Archive for the ‘Jasmine (Shuang Shuang)’ Category
-
Jasmine’s Plea
About a year ago, Jasmine and I had a conversation about orphanages. We discussed the orphanage where Jasmine lived, the other orphanages that her brothers and sisters had lived in, and other orphanages in other countries around the world. This conversation had started because I showed Jasmine a picture of a 14 year old girl in an Ukranian orphanage.
This little girl would age out in September of 2020. Aging out means you are no longer able to be adopted. Jasmine was so sad about this little girl. We talked about how little this girl was, how she had laid in a crib for her whole life, and how we hoped that she would someday get a family.
Many months later Jasmine came to me with a proposal. She had written a letter and in it she said, “I feel really sad for that little girl because I have so much love in my life sometimes I don’t even think about it so I want to share my love with her because I got so lucky to get adopted right before I aged out.”
Jasmine understands almost not getting a family. In China you age out at the age of 14. We adopted Jasmine 3 weeks before she turned 14. She remembers feeling lost and hopeless and like she might never get a family.
Jasmine went on to say, “I never going to get married. I can’t do lots of things but I could love her mama. I could sit by her bedside. I could read to her. I could hold her hand. We could watch t.v. together. She would have love. I can share my room with her. Stay by her side. Love her. Help her. Care about her. Feed her. And we even have the perfect wheelchair for her. She stuck in that orphanage for a long time and nobody care about her. She live a horrible life right now. She need love just like me. She really need a family to love her. I want to be her sister so she not be alone any more.”
We talked more about how we just couldn’t adopt right now. How with the coronavirus and all that was happening, trying to get paperwork done was almost impossible, let alone trying to travel. Immigration offices were closed. Clearances couldn’t be gotten. I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart racing. I was crushed. I was heartbroken. This little girl deserved the love of a family but how. How could it happen? I cried and cried and cried.
Jasmine finished her letter with the words, “I can see myself by her side. Read to her. Eat with her. Play outside with her because she deserve to have those things. She deserves to have fun. She deserves to be a child. She deserves to have a family. She deserves love. She is worthy of all these things. How can we help her mama?”
After all that Jasmine had been through, after all the troubles over the past few years, after the tears and rages and frustration, this letter was a huge step forward for Jasmine’s healing and I was heartbroken that I couldn’t make it happen. It was the end of April and this little girl was going to age out in September.
Jasmine and I would pray and cry over the next couple months. We hated that the weeks were passing by so quickly. We asked if anyone else had chosen her but everyone said that she didn’t have a family.
Then the most amazing thing happened, we received notice that this little girl had been chosen by a family that was already traveling. She had been chosen with only weeks to spare. She is almost 16 and barely weighs 20 pounds. It is unimaginable.
Jasmine and I have cried many, many tears over this little girl and our not being able to do more. Our family has donated to the family Reece’s Rainbow account but Jasmine wants to do something by herself. She wants to feel a part of this girl getting home.
https://reecesrainbow.org/129835/sponsorbrown-5
If you feel led to donate, you can donate directly to the link listed above. Your donation is tax deductible. Jasmine is also going to have a Christmas in July sale and sell her oragami jars and ornaments that she has made and was hoping to sell this fall. The family needs $700 more to be fully funded. Please check out Jasmine’s Family Dream Facebook page tomorrow to see what Jasmine has to sell. If you donate directly to the Reece’s rainbow site, please comment here and let Jasmine know that her words have moved you to do something. Jasmine would appreciate it so much!
Please keep Amelia and the Brown family in your prayers. Amelia is very ill. She needs prayers to travel home quickly. They need prayers that they can wave the 30 day wait and that the judge recovers from his illness quickly so he can rule on her adoption. Amelia has a long road ahead of her for healing, but she has a future with a large, loving family. I can’t wait to see a smile on her face. I am so thankful for answered prayers. I truly wish I could be her mama, but the next best thing is watching another family love her and cherish her just like she deserves. I am so thankful she is not going to age out. I am so thankful another family felt led to bring her home.
-
Chairs4Change (Jasmine’s Story)
***Jasmine and I talked a long time about what she is about to say. I (Lisa, her mom) feel like she doesn’t need to talk about the troubles we’ve had but she says it plays a big part in why Chairs4Change is so important to her. For that reason, I am going to go ahead and let her write what she feels compelled to write.
——————————————————————————————————————-
I haven’t been writing my blog for a while because I have been really mad and really sad. I was really mad at China. They lied to me. They said I can walk when I go to America….but it didn’t happen! I hoped and hoped to walk and I couldn’t.
I was so mad and I put all my madness on my mom. I do so many bad stuff to mom. I was mad about everything and I did not care who I hurt. I hurt anyone and everyone but mainly mom. I made my mom’s life really hard the last four years. Mom says I am doing better but I want to do even better.
Mom told me, all the time, you can continue to be mad that you can’t walk and feel sorry for yourself or you can do something about it. I was just so mad about what everyone did to me. I said things I shouldn’t say and I hurt mom. Mom says I don’t need to say this stuff but I feel like I do because it tells why Chairs4Change is important to me and it’s time to let go of the mad. Maybe I can help someone else who is really mad too. Mad just hurts you not China.
I was mad for a long time and I didn’t know how to stop and then Elyse came to me with her idea for Chairs4Change. She was so excited about how we could work together to help kids. When she told me I was so excited because I always had a dream to help kids and I have always hoped kids wouldn’t have to live in the orphanage and would have people help them.
After Elyse told me that she talked to Amy Eldridge with Love Without boundaries and that we could help over 700 kids, I think it was so cool. I really wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to do everything that we could to help them. I know what it was like to not go to school and not have food. I decided to work with Elyse. Her idea was so amazing! Jessica wanted to do it too!
Can you imagine not going to school?
Can you imagine not getting surgery?
Can you imagine not getting enough food?
Can you imagine not having water?
Can you imagine being alone?
We can do something!
Can you help? Maybe you can save your change too?!?!?
We will be having a fundraiser on April 19th. Sunday 1-4 at Pet Supplies Plus in Altoona, Iowa. We will be doing a dog wash, selling my origami jars and ornaments, selling our hymnal bird prints, and we will be trying to fill a bucket with change. Do you have change that you can give?
Today we reached $30,000 which is amazing! Thanks to all of you guys! I hope that we can reach our goal. One million dollars is so much money but I believe we can do this if we all work together.
Thank you guys so much!
