I still do not have any update on Sinh. I will post as soon as I hear something.
Yesterday, a dear friend of mine, Amy Eldridge, posted a story on her blog. She is out of town so I can't get her permission to paste some of that story here--but I do not think she will mind. Amy is the founder of Love Without Boundaries, a group that I am priviledged to work for. LWB exists to help orphans in China with medical, nutritional, and educational needs. www.lovewithoutbounaries.com . Here is Amy's story...
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"When I was first getting started with my work in China, one of the orphanages we helped did not do many special needs adoptions. They didn't think that the kids would be chosen, and so many of the children were getting older and watching only the healthy babies leave for their new homes. They would hear the aunties say to the babies, "oh today is a lucky day....you will have a family to love you." And the preschoolers and older kids would think to themselves....'it must be wonderful to have a family pick you.'
Well, we were going to do a heart surgery for one little girl in this orphanage, and so I asked for a photo of her so that we could raise funds. This orphanage didn't have a lot of nice clothing, so for this special photograph they wanted the little girl to look nice. Another little girl in the orphanage, named Yan, who was just three years old, had been given a beautiful red coat by a volunteer, and she loved that red coat and wore it all the time. The aunties went and took off her red coat to put on the child with heart disease for her photo, and Yan burst into tears crying. The aunties scolded her and said, "Yan, you must share your red coat...don't be selfish", but Yan kept crying and crying and kept trying to climb over the gate to get out in the hallway where the photo was being taken. Finally one aunty had heard enough, and so she walked over to Yan to take her back into the room. As she got closer, she realized that Yan was NOT crying because the other little girl was wearing her coat. No, not at all. Yan was crying while saying over and over, "take MY picture...please take MY picture. I want a family....take my picture so I can have a family, too. "
You see, at the ripe old age of three, Yan had already learned that the only way a baby got a family was by having her picture taken first. And she wanted a family of her own so badly, that she was crying to her aunties to please take her photo, too.
... I have been in orphanages when they do the files, and each and every time the aunties try to make the kids look at cute as possible. They say things like, 'smile pretty so a family will pick you." ...."
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It breaks my heart to think of all the children who get their pictures taken and then WAIT and WAIT to see if a family will choose them. It must seem like an eternity of waiting (remember how loooong it took for Christmas to come when we were kids?). It breaks my heart to think of those who never even get a chance to have their photo taken at all. What must they think? "I am not even good enough that the orphanage would TRY to find me a family." And for those who wait to see if a family will choose them based on their picture..."Was my smile cute enough? Will a family think I am special?"
Please pray for these little ones...and may I ask you to be brave enough to ask Him if you might be the one that could answer their prayers...and their yearning for a family. You could live without them...but can they live without you?
