Vietnamese Orphan

This young woman is an orphanage worker who brought this infant boy born with a cleft lip to have it repaired. On April 13, 2010 she was seated with the parents of children with facial deformities who awaited their surgeries at the Odontomaxillofacial Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Her focus was fully on the well-being of this little boy. All who waited sat in 100+F heat prior to the surgeries.

She was next seen in the recovery room seated in the bed with the boy after his surgery. Her tears for this helpless, wonderful child fell down her cheeks as she stroked his forehead and regarded his lip incision. We thank God for every one of these workers who stand in the gap for children who are orphaned at birth. We recognize that such a deformity can be too overwhelming for parents to manage or accept, perhaps due to the stigma associated with deformities or an inability to provide for the child's medical needs.

We pray not only for this child, but many others who need strong advocates to care for them. We also pray these orphans will experience the love of our heavenly Father that is conveyed through adoptive parents. It is truly our pleasure to provide reconstructive surgeries for "the least of these" whenever our Face the Challenge teams can. We wish we knew the rest of their stories, but we are trusting God to provide.