The SFCV Journal

I’ve been rummaging through our old digital pictures tonight.  I am blown away by the number of people who have come alongside PHF and given of their talents & resources to bless these kids.  The U.S. Marines has done Toys for Tots for our kids the last six years. The Langfang Walmart invited our kids to a pre-Grand Opening Celebration, set up just for our kids.

Friend Steven Ose attempted a Ride Across America to raise money for the vocational center.  The Nippon Paint factory in Langfang donates all the paint we need, whenever we need it!

Numerous churches, organizations, and businesses have sponsored our children’s homes, providing well-maintained housing and full time maintenance staff to keep the kids cozy.  I met someone today who three years ago had donated the three terracotta warriors now in our office.

I hesitate to mention any names, because I know I’ll leave hundreds more out, but what a beautiful partnership this has been!  May He continue to Bless.

It was a very tiny one-month-old that arrived back in April 2007.  Luke was a little blue, indicating his heart condition, and the Samaritan’s House nannies quickly swooped in to action for the frail baby.  This smallest of babies was assigned one of the smallest nannies we have on staff, and she was a perfect fit of gentleness and sweetness.

Unfortunately, our boy was not growing.  His heart was so weak, in turn making him unable to move around like the other babies.  When the medical team first took him in, the doctors said, “He’s too small for the surgery.  Bring him when he is six months.”  But he did not get much bigger, and the doctors said again, “He’s too small for surgery. Bring him back when he is twelve months.”

Luke’s nannies were so good to him, and the medical team continued to try to help him, but he did not grow in strength or even much in size.  He would sit, so clearly uncomfortable, in the middle of the nursery, and watch the other babies crawl around and play.

At twelve months, the medical team was told once again to return in six months.  Finally, two months ago, they felt he was as ready as he’d ever be.

What a magnificant change it has been to see in Luke’s coloring, his movement, and his comfort.  It was just the first of a series of surgeries, but he is already so much improved!  He’s playing more with the other children, enjoying outdoor walks (before today!), and growing in size & strength!

We thank all of you who helped sponsor Luke’s surgery, and those of you who have committed to sponsoring and praying for him.  Big things are in store for this little guy.  We can’t wait to see!

The shorthand “IP” means a lot in our daily records, especially when referring to a child’s adoption status.  It is really a reminder of how little we know about the paperwork: it could be at any one of four different gov. agencies; it could be months–from two to twenty–before all the right signatures are present and accounted for; and it could, eventually, end up on one of four continents, in one of sixteen countries.

To be “in progress,” though, is to be on its way.  It implies activity and momentum. What we celebrate about the “IP” is that it means something is on the horizon, something transforming and new in the lives of these children and the families that will one day welcome them.  A hope fulfilled.  A future redeemed.

This morning, one of my assistants told me about a phone call she had with one of our partner directors.  We have nine of their kids at SFCV, and they have just announced they will start the adoption paperwork on six of them, pictured above.  And though we still have, and may not have for some time, any concrete information, we are thrilled that we get to change the adoption status of SIX kids to “IP”!  We don’t know what is coming, but there is new hope for their lives, and a sweet sense of anticipation for their futures.

We hope you will join us in covering them–preparing the hearts of their future families, some of whom may not yet even be considering adoption in this moment; the health and development of each of these kids, and the speed of processing the all the paperwork.

Charlie, Jacob-Jai & Henry

Though the first day of winter was November 7, and despite the lack of heat until last Saturday, we’ve still enjoyed some nice fall-ish weather outside.  Until today.  And now, we are all appreciating the two or three layers on bottom, and the three or four layers on top.

Most of our nannies are great knitters, and every year the House of Love nannies break out their needles to make the boys cosy wool vests & sweaters for the winter.  I just wanted to share the above pic of Charlie, Jacob-Jai, and Henry sporting their bold new looks.  So cute!

Will was just a few months old when he arrived in October 2006.  He was in the original House of Blessings’ Six.  His head was quite large for his body, and though he clearly had a cleft lip & palate, our medical team also had some scans done to determine whether he might also have hydrocephalus (water on the brain).  Though all the scans came back mostly negative, Will’s head continued to be grow disproportionately to the rest of his body.

When the other children were starting to roll over, Will was still stuck laying on his back.  When they began to crawl, he still was left sitting in a seat, needing full support for his head.   And later, when all his same aged housemates began to walk, he still struggled to hold his head up without help.  His cleft lip & palate were repaired, and he was a good eater, but his muscle tone was still very weak due to the possible hydrocephalus.  At twenty-seven months, he was delayed in all areas of development, unable to talk, feed himself or sit up without assistance.

When Carrie and her team first launched the Little Sparrows Therapy Program in March of this year, she forewarned the staff that therapy results are not immediate like surgery results; progress happens in small steps with long-lasting effects.  But Will was one of the shining stars of the therapy program, making huge developmental leaps in just five months.  He can feed himself, put his own shoes on, follow his nannies directions and say a few words back, and grab toys to play with.  Before he couldn’t play or pick up toys without help, but now he is attending preschool and showing off his smarts!  The coolest thing to see is that he’s walking.  And he has the absolutely cutest walk–the smallest shuffle-steps I’ve ever seen!  But, they do the trick! In five months, he went from being unable to sit independently to walking all over, chattering and giggling with his housemates.