-
The Wake Up Call Part 2 – by Mom
A few weeks ago, I was driving my daughter’s car, I hit ice on a bridge, the truck in front of me slammed on his brakes, I hit the brakes, and Cassie’s car spun out on the ice. I ended up hitting the guardrail and stopped facing oncoming traffic in the middle of the left lane. The Deputy Sheriff was already there and yelled for me to get my car to the ditch. I couldn’t see because I had lost my glasses. Luckily, Cassie’s car was still driveable, so I was able to put the car in reverse and get to the shoulder, before any other cars went by. The deputy then jumped in the car and moved it for me. It was a frightening moment but I was unhurt and so very thankful.
—————————
It’s hard when your child is so mad at the world. It’s hard when they spew their anger all over you. Connected parenting works. Some days I applied it really well. On too many days though, my feelings were hurt. I know you aren’t supposed to take it personally but someone telling you over and over again that they hate you and that they wish you weren’t their mother weighs on you. Doubt sets in. I wondered what I was doing wrong. I would wake up, forgive, and start again but we seemed to be stuck in this awful cycle of non-connectedness.
Jasmine would push. I would try to respond in love. She would push harder. I would try to keep calm. She would up the ante and push more. I would be angry or cry. I liken it to being attacked by a mosquito. I was able to handle it for a while but those constant little jabs just wore on me. After hours of being stung, I wouldn’t stay as calm as I needed to be. The tears would come. After about a year I realized that is what Jasmine wanted. She needed that response. She needed me to be angry. Because when she was angry, she didn’t feel the guilt of the words she had said and the things she had done. Angry was a safe place so she would do whatever it took to get in a fight. When I wouldn’t respond to whatever she was doing, she would do more and more until she got the fight she was looking for.
As time wore on, I began to feel like I had failed. I mean how can someone come from such a horrible place and not want to be here in our home? I understood the pushing away part. I understood the not trusting a “mother” figure part. I understood not wanting to be hurt again. I had read the books. I got it. It was the not wanting a family and wanting to go back to China that I had a hard time with. It wasn’t until years later that I would understand she wanted to go back to make them take back their angry words and say they were wrong. She wanted them to say she wasn’t worthless. She didn’t want to leave us and stay in China, she just wanted revenge.
There’s a quote going around right now that says…
“Remember – Everyone has a story that will lead to defiance or misbehaving. 9 times out of 10 the story behind the misbehavior won’t make you angry. It will break your heart.” – Annette Breaux
I believe this fully but it was getting harder and harder to keep that in mind as time went on. Weeks turned into months and months turned to a year, then two years, then three, and now its been almost four years. We couldn’t find a way to break the cycle. The more Jasmine misbehaved, the guiltier she felt, and the angrier everyone else got. The more guilt she felt, the more she needed to be angry to not feel that guilt. The more no one responded the harder she pushed. She would misbehave, others would react, forgiveness would be given, and then it would all start again. It went on and on. It was an awful cycle.
The rest of the kids were angry because they couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t stop and why she hated me. They didn’t understand why she could do and say the things she did to me. They hated their orphanages too, but they didn’t hate me so they couldn’t understand why Jasmine did and said the things she did. They hated that it made me sad. I tried really hard to not let them see my tears. I said over and over again that we need to forgive and I showed them by forgiving. But no matter how many times I said, “We need to forgive because Jesus forgives us.” it got harder and harder for them to do that as time went on. I reminded them often that there may be a time in their future when they will need the same grace and mercy and they would want their family to support them through their hard times too. We all need forgiveness.
My hardest part through this whole thing was I felt like I was enabling Jasmine. I couldn’t find a way to make it stop. Jasmine never, ever said she was sorry. There was never any remorse on her part. So we would move through this dance. I would say that I don’t want to play this game any more. Jasmine would laugh and say the things she usually said. She would scream and yell mean things for days and once she had finally let go of all her anger she would want to start over. Since Jasmine is unable to move we couldn’t do any of the physical stuff to help her release her anger. We gave her many options to help with her anger but she wanted nothing to do with any of them. She would just finally be done and expect me to be happy and just move forward. I could do that most of the time but as the years wore on, it got harder and harder to do. Things were getting worse NOT better.
When I had my accident, it was a wake-up call for me. I had decided that no matter what happened with Jasmine, I was going to do all things in love. That was what made me the saddest. I was having a harder and harder time being patient and calm and filled with love. I had just decided I was going to be as loving as I could be no matter how mad or sad my heart was. Sooner or later she would see that I truly loved her or I was going to go to my deathbed trying.
After the accident and spending the day at the adoption conference with Cassie, I went home to tell Jasmine what I had decided. I was going to start over once again. I wanted a new start. I was hopeful we could once and for all stop this cycle of anger.
BUT…
Jasmine stopped me in my tracks. She had heard about the accident and had been thinking about it. She cried and cried. She asked for forgiveness and told me over and over again that she loved me.
This was an answered prayer for sure.
Both of us needed God’s forgiveness. Both of us needed His grace and mercy.
I love Jasmine so much and as a mother having your child say they hate you is one of the worst things ever. It truly is. It broke my spirit. The things she said hurt so much. I had a very hard time with not taking it personally. I failed as often as she failed.
But now there was a way to move forward. I feel like a new person and so does she. She was very brave to share her feelings and give me that gift for my birthday. Now I want to share mine. I have many things to be sorry for over the past four years. I added to the drama. I tried hard but failed too often. I wasn’t as patient as I could have been. I raised my voice when I should have stayed calm.
We have a beautiful family. Dan keeps reminding me of this fact over and over again. Yes, there was drama with Jasmine but everyone else is doing pretty darn good. But isn’t that how life is? Nothing is ever completely good or completely bad. There is joy with the sorrow. There is laughter along with angry words. There is death and new life. There are really, really good times along with the bad.
My hope in sharing this story is that others find forgiveness too. That it doesn’t take a major accident or illness to finally reach you. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. If you have things left unsaid or undone, please take this time to do what you need to do for peace in your heart. All things can’t be fixed and I get that, but knowing you did everything you could possibly do is a way to bring peace to your heart. I am praying for healing for those who need it. I am praying for the strength for you to try one more time. I am praying for love and happiness to surround your table this holiday season.
-
What is Love?
Edited: Jasmine and I worked on this blog together. She told me what she was okay with me sharing and her main thought throughout this post was that we, as parents, can not assume we know what our child is feeling.
We’ve been having some interesting conversations with the middles lately about love. Jasmine recently asked, “How do you know if you love someone? What is love?” I spent quite a bit of time thinking about this one. It seems like it should be easy enough to describe what love is but it was harder than I thought it would be. How do you describe love? How can you put it into words that a child from an orphanage can understand? How can you adequately put into words that overwhelming feeling that you feel in your heart?
