This is not about Henry....

...but it could have been.

Henry's fate in the country he was born in was sealed.

To lie in a crib in an orphanage. All day. Every day.

To never go outside except in an ambulance for monthly trips to the hospital for aspiration pneumonia.

To die during one of these illnesses.

According to Henry's pulmonologist, he would not have survived the winter after we brought him home in the fall of 2011.

We paid a ransom to give Henry 14 months of love. Of a family.

And we received infinitely more than we gave.

There was another beautiful baby boy who was born in the same country.

And he was transferred out of the baby house to an institution.

Someone in Canada loved him.

His Reeces Rainbow name was Hanson and he died alone just days ago, not knowing he was loved from afar.

Today in Canada there will be a Requiem High Mass said for Hanson. With a full choir. With many in attendance. The little boy who lived and died alone will, for a few hours, be surrounded by love on this earth just as he is now awash with love in heaven.

My dear friend Julia asked on her blog  that we all remember Hanson today and let his special friend in Canada know that we are joining them in spirit by lighting candles for Hanson, the other boys from his institution who have been found by their families, and the ones who still wait ("The Lost Boys").

Someone much more talented than I made these candles to represent our thoughts and prayers.

I would ask you to pray especially for those "Lost Boys" (names under the pink candles) who are in the same place and still need brave families to step out and rescue and love them.

Because every boy deserves a family...

Even if it costs a ransom....

Even if it is just for 14 months....

Rest in the peace of Jesus with my sweet Henry sweet Hanson.