One of Will’s nannies is Wang Ayi, the supervisor nanny in House of Blessings, and I have always loved seeing her with him.  She is so affectionate, always kissing his face & talking to him.  Even though he struggled and was so delayed, she kept engaging him, playing with him, and working to get him to smile his brilliant smile.  She wanted good things for her smart boy, but Will needed the extra push that the therapy team provided.

When people ask how we are different from an SWI, I can point them to the fantastic facilities, the low child:nanny ratio, or our excellent medical team who facilitates so much life-saving medical care, but I am also really proud to tell stories like these.  Our hope is that we are place where these extra things–a therapy team that is actively engaged in changing the lives of these kids in small ways every day and nannies that are not allowed to or choose not to abandon the kids who are more difficult.

My hope is that we continue to be committed to these small things that matter Big.  I know many of you are faithful to Cover us each day, and I hope you’ll continue to Lift Up the nannies, that they would be encouraged to do more and know that their work matters.  Will’s nanny is amazing, but we do have nannies who are tired, who have seen so many of their kids leave, and who find it harder to engage the more difficult needs.

Lift Up our growth that we would be better in the Small Things even as we expand.  Lift Up the kids’ medical and therapy/developmental needs, that we would be Wise in meeting them.

Know that we treasure your faithfulness in Loving these kids, no matter where you are!

Even one week post-surgery, Hayden is already smiling and silly, begging to pose for pictures (see above) & pulling guests right down next to her so she can chat.   Hayden has been recovering at home this week after a surgery in which Dr. Lisa Buckmiller removed part of the tumor growing in the left half of her face.  It is a terrifically detailed surgery, as all the nerves in the face must be taken into account in the removal.  And while they were not able to remove all of it, a significant portion is gone, alleviating the pressure around her mouth, making eating easier for her now.  Please pray for continued healing, both in body and heart.  We just want to pour gentle and tender mercies over her, and she soaks every bit of it up!

  Yesterday, Emma Grace met her family for the first time!  She didn’t cry at all upon meeting her parents & older sister and was fully distracted by the rice treat one of the staff had given her.  We hope you’ll join us in praying for them as they travel to her original province this weekend and finalize the paperwork that will make her an official citizen of Sweden.

It has been a long time coming for the Big Meet of our six-year-old Rachel (pictured with her dad and the Bakers) and her family!  Her dad, Andy, met her on Monday, and the two of them have been busy Skyping from our Inn to her mom, two older sisters, one older brother, and three younger sisters who are back home in the US.  We pray for God’s continued Traveling Mercies, as her dad and she leave us on Friday for Guangzhou, as well as Waiting Mercies for her mom, Kathy and siblings.  We so rejoice in God’s goodness to Rachel and her family!

Earlier today, I snuck into House of Blessings early to get a few pictures of the kids napping.  I was, for the most part, too late, as the kids were already stirring, and in some cases leaping about, by the time I arrived.  Except for Lucas (pictured above), who wasn’t at all disturbed by his roommates’ giggles and stomping, and who I was able to capture in a state of full-on slumber & coming to.  I even caught him folding his blanket post-nap (something I love about childhood here–no mess, shoes & coats tidy, blankets folded nicely, throwing away candy wrappers, and taking care of oneself as soon as you can crawl or walk!).

Lucas is all rough-and-tumble boy, climbing every bit of furniture, foliage, and fence his sturdy, linebacker frame can plow up.  And he sleeps as hard as he plays.  If he’s not wrestling or pulling or scaling, it’s nly because dreams or dinner have called.  Though he arrived in Sept 2006 at just four months old and in need of cleft lip & palate repair, the medical team soon found that he was also deaf.  The therapy team has done some sign language training with his nanny, but he’s so head strong that it’s often difficult to tell when he is just being naughty–as his nanny says he often is–or if it’s just a failure to communicate. He has his own mind about when and how and where he’ll be, and his nanny is fantastic about keeping up with him, though never being so bold as to slow him down!

We had hoped Lucas would be adopted at this point, but we’ve not heard anything on a family for him.  So, we are in the midst of arranging a cochlear implant for him.  The procedure and device is pretty expensive–100,000RMB ($14,700USD), but we are making good connections with local surgeons & hope to have the surgery done in the next two months.  We hope you’ll join us in covering Lucas–his health and future surgery, his need for a family–in prayer.

A week ago, I wrote about the crazy-amount of money we needed by Nov 15.  We received our first answer/reprieve, when the government contacted us last Thursday and said they would push our deadline for the earnest money deposit back to March 1.

Thank you for all your prayers in the last week.  Together, our prayers move mountains (and deadlines!).  We still need to raise the money for heat & surgeries, and we trust that He will hear our cry!