Jasmine questions everything about how she feels. We have had a hard couple years with her coming to terms with never being able to walk. You wouldn’t think that would be an issue with a child who has never walked and has slowly lost more and more bodily control, but it is. The China doctors said if she wasn’t so lazy she would be able to walk so she believed if only she worked harder she could walk. She was left at the orphanage at the age of 8 by her grandma who could no longer care for her so she believed if only she wasn’t so heavy she would have been worthy of staying with her grandma. She was told by the orphanage director and the nannies that coming to America would allow her the medical help she needed to walk so she believed if only she held on just a little bit longer and a family came, then all of her dreams would come true. This HOPE is what has kept her going for years.
When she had her surgery over two years ago, she realized there was nothing that could be done. She was never going to walk. She was depressed and it was understandable. She raged a lot. She would be angry for days. Just recently she shared that the driving force behind her wanting to stay with our family was that she was going to get treatment and be able to walk back into the orphanage and her grandmother’s house and prove that she was worthy of their love. She wanted to prove them wrong.
So while we thought she was adjusting well to our family, because she was happy and never complained, the truth was even though she acted like she was doing well, she was just waiting for the opportunity to walk so she could go back to China and show them all what a mistake they had made. She was NOT vested in growing connections with our family because she already had a family in China. Her HOPE was to one day go back to China where her grandma would welcome her back with open arms, tell Jasmine how much she missed her, and Jasmine would live happily ever after. Jasmine liked us well enough but she wasn’t going to be staying so why attach?
After her surgery she was so mad that she was never going to walk that she still wasn’t vested in working on relationships. Her dreams had died. Her HOPE was gone. We were the people who had let her down and she was mad. Everything that she had been planning was never going to happen. Everything everyone had told her was a lie.
It’s amazing how much you can miss when someone is quiet and pretends very, very well. Jasmine is a sweet, sweet soul who has been through so many horrible things and has spent lots and lots of time alone. As a very little girl her grandmother often left her sitting on the sidewalk for the whole day or she would leave her alone at home. No one else in the home was very connected to her. Jasmine remembers one uncle/brother (The terms used in China are loose so I am unsure of his actual relationship to her.) who took care of her once when she had a horrible fever. Outside of that she can’t remember anyone holding her hand or hugging her or tucking her in at night. For the most part she was left alone and had a very lonely existence.
When she went to the orphanage, she was unable to go to school because it was on another floor. She was unable to eat with all the other children because the dining room was on another floor. She was unable to go out to play because she couldn’t get down the stairs. She was left alone in a room with her Chinese soap operas for days on end.
It’s no wonder she doesn’t understand love because she was never shown love at least not in the way our family shows it. We often talk about how love is “action”. We love by how we care for others. We hug and say “I love you” often. We help each other. My love language is doing things for others so I show them by doing. I have explained that to Jasmine on many occasions. I love you so I fix your favorite foods. I love you so I am happy to take care of you. I love you so I teach you. I love you so I make sure you have your Chinese shows and music. I love you so I hug you good night. I love you so I make sure you take your medicine. I can explain those things to her but the concept is foreign to her. She can see how excited I am to see each of the children in the morning, how I care for them through out the day, and how I hug them and put them to bed, but it doesn’t resonate because it wasn’t her life until she was 14. She sees these things and she knows I do it because I love them, but it still doesn’t make sense.
She isn’t able to do much for anyone. The truth is she is barely able to move. She can brush her teeth and feed herself. She can play on her Ipad and she can fold her origami birds, BUT she isn’t able to do all those things she sees me do for others, so she assumes she isn’t able to love. She assumes there must be something wrong with her. We tell her over and over again that when she hugs the littles or reads to them that is showing love. When her heart hurts because they hurt, that is love. But she still questions. She still believes maybe she isn’t able to love. She has been on the outside so long that she doesn’t know how to join the dance.
Jasmine loves and cares for others but she hasn’t been able to put it into words. She keeps saying she doesn’t understand or she doesn’t get it. We know she loves in the way she cares about the kids, in the way she cares so deeply for all the orphans left in orphanages around the world, and in the way she cares for others that she sees hurting.
So imagine my thrill when she said to me, “I think I got it Mom. Remember when we had to share the bed in China? Remember how you pulled me close and held me? I don’t have the words for it. I never had anybody hold me close before. I never had anyone really hug me before. I can’t tell you how I felt. My heart was warm. Do you know that mom? My heart was warm and happy. How many kids will never never never know how that feels mama? That makes me sad.”
She said she finally understood what love was. She could put it in terms that she understood. That was a HUGE moment for her. But that moment was followed up by the words “Last night was the first night I no longer wanted to go back to China.”
I will admit that I just stood there staring back at her. Why would she want to go back to the place that caused her so much pain? Why would she want to go back to the place where she was tortured? Believe me when I say that I don’t use that word lightly. She has never been treated with the kind of dignity and care that she deserved. Why would she want to go back to the place where she just sat in a corner all day long? America has power wheelchairs and opportunities. America has a family that adores her. Why would she want to go back to the place where they dropped her down stairs and left her alone? But that’s just it, even when I think I know what she’s thinking, I don’t. I am so far off because I don’t think the way she does. This is what she said, “I want to go back because I want them to tell me that they made a mistake. I am worthy. I AM NOT WORTHLESS! I want them to pay for the horrible things that they did to me and I want to make sure nothing bad every happens to another child.”
I’ve tried hard to explain that as much as we want others to do things, we can’t make them. They are not going to make any of the past ok. They are not going to take back what they did. There is no way she can protect every child in China, no matter how noble the wish is. If there was a way to make this happen, we would travel with her and happily help in making this dream come true.
We tell her she is worthy. We remind her that her family has viewed her as worthy from day one. We remind her that since she accepted Jesus Christ into her heart, she is the daughter of the King. She is kind and beautiful and smart. She is beyond brave. She is resilient. She is so much more than the person China deemed “worthless”. We remind her again and again that walking doesn’t make you a worthy person, but in the end she has to believe this fact herself.
We called this summer “The Summer of Healing” because we were working on healing our family after dealing with some pretty rough patches with Jasmine and her rages. When someone is so unhappy the whole family ends up feeling it too. As parents, you can try and protect the others as much as you can, but there’s hurt feelings no matter how hard you try.
We turned a corner in her healing when she finally shared how she was feeling and how much anger she had toward those who hurt her. Had I known any of what she was planning, cause we knew she had anger but not what she wanted to do because of that anger, we could have talked through it. I was relieved that she finally shared so we could move forward. And the question that started her healing was “Then what?”. She hadn’t given any thought to what she would do after she went back or what would happen to her then. She was stuck.
