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…
Caleb had the privilege of giving this precious girl a birthday gift from us…
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…
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.
Posted by Nathan Warner on November 28, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Thanks, David. The need is so great, yet the financial obligations for international adoptions are overwhelming. My family is seeking to adopt internationally, but the financial aspects of this slows things way down. I wish the process would be less complicate, but more importantly more financially feasible. I pray God will send someone to bring these young men into their forever homes.
Posted by paige on December 1, 2011 at 1:54 am
I pray that if the lord wills you to adopt, he will provide the finances!
Posted by Laura Wilson on November 28, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Thank you so much for sharing such a special time in your life! I have been wonderfully blessed as God has made a way for me to adopt two girls from China and two boys domestically in the United States. My heart yearns to be able to bring more children into my home from China, but as a single woman that door has been closed to me. I trust God if that is his plan for me, He will make a way!
Posted by Carolyn Brewer on November 28, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Heavenly Father, I lift these boys up to You, asking that as they wait you will calm their hearts to know they have a Heavenly Father that loves them so….I pray that they will come to see the truth of Jeremiah 29:11-13…that You have a plan for their lives, a plan to give them a hope and a future…..often times with great cost……may they each grow, as Jesus grew, in wisdom, stature and in favor with You and men..Luke 2:52…May they come to know Your heart for them, as You love them so…..
Thank you David and Heather for sharing this wonderful family experience with the world to see God’s love, grace and mercy through each of you…..
Blessings in Christ….
Posted by Lauren on November 28, 2011 at 5:01 pm
What a precious answer to specific prayer!! Mara Ruth has “only” been with The Platts for a week and, yet, the Lord has set it in her heart that she is HOME. Oh, I am weeping for joy! Praise our sweet, heavenly Father for His deep love for His children- the adoptive family AND adopted child. Thank you for sharing with us!
Posted by Karin F on November 28, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Can you share Michael’s DOB? Is he on the shared list? We would love to advocate for him!
Posted by Tanya Thom on November 28, 2011 at 5:42 pm
I love Lifeline and everything they stand for! It is our hope to use them for our next adoption journey. We are praying about God’s timing and provisions as we wait on Him to lead the way to our next child in His timing. The MaoMing children are all SO precious and anyone who is blessed to be chosen as the parents of these lovely kiddos are just that: BLESSED!!
Posted by Brian & Angela S via Lifeline on November 28, 2011 at 7:06 pm
You have no idea what a blessing your post was for my family today! The birthday party is for our soon-to-be daughter Mao Xin Xun who turned four today! We sent her a birthday package and hoped that somehow we would get a few photos back. Imagine our surprise to open your blog and find video! Yay God!!! Just one more thing – we are also in the process of adopting Mao Xiaoliu who is the taller girl dressed in red and is sitting next to the birthday girl. Thank you for this blessing today!
Posted by gwen oatsvall on November 28, 2011 at 7:30 pm
I am completely a puddle right now … seeing MR hold you so tightly as she said goodbye to her caregiver brought a flood of memories from my first trip … I pray hearts are moved by your journey to give a child a home, a child a family, and a child the love they deserve … thanks and love ya !!!
Posted by Kim on November 28, 2011 at 10:14 pm
Thank you for letting so many be a part of this journey with you and your family. What a blessing to all of us! My family and I live outside of Orlando, Florida and have been “radically” impacted by the teachings of your church in many ways! In particular, our eyes have been opened to the needs of orphans all over our country and the world. We have recently completed the classes here in Seminole County to foster and adopt. We are currently caring for my 83 year old, very ill mother so we do not have plans to open our home just yet to the foster care system but we will be prepared when the time comes! However, we are hosting a young orphan (Yarich) from the Ukraine this Christmas season. He will stay with us for about 3 weeks to enjoy the blessing of a family and to hopefully (and prayerfully) find a forever family. As part of this process, we will actually need to be in Atlanta in December. And, because your church is so close to the Atlanta area, we are actually planning to drive our family to Birmingham for the day (December 18) so that we can worship at Brook Hills! We are looking forward to that morning with great anticipation and, that afternoon, we are excited to pick up Yarich from the Atlanta airport. It’s going to be a GREAT day!
Posted by Konni on November 29, 2011 at 12:08 am
So glad you shared this post. Praying for forever families for these precious children. I know the Lord will call many hearts to respond . . . praying that those who hear His voice will be faithful to follow, knowing that the Lord will provide for all their needs. What a beautiful story He is writing!
Posted by Rebecca Maas on November 29, 2011 at 6:29 am
We have inquired about Dakota and Drake and are waiting to get information on their files. They both have down syndrome. Did you happen to spend time with them?
Posted by DawnK on November 29, 2011 at 6:45 am
Thank you for taking the time to share about your time there and advocate for those needing families! How wonderful that Mara Ruth reached back for Heather, already having that bond! Love hearing what the Lord is doing while you are there!
Posted by Brent Moore on November 29, 2011 at 7:15 am
Wow!! I have not think to pray for the ones that are or will be taking care of our little girl in Ethiopia. Cannot wait to experience what your family has, I have shared your blog with others in my family. Thanks for letting us be a part of it.
