New names and a new life

We had not previously posted the pictures or information about our girls at the advice of a friend. We had time to consider it all and have decided to introduce them to you.

We have decided to give them all new first names so that they will feel chosen and accepted into our family. Thier current first names will be thier middle names so they have a choice when they are older.

Meet Brooke Natasha Lewis! She is 7 and the only one that we know of that knew her mother. I cry every time I tell the story about her Dolls. We are told she plays with dolls and is very proud of them. She really lights up when talking about them. She is always obsessing over them and takes exceptional care of them. The poor child doesn’t understand why she is in an Orphanage and why her mommy left her there. So her way of dealing with it is to care for the dolls the way she wishes she would have been cared for. She says to her Dolls “I will always Love you and will never leave you so you will not feel lonely!

Meet Chloe Yana Lewis! She is 5 and the absolute cutest little button you'll ever see. We are told that she sings constantly and that she has an amazing voice for such a little girl.


Meet Tessa Katia Lewis! She is 6 and as you can see has SUPER smile power!

Meet Krista Oksana Lewis! The is the little angel that stole our hearts at first sight and started us on this journey. We still don't know much about her. Only that she is 6 and doesn't smile in any of her pictures.

If we don't talk about it how will the stigma ever go away?

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27

HIV isn't something our girls did, it is something they were born with. After much research and considerations we have decided to raise our girls with their condition in the open. We want all to know that HIV isn’t what it used to be and there is a lot of misinformation out there. We have done quite a bit of research, talked at length with Carolyn Twietmeyer at Project Hopeful and met with the Physician Team at the University of Chicago. We believe that it would been worse on our girls dealing with all the secrecy in thier lives than dealing with ignorance. Only when people start talking about HIV will the ignorance go away.

Most of what people know about HIV comes from the 80’s when we weren’t clear on what we were dealing with. Here is what we know today: HIV can NOT be spread through casual/household contact. HIV is NOT spread through hugging, kissing, shaking hands, sharing toys, sneezing, coughing, sharing food, sharing drinks, bathing, swimming or any other casual way. It has been proven that HIV and AIDS can only be spread through sexual contact, birth, breastfeeding and blood to blood contact (such as sharing needles). There has NEVER been a confirmed case of HIV being spread from family member to family member or through sports related contact. You have nothing to fear! It is merely a chronic treatable disease here in the US today. We can and will snuggle with, tickle, make funny noises by blowing on thier tummies and kiss our girls, "yes" on the lips! Our girls can play sports, go to school, get married, have children and live happily ever after in the Love of our Lord Jesus!

More information about Orphans with HIV can be found here:

http://www.projecthopeful.org/

http://positivelyadopted.com/