So we worked on our Summer of Healing and now we are off to work on the Fall of Forgiveness.
Forgiveness doesn’t make it all okay, but to truly heal you need to be able to forgive and let things go. Forgiveness of ourselves is a must too. I’ve been there. It’s a hard road sometimes to forgive ourselves and to forgive those that have hurt us so deeply, especially when we carry the physical scars inflicted by them. It makes it almost impossible to forget, but to heal we need to forgive and move forward.
“Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.” – Marianne Williamson
I think Jasmine has taken a huge step forward in deciding that she has to let go of her dream that she can some how make them all pay for what they’ve done. Jasmine has taken giant healing steps forward this summer and we are praying that the “Fall of Forgiveness” will bring her heart the peace that it needs.
-
What If… (Jasmine’s Blog)
Now that I am 18, I have been thinking a lot about “what ifs”.
What if I had stayed in China?
What if my parents hadn’t come to adopt me?
What if my grandmother hadn’t left me at the orphanage?
What if I could walk?
What if I never learned about God?
What if I never learned to not be selfish?
What if I didn’t have a family?
Recently China changed the rules about adoption. It got me to thinking about “what if” my parents hadn’t adopted when they did. What if they waited to adopt for a few more years? They wouldn’t have been able to adopt two at a time or adopt more after Maisey and Ben. Right now with the new rules you can only adopt one more if you have 5 little kids in your house. I am happy mama and daddy adopted when they did and that China said “Yes!”. I am really happy that God worked the miracles that He did so that mama and daddy could adopt but I am sad about all the kids that had a family who wants them but they can’t proceed with the adoption. It makes my heart hurt for the kids who wait.
If I had stayed in China, I would have gone to an old person home. The nannies said that I will sit on the floor and the old people might sometimes give me food. I used to think that maybe they would let me beg for money on the street. The nannies said no one would want to take care of me so the nannies would help me die if I wanted to. They would sit my pee out and tell me if I just drink it, I will die. Sometimes I thought about drinking it to just be done, but I never did.
So if I stayed in China, the best I could hope for was to beg on the street or to die. In America, I can get a job. I have a power wheelchair. I can fall in love. I can be a motivational speaker. Maybe even someday I will write a book.
What if my grandma hadn’t left me at the orphanage? Only my grandma and my uncle liked me. Grandma would leave me outside or on the bed when she went to work. I would spend all day by myself because I couldn’t move very much. When I was 8, I got to go to school for just a couple months and I loved it but then one day Grandma showed up and took me to the orphanage.
If others in the house had liked me, maybe I could have stayed. I can’t walk so people in China made fun of me. They would say, “If you can’t walk, you can’t get married.” Grandma would pray to Buddha for me to walk. She gave me duck soup every day for a month because it would make me walk. They tried all sorts of herbs and medicines to help me walk, but nothing worked. If I stayed at my grandma’s, I would have had to stay in the house all the time. I would have had to stay in the bed and people would have been even more angry with me. I was bad because I was a girl and could not do dishes or cook so I was worthless.
What if I could walk? If I could walk, it would have changed everything. I could have stayed in China. I could have got married. I could have worked. If I could walk, I would have never known about orphans and kids needing help all around the world. I would have just worried about me. I wouldn’t have known any better but I would have been a miserable person because loving others and helping them makes you a happier person.
“My wheelchair was the key to seeing all this happen—especially since God’s power always shows up best in weakness. So here I sit … glad that I have not been healed on the outside, but glad that I have been healed on the inside. Healed from my own self-centered wants and wishes.” – Joni Eareckson Tada
When I think about it now, I never wished (prayed) that I could walk. I was always thankful for my good days and wanted to be loved.
What if I never learned about God? In China I felt like there was something bigger than me. I felt like God was telling me to never give up, even though I didn’t know it was God. I could feel in my heart that there was something else out there if I just didn’t give up. I watched t.v. and learned about “working hard” for Buddha but it didn’t feel right. People always talk about having more power. People always lie and steal your money. All the t.v. shows talked about how if you don’t have anything you should fight for it. If you don’t have it, they shouldn’t have it either.
With God I learned to care about others. I learned this life isn’t all about me. I learned that if I just care about myself I will never really be happy. When I help other people it feels like I do the right thing and my heart feels all “warm”. I learned that my life has a purpose. God has a plan for me. Yesterday, I read a post that says God can use our pain to fulfill our purpose. I like that. It was about Joni Eareckson Tada. If you don’t know her story, you should read it.
What if I never learned to not be selfish? I can be pretty selfish. I only worry about myself. I think I have it worse than anyone else. I can spend a lot of my time wishing for other stuff. All of a sudden I am an adult and I don’t want to have everything just be about me any more. When I asked others to raise money for shoes and to pray and help Grace, it changed my heart. I read all the stories on Love Without Boundaries and I can’t believe what kids have to live like. They need eye surgery and heart surgery and food and school. Kids have to dig through the dump. My life is good and I have a lucky life. Now I want to help others.
What if I didn’t have my family? I know I wouldn’t have known what I was missing but I would be sad. In China, I learned to be mean to other people. No one really looks out for anyone else. My family fought with each other and they fought with the neighbors. They always were fighting. People drank a lot and hit each other. In the orphanage, one of the nannies had a boyfriend and she wanted a new boyfriend so he hit the nanny as hard as he could. He beat her up. I know it’s not like that for everyone but I saw a lot of fighting.
In our family, mama and daddy says sometimes you can fight but we stick together and we say we are sorry and we love each other. Family is about being kind and generous and helping others. Mama and daddy say family is forever. This is what mama and daddy say…
In China, I didn’t have hope but in America there is much hope. I hope that I can help others. I hope that I can encourage others. I hope that I can have a job. I hope that since I have figured out how to heal my heart that I can help others heal their hearts too.
Please consider being the “Hope” for a child who needs you.
-
Adoption Questions Part 3
The girls and I have been talking a lot about what their days were like in China. We decided to share their answers on the blog so others could understand what their days were like. They want others to understand that these children need a family. They need homes and love. The greater the child’s disability the greater their need for someone to care for them. All three girls of our girls were in wheelchairs and that plays into how they spent their days and how they were treated by others. This post does NOT describe every child’s life in an orphanage, this is just our girl’s experiences.
The following questions were answered by Jasmine (age 17 – adopted age 14), Elyse (age 11 – adopted age 9), and JJ (age 9 – adopted age 8).
