In July, my husband and I traveled to China to serve with Bring Me Hope to provide a camp experience for orphans. As prepared as you think you are with packing lists and immunizations and reading all you can beforehand, I wasn’t at all prepared for what God had in store for me.
My heart was broken. My heart was broken over each one of those children He brought to that camp. Broken.
During my second week in Xi’an, I had the tremendous blessing of spending 5 days with a sweet little boy [David]. I’ll never forget seeing him for the first time. He immediately reached for my hand and held it with a tight grip. He didn’t want to let me go. I noticed right away that he had some difficulty walking. And, as we walked to the edge of the room together to play, I became more aware of the trouble he had walking. As I walked easily in stride, I could feel his body shift from left to right as we walked hand in hand. He has scoliosis. I imagine that the years of little to no treatment and no family to help him get what he needs has contributed to his rhythmic gait.
But, his spirit is so bright. He smiled up at me with an excited grin and told our translator he was excited to come to camp. Every few minutes, he would shift his entire body to turn and smile at my translator and me. I remember consciously noticing what a beautiful smile he had.
That first afternoon, we played badminton until we could play no more. And, he laughed and played with joy despite the differences in how God formed his shape.
When I think about [David], I think first of his sweet spirit–quick to listen, eager to try new things and soak every bit out of camp that he could. He had two close buddies at camp. They all lived in the orphanage together, and it was very easy to tell that they were best buds, three peas in a pod. It occurred to me that they were probably the closest thing he has to a family, the closest thing he has experienced of what it feels like to belong.
He was made paper ready, made available for international adoption when he was only 5 years old.
He just turned 8.
And, for nearly 3 years, he has waited, paper ready to be adopted.
[David] seemed most happy when he was beside his two best friends. I couldn’t help but picture him home with a family, HIS family, and how happy he would be, how much potential he has, how much he’d grow and thrive. And, how tightly he’d hold the hand of his mother and father.
He is precious! I hope his family finds him soon. He has waited way too long.
Just over a month ago I had the privilege of advocating for a little girl who was born with the same SN as Khloe, and it also took away my skepticism about advocating, as withing 24 hours, this little girl already had people lining up to see her file, which was on a SF list before advocating for her. She is now matched and I look forward to seeing her family bring her home.
I will be praying that this precious little guys family finds him soon. Thanks for advocating for the least of these, Jenna… it DOES make a difference!!
God bless! <><
~Tanya
Advocating works. That is how I found our 3rd daughter. Her story is what changed my husbands mind from probably no way to okay. I keep looking for daughter #4 via advocates. I think that is the only way I will be able to convince my husband to adopt again. A cute face and a sad story.
As someone with 3 of 5 adopted children home because someone spoke up specifically for them, I can definately say advocacy works :) Whatever the way someone feels led to advocate….they should do so! Blessings, Jennifer