Now You Know

 This fan was hanging in a shop in Guangzhou.  I can't seem to get the saying out of my mind.

On left, a 2 year old boy with a right arm limb difference. On right, Lei Qing Quan, in pink, just a little over 6 months ago, a boy with crossed eyes, "mei mei" possibly has spina bifida according to Leiney Grace's description of a scar on her lower back and a severe clubbed foot, and "di di" finger abnormality and speech issues. They are sitting in the room where they sleep.  Leiney Grace and "mei mei" used to sleep in the bed right behind where the 4 children are sitting.  Leiney Grace just told me yesterday that to the right of where they were sitting in the photo,  were 10 babies.  Bless her heart, she tried to move the cursor to the right to show me, but I explained that the picture was not taken of them so we couldn't see them. 

Lei Qing Quan, "mei mei" with a beautiful smile, and "di di"

Lei Qing Quan, "mei mei", and the adorable 2 year old boy with the short right arm

Now you know the precious faces of 4 children who are called "orphan".  Now you know of just 4 out of 147 million who wait for a mom and dad. 

 Their faces haunt me.  I lay in bed at night thinking of "mei mei" as Leiney Grace calls her.  They slept together, they ate sunflower seeds together, they played together.  When asked if "mei mei" was sad when Leiney Grace left the orphange, Leiney Grace replied "No, she said 'Go to Mama and Baba.' "  That echoes in my ears.  My heart is especially heavy for these 4 for several reasons.  My daughter once spent all her days with them.  She knew and loved them before she ever knew and loved us. She is almost 9 years old - she remembers them. She talks about them. 

My heart is heavy for these 4 because they reside at Leiyang orphange which is NOT an international adoption orphanage yet it is a very RURAL orphange.  These 4 children all have obvious physical deformities which is likely what landed them in an orphanage in the first place and will likely be the reason that they will not be adopted by a local Chinese family - it is culturally unacceptable.  If that weren't enough, being a rural orphanage is also a strike against local adoption - cultural views, stigma of adoption, not to mention the financial burden of adoption and another mouth to feed for a poor family living in the countryside.  These 4, whose faces and stories I know, have little chance at being adopted. . . unless they find mercy in someone like you or someone like me.

I am praying.  I am trying to have dialogue with the Leiyang SWI Director to encourage him to have these children's papers sent to an IA orphange to improve their chances at being adopted.  I am advocating.  Will you please pray about whether or not an orphan might find mercy in you?

David Platt says it well: “Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.”

                                     Now You Know