What time did you wake up every day?
Jasmine – We woke up at 7. On Monday every week I would get up at 5 for a shower.
Elyse – We woke up at 6.
Jessica – I don’t know. I never saw a clock. It was light out.
What did you eat for breakfast?
Jasmine – We ate noodles every day for breakfast.
Elyse – We didn’t have breakfast, only the babies ate bottles.
Jessica – I didn’t eat breakfast.
What did you eat for lunch?
Jasmine – We had rice, tofu, meat, and green beans.
Elyse – Sometimes we had soup or baby eggs, and rice. We had veggies like bok choy and seaweed. Sometimes special we had shrimp.
Jessica – I would eat soup with carrots and peas and wet rice (?).
What did you eat for supper?
Jasmine – We had pork every night with rice and seaweed soup and sausages.
Elyse – Seaweed or tofu soup, congee, or rice. Sometimes we would have meat – chicken or pork.
Jessica – We would sometimes have chicken feet, pork, and soup.
Were there ever any special treats?
Jasmine – Chicken feet on New Year and Children’s Day. Sometimes visitors brought crackers.
Elyse – Chicken feet when my foster grandma visited. Candy from visitors.
Jessica – Visitors brought candy and crackers and weird milk.
Did you ever have fruit?
Jasmine – Bananas and apples for snack. They would also let us have juice and the Chinese cracker.
Elyse – Banana and apples and watermelon and sometimes mangoes.
Jessica – Bananas and apples and oranges.
What did you do during the day?
Jasmine – Got up at 7, I wore the same clothes I slept in, breakfast was at 7:30, then I watched tv with everyone, sometimes I read to the kids and played with them, we would eat lunch at 12, watch more tv, take a nap at 1, snack at 3, watch more tv, then we eat dinner at 5, and watch more tv until 9 and then go to bed. We were always in the same room except for sleeping.
Elyse – I got up at 6, they put me on the toilet for a long, long time, then I would get up and help feed the babies, then back to the toilet, I ate lunch on the toilet, and they would let me get up and feed the babies, put me back on the toilet, and I would eat supper on my little tiny table while on the toilet. I would read books while sitting there. It was so boring. I would feed the babies before bed, change their diapers, and I would go to bed really late at night. About once a week I would get to go to the school room and learn. I like to learn.
Jessica – I woke up when it was light outside. I played with toys by myself. I ate lunch. I took a nap. I watched tv. I ate supper. I would play on my scooter and go around in circles. I would go to bed when it was dark.
Did you ever brush your teeth?
Jasmine – Once every 3 months or so.
Elyse– Never brushed my teeth.
Jessica – I never brushed my teeth. I never ever see a toothbrush.
What about clothes?
Jasmine – I would wear the same clothes for one or two weeks. The nannies always picked out my clothes. If I asked to wear a dress the nannies would tell me that I don’t deserve a dress because I can’t walk. I could wear nice clothes when someone was visiting.
Elyse – I would wear the same clothes for close to a month. I would still have to wear the same clothes if I got urine on them. (Elyse is incontinent from spina bifida.) I sometimes smelled so they made me sleep in the baby room but that was okay because I loved the babies. The nannies said I can’t wear nice clothes because I can’t walk and I pee on my clothes because I have to wear a towel no diapers. The nannies would pick the worst clothes for me unless someone was visiting and then I could wear nice clothes and as soon as the visitor left I would have to take it off and put on my dirty clothes again.
Jessica – I changed my clothes when I got wet every day. I wore yucky towels for diapers. They hurt and was tied really tight.
Did you play outside?
Jasmine – No I could only sit at the window and watch the other kids play. I wished I could play so much but I was upstairs and they couldn’t get me downstairs. The boys would make fun of me for not going outside.
Elyse – I wasn’t allowed to play outside with the other kids. But it was okay because I got to take care of the babies. Every time I looked at the babies I got upset because the nannies said they hate babies, but I love babies. Who wouldn’t want a baby? One time I took care of a baby a lot. She was always happy with me but then she died because her head got too big. I feel it was my job. I liked my job. The other girls thought the babies were yucky because they spit up and peed on them but that don’t bother me at all.
Jessica – Sometimes for a little bit.
What time did you go to bed?
Jasmine – I went to bed at 9:30 because the nannies want to watch the tv.
Elyse – I would go to bed sometimes late like 12:30.
Jessica – I would go to bed when it was dark.
Who did you share a room with?
Jasmine – I shared the room with three other girls.
Elyse – I shared the room with 20 babies.
Jessica – The little kids. There was lots of them. They were little kids who couldn’t walk.
Did you ever get to leave the orphanage?
Jasmine – On Children’s Day every year we got to do fun stuff like go to the zoo, eat KFC, and go to a movie.
Elyse – I never left the orphanage.
Jessica – They tell me they would take me but they never did.
Do you have any happy memories from the orphanage?
Jasmine – I liked to play with the kids and read to them.
Elyse – Taking care of the babies. I loved the babies.
Jessica – Feeding the babies bottle.
What was the saddest thing for you?
Jasmine – The nannies would hit me. They would use a stick from the big apple in the box that China has. They would sometimes tell me I was bad so I could not eat. They would throw me on the bed and in the shower. It was so scary because they would just throw me. I didn’t want to take a shower. Sometimes they make me sleep on the floor because they tell me I can get up myself but I can’t because I can’t move by myself. When they would try to stretch my legs out to make me walk, but I couldn’t. It really hurt. When the kids and the nannies were really, really mean to me.
Elyse – When the baby died when I was holding it. They baby just stopped breathing and the nanny took the baby away and brought in a different baby. It was so very sad. It made me so upset. The baby’s head was just so big. One time the nanny got mad at me and cut off the skin on my fingers. She said I was going to tell the boss on her and she wanted to scare me. When they would throw me on the toilet and on the bed and the bathtub. I hated them throwing me down. There is other really sad stuff I don’t want to talk about.
Jessica – I hate the doctor! I don’t like the nannies yelling at me.
Did you have any friends?
Jasmine – Liuli and JoLiy
Elyse – Just the babies.
Jessica – Yes, I can’t remember their names.
Anything else you’d like to say?
Jasmine – The nannies really didn’t like me at all. They didn’t like taking care of me. They always say I can walk and that I am just pretending so I can be lazy. The nannies said people will never like me if I can’t walk. They say I will never get married. I am happy to have a family now. I wish all the kids could have families.
