Katie R. Hurst

She needs you. There is no light in her world. She sits and waits and poses for the camera as someone takes one more picture to add to her file. They are all hoping someone will notice her and be moved to bring her into their family. She needs to be a daughter, and not an orphan. Her face needs to be kissed by a mother. A daddy needs to protect her from all harm. A momma needs to fall in love with a picture and a daddy needs to stand for her and be courageous enough to say yes. She weighs on my heart all day long, every day. As it turns out, I am human. I am just like you every day. I am tired. I am worn out. I am scared that I get this parenting thing more wrong than the times I get it right. Today my heart cannot rise to do this again. And I feel that weight. I carry it all day long. And yet she is the girl who sits on my shoulder. Day in and day out I pray for her. I ask God to whisper her name into the heart of a mother and a father somewhere. And she finds me in m