.
What a beautiful post! To have faith like a child is what I pray!!!
Answered prayers give me hope. 🙂
Me too. So much hope.
What a precious photo! So glad that Sasha’s prayers were answered & she was placed in a home where she would be loved. So heartbreaking to think of people, never mind children, to be thought of as discarded. Grateful our God responds to our cried! Visiting from the 31 Dayers FB site. This is the joy of this challenge – to “meet” new friends 🙂 Glad to have met you!
I’m thankful that no one is discarded by God. There are no second-runs, no leftovers, no deeply discounted, no last year’s model, no gone-too-far or done-too-much, no unplanned or in the way…
Great meeting you too!
Thank you for sharing a story of hope! 🙂
How precious! Praying Sasha and her brother are thriving.
What a hopeful and beautiful post about a little girl who never gave up hope herself. Her little face is beyond words. Thank you for sharing this.