Elyse – The nannies tried to stretch out my legs. They try and try to stretch them out. (Elyse has contractures on both legs but she has no feeling in her legs.) Orphanage life is not good for kids. I wish I could change the world and I would pick that no babies would die or that there would be no evil people to hurt other people.
Jessica – Orphanages are bad. The worst place with ugly pink bathtubs and bad doctors.
“Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows we know and holds us responsible to act.” Proverbs 24:12
-
What is a Life That Has Worth
It’s been a while since we’ve done a Food For Thought Friday. Today seems a good day to start again.
Jasmine came to us with great hope for a new life. The first two years were pretty darn amazing. She was happy to have a family. She was happy to start a new life with people who cared for her. She was filled with joy over being able to learn and do new things. Then she had her spinal fusion surgery and for some reason, even though we told her over and over again that it would only fix her back, she believed she would be healed and be able to walk. We have dealt this past year with her loss of hope and feelings of worthlessness about being a burden to those around her.
It’s a strange thing, considering she has never walked, but the loss of hope that she would one day walk, has taken it’s toll on her joyful heart. We go for periods of time where she can be content and turn it around, but her sadness over the fact that her life seems to have no worth because she is unable to do anything for herself except brush her teeth and eat, wins on too many days. Everyone has blue days and we allow her those, but this is much more than that and it breaks our hearts.
She is angry and she doesn’t know what to do with that anger. She rages and screams out. She can be angry for days. She refuses to talk to anyone, especially a therapist. Add the fact that no one has been there to teach her how to deal with her feelings, as we do with our young children, and we are left with a very angry toddler in a 16 year old’s body.
We have spent our days repeating over and over again that we want to care for her. We have told her, unlike her bio parents and her grandparents, we knew going in what her disability meant. Dan’s a physician. We knew as soon as we met her that she had a degenerative muscle disease. We knew and we loved her and she was then and always would be our daughter. But being abandoned when you are eight because you are too heavy to carry, has colored our girl’s world. She believes at some point, it will be too much and we too will abandon her. She’s striking out because she wants to be in control this time. She wants to be the person who leaves, but because of her physical limitations she is unable to, so she is left doing the only thing she can which is scream out in anger over a world that is unfair.
It’s been a very difficult year with her trying to get her to see that her life has worth. This is not sadness over adoption related issues but rather over the loss of hope of one day walking again. For Jasmine this year has been much like a person who finds themselves injured and paralyzed, learning how to find your purpose in life, when everything has changed.
Jasmine recently saw a movie trailer for “Me Before You”. She was so excited to go see this movie about a young man who is a quadriplegic who falls in love with his caregiver. Jasmine is a romantic. She loves romance and happy endings. She is often upset that she believes no one could love her since she is unable to do much for herself. I was excited about taking her to this movie, especially when I heard these quotes.
“You only get one life. It’s actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.”
“Push yourself. Don’t Settle. Just live well. Just LIVE.”
But then I read The Mighty‘s article about this movie. The movie ends with him ending his life with euthanasia. Really? We are trying our hardest to show our girl that you are more than your body. That life is worth living. We are trying to encourage her and get her to believe that what she was told in China is NOT the truth – that she does have worth. We are trying to show her that her life truly does have a purpose and that she has touched so many other lives.
Now I have to say that I can not go to see this movie with her because no matter how wonderful the love story portion of the movie is, I can not deal with that subject right now. She is at just too vulnerable a point. I know at some point we will have to have this very heavy discussion.
So for right now, we will continue to discuss what does “a life of worth” look like?
If you can’t or don’t go to college, does your life still have worth?
If you don’t marry, does your life have worth?
If you don’t have children, does your life have worth?
If you aren’t able to do any of your daily life cares, does your life have worth?
- When you are left to live with your grandmother, because you are told your mother can not stand to look at you, you doubt your worth.
- When you are abandoned because you are too heavy to carry any more, you doubt your worth.
- When you are cared for in an orphanage where you aren’t even worth the time to teach because the school is one floor above you, you doubt your worth.
- When you are left in a corner all day long because no one can bother moving you, you doubt your worth.
- When you are left to sleep on the floor with no blankets because someone can’t be bothered to lift you or cover you up, you doubt your worth.
- When you are told over and over again that the only way your life will have worth is if you walk, then what are you, as a child, to believe?
These are Jasmine’s “truths” that we have to overcome. She has talked about these facts often on her blog. (Flower that Blooms) She heard those truths for almost 14 years of her life. She has heard our “truths” for only 3 years. I know we will get there. I just wish I could get her to see herself through my eyes. I see a girl of great worth, who is compassionate and caring even though the world has let her down. I see a girl that can change the world with just her words. I see a girl of great strength and character. I see a girl when told she can dream about anything, chooses to dream about a day when there are no more orphans. I see a girl that others should try hard to be like.
I believe that a life that has worth is a life that touches other’s lives. I believe that you can have great purpose and never, ever fit the description of what the world believes is a life of worth. My goal now is to get Jasmine to believe it.
-
Profound Life Lessons
I posted this on my Facebook group, Seriously Blessed by Adoption, the other day and I felt I should share it here too. Jasmine’s words contain great wisdom. I am constantly amazed at how much she has been able to grasp in such a short time.
Profound lessons learned this afternoon:
Jasmine coming to grips with never being able to walk is much like a person who is paralyzed coming to grips with what their life will now be like. We were told about a motivational Christian woman named Joni Eareckson Tada. Jasmine and I bought the movie and spent the afternoon watching it. Joni says that she would rather be in her wheelchair and know Jesus then walk and not know Him.
Jasmine looked at me and said, “Mama, it’s like my life. If my grandmother hadn’t placed me in the orphanage, I would have spent my life in a corner in her room. I would have never gone to school. I would have never had a power wheelchair. I would never get to do the things I do now.
If I had never gone to the orphanage, I would have never known how children hurt. I would have never known what it feels like to be an aging out child. I would have never cared about orphans.
If I hadn’t gone to the orphanage, I would have never been adopted. I would have never been loved by you and daddy. I would have missed out on the love of all my sisters and brothers and the fun of watching kids join our family. And most of all I would have never heard about Jesus or known that my life was not worthless.
The next day Jasmine woke up and said to me, “The very last thing that has happened is that I am still alive. Mama, do you know what it is like to think that you would probably be dead if you hadn’t been adopted?” She went on to tell me again how the nannies offered to help her end her life. She told me that the nannies told her over and over again what would happen to her when she turned 14. It isn’t always the case that you will be turned out on the street or go to an institution at 14. If you can work, they will sometimes hire you. If there is someone who has taken you under their wing, then they will allow you to stay until you are 18 or older.
