AIDS, Rainbows, and Magic Johnson

I started off writing this blog post and I wanted it to be witty and informative. I wanted it to reference Magic Johnson, gays, and AIDS. All the things we think of when someone first mentions HIV. But none of it seemed to matter when I started typing this out. None of it seemed witty or informative at all. It just seemed like meaningless facts, spread out over a 25-year time span.  

The bottom line is we have been misinformed and our heads have been stuck in the sand about HIV. We need to know the facts because there are thousands of children sitting in orphanages all over the world being overlooked, just because we have not caught up to the 21st century on this issue, and educated ourselves on the truth.  

Here are the facts:

• You CANNOT contract HIV from casual contact. 
• HIV is not found in tears, sweat, snot, feces, and urine.
• You don't have to fear catching HIV through day to day activities with people who are HIV+. 
• You are free to share plates, cups, utensils, food, toilets, towels, linens and other household items without risk of transmission.
• There has never been a case of accidental transmission in a normal household setting.
• HIV can not be spread by shaking hands, hugging, and kissing infected individuals.
• HIV is considered a chronic, but manageable disease.
• AIDS is no longer considered a death sentence thanks to advancements in medical treatment.
• With proper medical care, children and adults live indefinitely with the virus.
• Medications called ARVs are used to treat HIV. These medicines work so well they can reduce the amount of HIV virus in the body to undetectable and restore a person's immune system to normal function.
• A person with HIV presents NO risk of transmission to others when people are not engaging in risky behaviors (sex, sharing needles, and birth or breast feeding)
• Some of the greatest challenges individuals with HIV will face are related to social stigma and ignorance about how the HIV virus is transmitted. 

Three years ago our family prayed a prayer that we continue to pray everyday: "God break our hearts for the things that break yours."  This is why we have set off on a journey to rescue a HIV+ child we have never met by spending thousands of dollars, combing through mountains of paperwork and waiting months (if not years) while we hope and pray to bring home a little boy who was given a death sentence. We want to love the unlovable, reach the unreachable, and just hope along the way we can see Jesus more clearly and be a light to those who seek to see him too.


Update: as of Janurary 27th Our paperwork is signed, first big lump sum paid, and sent over to our agency. We are now working on dossier and updating our homestudy. We are trying to file our I-600 before the March 31st cutt off. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.