Posted by laura k on November 29, 2011 at 7:33 am
In October we inquired about several of the mao ming children (younger boys like Bobby and Brandon) but were not “allowed” by Lifeline to match with them since they are considered agency specific (and we are with a separate agency). It’s a little frustrating for me to see that they are still waiting…
So in this case, we are eager for them to be returned to the “longer list” so our agency will have access to their files
But i do agree that IN MOST CASES children on agency specific lists have a greater chance of being adopted since agencies are great advocates and skilled at finding homes! For young boys with minor needs though, my limited experience is that they will not wait too long on the shared listing.
Our family lives and works here in China and is waiting to be matched with a China SN boy
On a separate note, I thoroughly enjoyed your timely reminder that the initiative for earthly adoption comes from the parent, and that the initiator of my spiritual adoption was Jesus and Jesus alone.
It’s an encouragement to be a small part of your journey through the blog. thank you
Posted by Michele Radue Willis on November 29, 2011 at 9:05 am
It both warms and breaks my heart to see MaoMing all at the same time. I see my little MJ in one of the pictures. She’s looking up at MR in the pictures where MR is reaching for her care giver!!! I’m so excited to read this update…can’t wait until we get to go too!
Posted by Beth on November 29, 2011 at 1:22 pm
We are adopting a 4 year old girl from China and praying for LOA today! We have requested an expedited process via a letter from the doctor at the UAB-IAC Clinic. We so hope to travel before Christmas. It has been a long journey and we are all weary from the waiting process. Your blog gave encouragement and renewed trust that in HIS timing it will all come to pass. God’s richest blessings to you and your family!
Posted by Julee Feser on November 29, 2011 at 7:34 pm
I am so happy to be able to log onto your blog! I am in china now and finally figured out how to get around internet blocking issues. I love your videos abo9ut Maoming. i so wanted to visit there but won’t have time this trip. i REALLY want to advocate for the Down Syndrome kids there. I wonder if i will see you guys in gaungzhou or just miss you? We will be leaving Nanning Friday night for Guangzhou. We’ll be at the Garden with other Lifeline families..I will be the mom with four chinese daughters…two 11 yr olds from home and two newly adopted precious toddlers (down syndrome)…if I miss you guys…thank you for sharing your journey and your faith in our GREAT God! I love that you have suchh a heart for adoption
Blessings…
Julee
wife to Mike
mommy to many
now mommy to 28…20 of whom are adopted
Posted by jwunderlich on November 29, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Reblogged this on Faith and Family and commented:
What a blessing to read… If you have any thoughts on adoption please read this.
Posted by Amy Patterson on November 29, 2011 at 11:01 pm
You don’t know me – I am a Christian mommy to 5 biological boys and have wanted a daughter my entire life. We are finally adopting our little girl – we hope to travel in the spring. God used a stranger to send me your blog. I follow HUNDREDS of adoption blogs about China, so I didn’t think anything of it. There are MILLIONS of orphans in the world, mostly in China. There are THOUSANDS of orphanages in China. So what are the odds that she sent me your blog and I begin reading it and get Godwink Goosebumps and have my breath taken away when I realize you are AT MY DAUGHTER’S ORPHANGE AND SHE IS THERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!! YOU PROBABLY SAW HER, MAYBE EVEN TALKED TO HER OR HELD HER! The best part is that we were told we most likely will not be allowed to visit the orphanage, or get a glimpse into her world and her life before us, that we will have to fly directly into Guangzhou and have her brought to us instead. This was hard to hear. But now, thanks to you, I have precious photos to cling to and feel connected….I can see where she sleeps and where she plays…see who she plays with….you have no idea how meaningful that is to me (well, maybe you do, being an adoptive parent AND a pastor AND an award winning author
but anyway, you get the idea! Thank you. Yours in Christ, Amy Patterson from Michigan
Posted by Leanna Barkhouse on November 30, 2011 at 6:07 pm
I have no idea what the date on this post is, but I stumbled across this post while reading Janice Walker’s page and I’m just wondering, if bobby and Brandon had a month before they would go on a much longer waiting list, how long do they have now? My hope for them is that somehow, someway, God Almight can intervene and bring them home to a Mama and Papa that love them as much as they possibly can.
Posted by Jennifer on November 30, 2011 at 10:29 pm
We’ve been praying about which adoption agency to work with to begin our second adoption. We are thankful for your blog, and as an answer to prayer we just downloaded the Lifeline initial application. Thank you, and glory to God for the great things He has done (…is doing and will do).
Posted by martha@berrybliz on December 1, 2011 at 8:41 am
I recognize our guide Rebecca in the third photo down. She was our guide 9 months ago and she was awesome. She was the lifeline/small world guide. She and her crew really took great care of us
Posted by Laura Beth on December 3, 2011 at 7:07 pm
What a blessing your blog is to others! And your blog is especially special to me because we are in the process to bring home one of those Maoming boys!!!!!!!!!!! He is currently in foster care, but he has been at that SWI. He is with Lifeline. Thank you for giving me insight into his world and “home.”
Posted by Angie on December 5, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Were you able to speak with Michael directly? Do you have any other impressions of him?
Posted by Wendi on January 14, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Hello! We have watching the Maoming list for awhile as we wait for our waiting child to come home from Korea. One little in particular, Daisy, I notice she is in the 8th picture from the bottom of this blog. Do you have any more photos of her? I would love to see or hear more about her. She really has touched my heart!