But they had let Jasmine know they were tired of taking care of her. They told of her of the place she would go to live the minute she turned 14. She was told it would be survival of the fittest at the adult institution. I don’t know anything about these places so I asked around. It is pretty much like it is here in the states. It depends on what place you go to and how much they care, some are good, some are bearable, and some are very bad. Where she would have gone was bad, so yes, it would have been very hard for her to survive there.
Plus, without surgery, breathing would have gotten more and more difficult. What kills these children with SMA normally is respiratory illnesses. Here in the U.S. Jasmine has a cough assist machine to help her breath. We use it every morning to help open up her lungs. She had surgery that helped elongate her back and helps her take deeper breaths. She gets regular checkups and help from the very best doctors.
It’s a lot to handle as a 16 year old and yet she does it with grace most days. She has her sad days and her mad days but for 90% of the time Jasmine is joyful and outgoing and compassionate. Believe me with the stories she has told me, the fact that she isn’t a bitter, angry, awful teenager is in itself a miracle. I ask myself that all the time. How did she keep her joy? How did she stay so hopeful?
How? She held on tight to the hope of walking. She dreamed of having a family of her very own. She knew that there was someone bigger than her out there that she prayed constantly to.
I am so moved by her story. I am so blessed to get to be her mama. She teaches me something new every single day. It is an amazing journey and I get to be the one to help her navigate it. It’s a pretty amazing thing but that’s to be expected because she is a pretty amazing, wise young lady.
-
Jasmine’s Journey
Dan and I often talked about what it meant for a 14 year old child to leave her country and everything she has ever known without so much as a tear. We worried about her when she didn’t cry tears over lost friends. Jasmine met us with a smile on her face and she smiled through the weeks in China and the trip home. We asked the guides numerous times to find out what she was thinking. We asked if she had any questions. We were prepared for the tantrums and the fights, but none came. In fact, the only question she ever asked was “Would we give her away in America?” How could this be? How could that be the only question?
It was almost a year later when we first started to find out why she never cried when she left her homeland. Jasmine had been told that by coming to America she could be healed. She would walk. This hope had kept her alive for years. Add to that the fact that she had been told that the only life for her, would be one in an institution, where she would be beaten and not fed and surely die. Yes, they did tell her these things, and well, she was more than ready to take a chance on this family that showed up and showed her love. She was ready for a change and ready for a chance.
I haven’t shared a lot about the struggles Jasmine has had these past few months, but they have been heartbreaking. At first I believed that the extended hospitalization triggered some bad memories locked away from previous hospital stays where she was left alone, which is partially the reason, but the full reason was that Jasmine had lost hope. She had lost the hope, that had been so fully embedded in her mind, the hope that had kept her going for years, that she would one day be healed and would walk.
Even though we told her time and time again that her spinal fusion would only straighten her back and help her breathe easier, she still held out hope that she would walk after the surgery. When she ended up being even weaker than she was before, it was too much to take. She lashed out with words that cut deep. She screamed. She cried. She raged. Some days it was for a couple hours and some days it would last eight, nine or ten hours.
Compounding the issue was that Jasmine has no coping skills. No one had ever taught her what to do with her anger. Yes, she is sixteen both physically and mentally, but emotionally she was a toddler. No one has ever taught her how to work through her problems. Many days she would be ok, but the light had left her eyes. We wondered if we would ever see that beautiful, joyful, straight-from-the-soul smile again.
We worked hard at reminding her of her worth, but when you have heard you are worthless your whole life it’s hard to believe. We told her that she could accomplish much. We reminded her that her strength would come back, anyone would have felt weaker after lying flat on their back for a month. We reminded her of her dream that she talked about in the hospital and before. We told her God has big plans for her. We told her that she could make a difference but even though her head understood what we were saying her heart just couldn’t accept it.
We shared Rick Warren’s quote (Which Dan and I fully believe from our life experiences.) – “Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. Don’t waste your pain; use it to help others.”
She wasn’t lashing out every day but it took very little to make her angry. Everyone in the house walked around on pins and needles afraid that they might say something to her. Even the littles were affected. They no longer ran to Jasmine for a book to read or to show her something they did. Most of the lashing out was saved for me. I had a really hard time with this because Jasmine and I had had a really close loving relationship. It was me she shared her fears with. It was me that she told her nightmares and her stories of abuse. Dan reminded me time and time again that the reason she said those things to me was that she felt safe with me. It was because she knew that I would still love her and would never leave her that she felt safe sharing. Even though I knew this truth, it was hard not to react sometimes. Sometimes I was proud of my responses, often times I was not. Sometimes I made things better and sometimes I made things worse.
We tried to remind her of her wish to help orphans. We came up with the name Jasmine’s Dream based on her comments from one of her surgeries. As she was getting set up for one of her many surgeries after her wound infection, the anesthesiologist started talking to Jasmine. The doctor told Jasmine that often times the medicine helps you to dream. She asked Jasmine what she was going to dream about. Jasmine merely stated, “I am going to dream that one day there will be no more orphans.” The room went silent. The doctor later told me that she was so touched by this comment. There was no dreaming of vacations on the beach or shopping trips. The anesthesiologist told me she would remember this forever.
Jasmine’s Dream was created to continue the work we have already done during the past two years sponsoring children and helping others adopt. Jasmine and Grace have both raised funds for nutrition programs at Jasmine’s orphanage. We wanted Jasmine to fully grasp that she could make a difference. We wanted her to know that she had worth no matter what but that her time on this earth was no a mistake. She was not a mistake. Dan found her a copy of the Purpose Driven Life in Chinese and English. The second chapter is called “You are NOT an Accident”. This chapter has taken on new meaning in our house.
As it often is with our children, hearing it from another source made what we were saying even more believable. She started to quote the book. She started to believe that her life had meaning. She started to dream about Jasmine’s Dream again. She asked me one day if she could start by helping 1,000 children? I told her it was possible and I made her a board to write down the names of the children we have helped. We were all amazed when we realized that we had helped 86 children so far. It’s hard to know how many children their $8,000+ helped with the nutrition program (Heroes for Healing) so we say 86+.
She started telling her siblings about how to apply the lessons taught in the book. She talks about forgiveness. She talks about her life having meaning. I knew Jasmine was finally getting it when she came to me and said that if she hadn’t been an aging out child in China, she wouldn’t care about aging out teens. If she hadn’t been abandoned by a grandma that cared, then she wouldn’t understand and want to help children stay together by getting the surgeries that they need in China. If she hadn’t been allowed to be adopted, she would never have learned about God’s love.
