Monthly Archives: November 2011

Ready to Belong

Below is a guest post, written by one of our wonderful volunteers, Micah Crowe.  Enjoy her story about China and the little boy she met there.  Let’s find this little one a family!

“In July, my husband and I traveled to China to serve with Bring Me Hope to provide a camp experience for orphans. As prepared as you think you are with packing lists and immunizations and reading all you can beforehand, I wasn’t at all prepared for what He had in store for me.

My heart was broken. My heart was broken over each one of those children He brought to that camp. Broken.

During my second week in Xi’an, I had the tremendous blessing of spending 5 days with a sweet little boy [David]. I’ll never forget seeing him for the first time. He immediately reached for my hand and held it with a tight grip. He didn’t want to let me go. I noticed right away that he had some difficulty walking. And, as we walked to the edge of the room together to play, I became more aware of the trouble he had walking. As I walked easily in stride, I could feel his body shift from left to right as we walked hand in hand. He has scoliosis. I imagine that the years of little to no treatment and no family to help him get what he needs has contributed to his rhythmic gait.

But, his spirit is so bright. He smiled up at me with an excited grin and told our translator he was excited to come to camp. Every few minutes, he would shift his entire body to turn and smile at my translator and me. I remember consciously noticing what a beautiful smile he had.

That first afternoon, we played badminton until we could play no more. And, he laughed and played with joy despite the differences in how He formed his shape.

When I think about [David], I think first of his sweetness–quick to listen, eager to try new things and soak every bit out of camp that he could. He had two close buddies at camp. They all lived in the orphanage together, and it was very easy to tell that they were best buds, three peas in a pod. It occurred to me that they were probably the closest thing he has to a family, the closest thing he has experienced of what it feels like to belong.

He was made paper ready, made available for international adoption when he was only 5 years old.

He just turned 8.

And, for nearly 3 years, he has waited, paper ready to be adopted.

[David] seemed most happy when he was beside his two best friends. I couldn’t help but picture him home with a family, HIS family, and how happy he would be, how much potential he has, how much he’d grow and thrive. And, how tightly he’d hold the hand of his mother and father.”

An Update on Silas

Just a quick update on Silas and his upcoming surgery. For a while we have been trying to get a hold of Stanford and the neurosurgeon who said he would do the surgery for Silas. We were growing a bit weary of not knowing what was going on or hearing back from them.

This Monday He sent us a little ray of sunshine. We were able to get in touch with the neurosurgeon and he assured us that he is still waiting to hear back from Stanford about funding the surgery for Silas. Then we were able to contact those who are making the decision. They said they will be working on an answer for us and will keep us updated daily. After a few months of phone tag and feeling “in the dark”, this news has really lifted our spirits! He is always at work and our hope is ever growing. Please join us in lifting this up as they assured us a final decision about financing the surgery will come soon.

Dr Mindia also gave us some more details about the surgery that he is planning for Silas. It looks like the procedure he is planning on doing is only done in five medical facilities in the States and ten worldwide. We are working with a real expert! He thinks there is an outstanding chance of complete lesion resection and long term brain stem decompression, with reversal of neuralgic symptoms!

Thank you for continuing to lift this up. We will keep you updated on all He is doing!