There are nearly 1 million abandoned and orphaned children in China.
Nearly a million.
All innocent superheroes-in-waiting. All Supermen and Superwomen just waiting for families to teach them how to fly. All heroes just waiting for someone to help them SEE and discover their “super.”
It doesn’t take perfect families to impact orphans. It doesn’t take perfect people. It simply takes the love of a PERFECT GOD, poured out through the available hearts of flawed families who are willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
If we don’t fight for these superheroes, who will?
If we don’t speak for them, who will?
If we don’t open our hands and our hearts and our homes, WHO WILL?
Not everyone can adopt. But everyone can do SOMETHING. EVERYONE can help tell the orphan story.
And this winter, you can help us tell the story of ours. <3
Meet Lin.
Lin is a 3-year-old boy who just LIGHTS UP A ROOM in his interview videos. This angel, who has an amputated foot, four fingers on each hand and split toes, appears to have the same indomitable spirit as his host brother, who ALSO has four fingers on one hand. Although he has no foot, Lin uses a prosthetic and kicks balls, runs around rooms and tackles every potential obstacle with a spark and a smile. His hosting nickname is actually “The Kicker.” And from our coordinator’s description and from the few videos we’ve seen, he doesn’t let ANYTHING stand in his way.
Lin is actually this sweet boy’s last name (which appears first when writing Chinese names on paper). And although we can’t reveal his FULL name, which we’ll be using inside of our home, our agency gave us permission to use this one piece of his name, which will be familiar to him and represent him well, when advocating.
Unlike DJ, who went by his real initials, Lin has actually had a taste of family, because he’s been in a foster home since he was abandoned at the front gate of his social welfare institute when he was an estimated 1 day old.
Abandoned. With his umbilical cord still attached. At 1 day old.
When we asked why his foster parents, who are both retired teachers in China and who have cared for him almost his entire life, didn’t adopt him, our translator told us they are nearly 60 years old and “too old and too poor.”
In fact, according to the new measures for foster families rolled out in China in 2014, the primary foster care caregiver must be between the ages of 30 and 65. Which means that, not only is this precious couple who has given so selflessly to this thriving little boy too old by adoption law to adopt Lin; soon, they’ll also be too old to foster him, as well. Though they adore this sweet boy with the sparkly eyes and the vibrant personality, our translator told us they have grandchildren his age. And they want him to have a forever home with parents who can care for him and his medical needs as he grows.
He hasn’t been able to find that forever home in China, where Great Wall told me in most cases, children with medical needs are not made available for domestic adoption. And nearly four years after being abandoned at the gate of an orphanage, he still waits … for a family willing to embrace a child with no foot and four fingers on each hand and continue teaching him what his foster family, who appears to have cared for him so very well, has already begun.
How to overcome. How to love. How to soar.
Could that family be yours?
We are believing, by the grace of God, that this spirited overcomer with the smile that could melt ice caps will LEAVE this home with a FOREVER FAMILY coming back for him. So that his amazing foster parents can rest in the joy of knowing that this little boy they have loved so well but can’t provide for much longer will have a HOME full of love and laughter FOREVER.
So this winter, JOIN us! Meet Lin! Come love on this sweetheart as he experiences the joys and chaos and commotion of SIBLINGS for the very first time. Of community. Of Christmas.
Together, by the grace of God, we can change the orphan story this Christmas, one deserving child at a time.
#changelinsstory #changetheorphanstory