Is she completely healed? Of course not. The past pains and hurts are many. It will take a while for her to fully accept that the limitations of her body are forever. BUT she has made huge progress and that smile is back on her face. Jasmine has a very special soul. She is a very, very special girl. I love to watch others interact with her. It’s one of those things that you can’t even explain. I fully believe that God has plans for her and she has already affected many lives. The fact that she now believes it too makes this mama’s heart very, very happy.
If you would like to follow along, we have started a group page for her on Facebook called Jasmine’s Dream. We are working with Love Without Boundaries (LWB) to set up a fund on their page for her. LWB advocated for Jasmine and they are the reason we found her. Dan and I believe so fully in this foundation that we serve on the board of directors.
We are ready to help our girl achieve her dream. What a blessing it would be if there truly were no more orphans in the world. What if we could help families stay intact? What if we could provide support for those who were struggling? What if instead of adoption numbers plummeting people saw the need and stepped up – one child at a time? What if there were more foster homes? What if no child aged out? What if Jasmine’s dream became reality? What if….???? Please consider being a part of helping my girl’s dream come true.
You can ADOPT – FOSTER – SPONSOR A CHILD – VOLUNTEER – DONATE – EDUCATE!
-
Jasmine’s Dream (Part 1)
As you know, Jasmine and I have been talking a lot these past few weeks. It has been hard for her to give up hope that she would one day walk. Slowly losing the use of your body is a lot for a 16 year old to accept. Dan and I have decided that she needs something bigger than herself to dream about. She needs hope to be able to help. She needs to know that she can still achieve much and help many children. Her hope is that one day there will be no more orphans. She wants to keep families intact and help those children, that are hard to place, get adopted. We are working on “Jasmine’s Dream” and soon we will tell you all about her goal.
Jasmine has been praying for four children specifically. She has actually been praying that there is still room in our home for more, but right now that doesn’t seem to be where God is leading. Although, I have learned long ago to not say no to God so you will never hear me say, “We are done for sure!” One never knows where God will lead.
Our family has been praying for Superman, Baby Hope, Summer and the little girl that Jasmine was in the orphanage with. There are children that you see on the advocacy sites, that steal your heart for whatever reason. For example, when we were adding a second child to our adoption, there was one little girl that I just couldn’t get off my mind. I kept praying for a clear answer and the answer was never yes.
I kept thinking how can it ever be wrong to adopt a child? I kept asking God to make things clear. The “let’s fix this now” part of me wanted to go get her now, but I knew in my heart she wasn’t meant to be my daughter. She has now been chosen. I have seen pictures of her new family. I have read the words leading up to their decision to submit their Letter of Intent. (Ridiculous Faith) I love how God works and yet I have shed tears over a little girl that was not meant to be ours.
I mean really who wouldn’t want to call this child daughter? Who wouldn’t want to stand there and have this little face look up to yours expectantly? Who wouldn’t want to shower her with unconditional love and help her to be the very best she could be?
Many have looked at her file and walked away. Her physical beauty and big personality could not put them at ease. There were just too many unknowns in her file. That’s the problem with adoption. There are so many unknowns. We can’t imagine being able to handle the physical or mental disabilities. We look for the easiest problems, the fixable things. We look for things we are comfortable with or already know. I have talked many times about the fact that I’m not sure what I would have said if I had known Lainey or Jasmine’s true diagnosis before we got to China. I’m not sure I would have taken the chance. I mean who would sign up for their child slowly fading away with a degenerative muscle disease or pick a child who cried all day and beat her head on the wall especially when their lives were already so complicated?
I can guarantee you that Kyle dying or Codey being in the hospital for 14 months was not what I wanted. If I had been asked beforehand, I would have adamantly denied that I could handle it and walked away. BUT Codey and Kyle changed my entire life…they changed my walk with God. My relationship grew. My life was fuller. My viewpoint clearer. My priorities changed forever. Those two things made me who I am today. Who would I be if I hadn’t walked that journey?
The point when God asks us to follow His lead, isn’t that we can handle it. It’s just the opposite. It’s to show how much we need Him. God’s glory is shown in our weaknesses. It’s only when we say over and over again “Only with God” that people take notice.
Each time God asked us to step out in faith and we saw how being obedient to His call blessed us and grew our relationship, it made following through the next time we heard the call just a little bit easier, until we got to the point that we didn’t question it when He called. We were that sure that God’s way (the unknown – the difficult – the faith growing) was so much better than our way (the comfortable), that we said, “Okay God. I have no idea how this is going to work, but let your glory shine! We trust you!”.
Jasmine knows what it means to be overlooked. Jasmine knows what it means to almost have time run out. Jasmine knows what it means to sit in an orphanage day after day after day. Jasmine knows the scars that slowly build up on your heart over time and the overwhelming fear that can cloud your mind and because of these things Jasmine dreams of doing more.
She has asked over and over again what we can do. She prays for these children and the others left behind. Recently Gracie and Jasmine asked me about sending their allowance to two of these children who have funds set up. Their families have stepped up, even though their child’s future is uncertain. Two of them have traveled and one will travel soon. Jasmine and Grace chose to give their allowances to these children. They talked about how there was nothing that they needed and what better use would there be for their money? Won’t you consider helping them? Superman’s family will travel soon and the families are already in country with Baby Hope and Summer right now.
This is what we are called to do as Christians.
We are called to care for the widow and the orphan.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27
We are called to give away our possessions:
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:33
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 1 John 3:17
We are called to bear each other’s burdens.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
We are called to help each other and not just encourage with words.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17
What are you living for? Life on earth is but a small portion of eternity.
How are you going to finish?
Make your life matter. Leave a legacy. Don’t wait for tomorrow because tomorrow may never come. Dream big and let God provide!
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Acts 20:35
Archives
Blogroll
Links
- Chinese Children Adoption International
- Hats for Gracie
- Love Without Boundaries
- New Hope Foundation China
- Show Hope
Categories
- Adoption
- Adoption Questions
- Benjamin
- Cassie
- China 2013
- China 2014
- China 2016
- Codey
- Congenital Heart Defect
- Elijah
- Elyse
- Evangeline Faith
- Faith
- Family Life
- Food for Thought Friday
- Grace
- Homeschooling
- Hope
- Jasmine (Shuang Shuang)
- Jasmine's Blog
- Jasmine's Dream
- Jessica
- Kelly
- kidney transplant
- Kyle
- Lainey Rae
- Love Without Boundaries
- Maisey
- Making a difference
- Max
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Orphan Care
- Photos
- Thoughts to ponder
- Uncategorized
- Videos
- William
- Zachary