Today was an emotional day, to say the least. We laughed. We wept. And in it all, we worshiped. The Father to the fatherless is providing for orphans, and you and I have the privilege of being a part of His plan. We’ll start from the beginning.

We arrived this morning at the special needs orphanage in MaoMing, China. We drove through the gate—the same gate where 16 months ago, our daughter was left early one morning in a brown paper box. It is illegal for a woman to abandon her baby; consequently, children are left periodically in the early morning while it is still dark. Mara Ruth was premature, and a day or two after she was born, she was found lying at this gate before dawn broke.



Past the gate, we drove into the orphanage courtyard. This building predominantly houses children of various ages, though there is also an area where senior adults are cared for in assisted living. Different floors contain classrooms, eating areas, playrooms, and bedrooms (full with either beds or cribs).



When families visit this orphanage (or many other orphanages in China), there are only certain places that they are allowed to go and certain things that they are allowed to do. Our trip was unique due to the fact that our adoption facilitators had work to do in this orphanage, and part of our reason for being here was to help serve alongside them. The first people we had an opportunity to meet were the directors of the orphanage. It was truly an honor to express gratitude and give gifts to these women who are caring for very needy children.



We then had an opportunity to celebrate one of the children’s birthdays. They do a celebration like this for every child’s birthday, an incredible picture of the way these women are nurturing these kids. It was quite a scene to round the corner and see this joy-filled room celebrating a 4-year-old girl’s birthday…

 

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/32802203 w=400&h=225]

 

Caleb had the privilege of giving this precious girl a birthday gift from us…

 

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/32808706 w=400&h=225]

 

It was pretty special all throughout the day to see Caleb’s excitement about being able to serve and love on kids who don’t have a mom or dad.

 



After spending time in a couple of other different places in the orphanage, our next stop was the floor where Mara Ruth used to live, eat, sleep, and play. We were looking forward to this moment, and we had prayed intentionally for it. Knowing that just one week ago today, Mara Ruth was taken from this place to a totally different city and placed in the arms of completely foreign people, we were not sure how she would react to being back. Similarly, we were not sure how the caregivers at the orphanage would react, especially her primary caregiver. We had seen one particular woman in most of Mara Ruth’s pictures, and we had been told that she was the primary person to care for her over the last 16 months. This one woman had held our little girl, fed her, nurtured her, changed her diapers, cared for her when she was sick, played with her, taught her, and simply been the most important person in Mara Ruth’s life to this point. We knew that meeting this caregiver would be an emotional moment on a variety of different levels—for Mara Ruth, for the caregiver, and for us—and we had prayed specifically for that time. We wanted this woman to know how grateful we are to her, and at the same time, we didn’t want Mara Ruth to be upset to see this caregiver only to be pulled away once again a few minutes later.

So with nervous anticipation, our journey to Mara Ruth’s floor began. First, we saw the room where she used to play…



Then we saw the bed where Mara Ruth used to sleep in a room full of cribs…





We saw the kitchen where she used to have her meals…



And then we saw her caregiver. As soon as she walked into the room, we recognized her from the pictures we had seen. A smile spread across her face and she began walking toward where Heather was holding Mara Ruth. The caregiver reached toward Mara Ruth, and with an eager yet cautious smile, Mara Ruth extended her arms to the caregiver.



The caregiver held Mara Ruth tightly for a few short seconds. Then, Mara Ruth quietly and carefully turned back and reached for Heather. And from this point on, Mara Ruth would hold onto Heather the rest of the time we were there. Though I obviously have no idea what all was going on in the heart and mind of our little 16-month-old girl, it was as if she gave her caregiver a hug good-bye and then decided she was ready to hold on to her new mommy from this point forward. It was truly a poignant moment, I think, for all of us involved…

 

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/32803428 w=400&h=225]

 

We praise God for this caregiver (in the yellow below) and the woman who leads the caregiver program in this orphanage (in the black below), and we pray for them—that they will know just how grateful we are for them, and even more that they will know the Father’s care for them in Christ.



The rest of our day was filled with meeting and playing with other children in the orphanage. Many of them are Mara Ruth’s friends whom she has been with every day. Others are older and so would not have been around Mara Ruth. Regardless of age, many of them are waiting to be adopted.

We have worked with an absolutely wonderful adoption agency in this process. Lifeline Children’s Services (www.lifelineadoption.org) cares for children through adoption, foster care, and a variety of other ministries in both the United States and around the world. Many of the staff at Lifeline are members of Brook Hills, and many of the families at Brook Hills have adopted through Lifeline. In addition, Lifeline has been one of our church’s primary partners in our efforts to care for all of the foster children in our county.

Recently, Lifeline entered into a partnership with this orphanage in MaoMing to care for the approximately 60 special needs children who live here. Lifeline’s goal is to find parents for as many of these children as possible, in addition to providing support for children with especially severe special needs. We met so many of these kids today, some of whom have already been matched through Lifeline, and others who are still waiting for a family to adopt them. They have varying special needs, and many of them are minor. For example, we met Bobby, who is almost two years old. He had a heart defect that has now been fixed, yet he is still included in this special needs program with Lifeline.



Or Brandon, who is also two-years-old. He has only a minor speech delay.



Because Brandon and Bobby do not have major special needs, they are only allowed to be available through the Lifeline partnership program for a short period of time. If they are not matched with a family in the next month, they will have to wait and be put on the much longer list of children to be adopted in all of China, and it may be years before they are matched with parents, if ever.

I say “if ever” because many children stay on that country-wide list for years without being matched with a family, and many of those children are boys. We met three older boys who have been on the list of children to be adopted for many years. One of them, Michael, is 13-years-old, and once he turns 14, he will no longer have a chance of being adopted. He is an extremely kind and perfectly healthy boy (i.e., no special need beyond simply being a boy in an orphanage in China), he loves sports, and when we asked him what he likes to do, the first thing he said was, “I would like to have a family with brothers and sisters to love.” Here is Michael…



Our hearts were heavy as we spoke with Michael, knowing that if nothing changes, he will literally enter the rest of his life without a mom or dad. And then there’s Paul and John. They are both 10-years-old. They cannot hear, but they are extremely gifted when it comes to writing and drawing. I asked them to hold up a couple of the pictures they have stitched, sewn, or painted. Here is Paul…



And here is John (he was pretty shy and modest when I told him I wanted to take a picture with his artwork)…



These are only five examples of waiting children, and there are others like them. The most urgent ones in the group above are Brandon and Bobby (who would need to be pursued for adoption within the next month), and Michael (who, as I mentioned, has only a few months left before he is beyond the point of eligibility for adoption according to Chinese regulations). Beyond them, there are detailed profiles of waiting children in this MaoMing orphanage HERE, and part of the reason we were there today was to get information on children who will be added to this website over the coming months. As we interacted with these children, it was clear that the primary special need each one of them has is a mom and dad who will give them a family and a home.

I know that if you are reading this blog, you likely weren’t ready for an invitation to adopt at the end of this post. But I must say that I have also prayed for this moment. For the moment when someone reads this blog, sees Michael, Bobby, Brandon, Paul, John, one of the other children on the MaoMing page now or in the days ahead, or another child altogether, and the Lord moves your heart to at least consider the potential of making this journey your own. A host of questions and concerns may come to your mind when you even consider adoption, and there are amazing people at Lifeline (as well as other agencies) who would love to help you process through those. I’m convinced that such questions and concerns will ultimately prove to be opportunities for God to show His faithfulness in ways you never could have imagined. Our Father is committed to providing for the fatherless, and I trust that He will grant you grace to follow Him if He is leading you to become a part of His plan to care for one of these precious children in need.

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