Ask me why

The question has been raised, "Why, China?", to which I have no concrete answer, but I will attempt to give one... 

Years ago when Bryan and I discussed adoption and its role in our life, it was always an assumption that we would adopt out of the foster system. We knew it would probably break our hearts, we knew it was risky business, but it made the most logical sense. Not only were these children in our backyards, but financially it is a great deal less expensive. So, that was our plan. We would eventually adopt, and it would be from fostering, or from within our state.

Obviously that is not how it turned out. I think the only answer to the question, "Why, China?" is because God said so. In my last blog post, I told you my heart heard God speak. I wasn't looking at China for orphans. I wasn't seeking out children, period. We had just set a date for closing on our new home! We have been in the area less than a year, and we were still settling in. Now was not the time to grow our family... or so we thought.

You know that old joke, "Wanna hear God laugh? Then tell Him your plans." There is a reason that joke is still told today. We think we have it all figured out, don't we? Our lives, our careers, our children's futures, all just pieces on a chessboard waiting to be played. We know that we know how we want things to go. Let me tell you, you just don't know.

I didn't know that I would fall in love with a little boy I had never met. I didn't know that falling in love with said child was going to wreck my world (in a good way). I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I didn't know, plain and simple. 

I don't know why China, but this is what I do know. Why not China? This child in China is in just as much need for a mommy and daddy as a child here. This child needs a home, this child needs love, this child needs us. There are orphans EVERYWHERE. I can't adopt them all, but I can this one. The fact that he is in China is a detail, a description, a place of origin.

I believe if we as Christians spent more time reading and studying God's word, and realizing the significance of our own adoption in the family of Christ, it should move us to action. You may not be able to adopt for some valid reason, but why can't you sponsor? You may have the room in your home and in your hearts for another child that may not look like you, but needs you all the same. Maybe that child is in the neighboring county, maybe they are across the world. Why can't you bring some measure of peace and comfort to a child whose very base needs have never been met? The reality of the situation is, is there will always be a need. 

China is a nation full of suffering children. Most of the orphans are being abandoned because they are disabled or disfigured, and their parents can't afford the care they need or simply won't seek it out. From congenital heart disease to cleft palates, the "lucky" children are left on the steps of churches, law enforcement offices, and in baby hatches. The unlucky ones are left in garbage cans, gutters and dirty alley ways. Many die before they receive care, and rarely are they adopted by people that look like them. There are the strict population rules, and the stigma associated with an "imperfect" child and not least of reasons, the sincere lack of finances to care for their own.

In China when children reach the age of 14 they are no longer adoptable. They lose their chance at a forever home. The lucky ones may be hired on to help at the orphanage they were raised in. Some may be turned out into a village to find work. And then there is the horrible reality of human trafficking. Who is more vulnerable to becoming a victim to human trafficking than someone no one will ever miss?

Tong was abandoned outside a social services office. He was two months old. He had surgery, albeit unsuccessful, when he was less than six months old to correct a hemangioma obstructing his left eye. He has been in one of the better foster homes all of his mere four years of life. He has been raised with 40 plus children and "aunts" as his family system. He is one of the lucky ones. 

You ask me, "Why, China?" I reply, "why not?" God spoke to my heart the evening of February 18, 2017. He brought to my attention through social media a little boy who needs a family. He has never made Himself more clear to me in my 38 years of life. That still small voice was more like 120 joules of energy to my heart. China is not convenient, it was never on my bucket list to go there and when it's all said and done, we will have spent a lot of money to bring our son home. But then again, God's never been in the "taking it easy" kind of business.

He said, "take up your cross and follow me". He told us we must love Him more than our parents, using a strong word, "hate". He said we can't do things our way and His way. He said He would rather us be hot or cold, but would spit out the lukewarm. None of that is easy.

Show Hope is a movement organized by Christian song writer and singer, Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, to help remove the barriers between orphans and their forever families. We will actually be applying for a grant with them once our home study is complete. These are 2 statistics I found on their web page, www.showhope.org regarding the state of orphans around the world. 

• 81.5 million Americans have considered adoption. If just 1 in 500 of these adults adopted, every waiting child would have a permanent family.
• Asia is home to the largest number of orphaned children in the world: 60 million, at last count

So many have asked why. That is why.