In July 2006, the month before my husband and I got married, we went to China with Bring Me Hope as volunteers. The time we spent with our kids made it very clear that adoption was an absolute for us. We actually tried to adopt one of the little girls in our group, but China regulations did not allow that to be possible for us at the time.
While we were in China we had the opportunity to visit the orphanage where the children who came to camp lived. This experience in visiting the grounds and all of the other children just reinforced for us that we would absolutely want to include adoption as a way to grow our family.
Fast forward to March 5, 2010…
As most of you know, John and I have returned home from Ethiopia with our sweet baby Sam. We got home last Friday and today is the first day I feel a bit adjusted. Ethiopia was an absolutely amazing trip. I am however incredibly happy to be home. .JPG)
Sam is really doing great. John and I smile the second he walks in the room. It has been an amazing journey because he was not very fond of us the first few days we interacted with him :-) He also came off as being a very high strung, aggressive little boy that would not smile. We were really preparing to have our hands full when we returned home with a tough transition. However, he completely changed almost as soon as we took custody in ET. .JPG)
It is very clear to him that we are mommy and daddy and he absolutely LOVES us!! He is very laid back, laughs a lot, loves to tease us, very playful, and very affectionate. He loves to give kisses (especially to his older brother Kieran). They do fight over toys but working it out...tonight, Kieran counted to three and then put him in time out :-) Kieran is struggling a bit with the transition but if Sam is sleeping, he wants me to go wake him up. So I guess that's encouraging. Anyhow, we just absolutely love him to death!
The Thurman Family
A BMH Camp Translator tells her Story...
I feel very honoured to be here to tell our family’s story in BMH’s summer camp in August of 2009.
My story has three parts. It happened between SiYan, Sarah, and me. Sarah is my foreign volunteer who is very kind-hearted and comes from California SiYan is a very smart orphan assigned to our group from an orphanage in JiaoZuo, China.
SiYan is a perfect girl with two problems; one of which is she cannot walk, and the other is she needs to go to bathroom often like once every ten minutes. So I had to carry her to the bathroom even when I really want to eat my meal or feel tired. When we got to the bathroom, she said to me, “I’m sorry, sister. I must make you tired. You must hate me.” I felt ashamed and answered with tears in eyes, “Not at all. SiYan, you are so pretty and sweet. I want to carry you forever.” When I stayed in bed that night, I said to myself, “I can’t show my boredom to her any more. She stands much more torture than me. The only thing I should do is to love her with my whole heart.”
Then, there was Sarah who loved SiYan so much that she would hug and kiss her every time she saw her. SiYan also love Sarah. She always asked me what Sarah was talking about and wanted to understand her. The last activity of our week together is to write letters. SiYan and Sarah need to write letters for each other, and I would translate these letters. SiYan wrote, “I want Sarah to be my mum.” which shocked everybody.
I really appreciate that I can know Sarah and become friends with her. She is very patient and thoughtful. I can’t forget the most common sentence she would said to SiYan, “That’s ok,” and she would always help me carry SiYan. Sarah and I are very similar, both with a sister and a brother, parents that are teachers, and born in the year of snake, the Chinese Year of the Snake. Maybe there is some connection between us, I thought.
That is my amazing experience which should be cherished forever. Now I’m the BMH club president in TaiYuan, and I feel very thankful to have Sarah, Becca and David in my life. Everything I do for BMH is going well and my life is plentiful and meaningful. I even get to meet Sarah and SiYang again in several days because Sarah is going to see SiYan, and I will go too. WAHOO!! I'm also thankful for everyone who comes to the camps. I love you all!
~Banana
Please click on pictures for larger image. :)
Hannah's Story Short - -> WATCH IT HERE!!!
Bring Me Hope rejoices with Bill & Debbie Byrne on the adoption of their son Ethan! Check out their family's adoption story: http://www.ourmiraclesandblessings.blogspot.com/
Selina Boland was moved to write her song "Orphan" after reading Bring Me Hope's "Love Delivery" by Tom Pfingsten.
Boland has used proceeds from "Orphan" to raise funds for kids to come to camp this summer. Thank you Selina, and congratulations on your success!
Check out her music here: http://www.myspace.com/selinaboland
I have been home for 2 days from THE AMAZING JOURNEY. Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragements!! Well, here is what happened there and what our Father did!!
We stayed at the orphanage one night and one morning and met more than 10 kids who study at the nearby orphanage. This is totally out of my expectation because I thought there would be around 5 of them. However, there were 11 kids!! We went to pick them up at the end of school the same afternoon we arrived there to give them a surprise, and they were so happy to see us.
We talked, sang songs, (they sang a church song for us!!!), ate and went to school together! They are happy, healthy, love school and have many companions. I was amazed by how well they were. Praise the Father for HIS faithful love and care!!
We also met two girls from the orphanage who study at high school. Praise the Father that HE helped us find them without waiting too long or having too many troubles. We brought them money and gifts, and especially love and encouragements they needed most.
We left the orphanage after one day's visit, then went to my friend's home which is two hours away from the orphanage. We stayed for more than one day, had fun with his nieces, goofed in the village, relaxed and enjoyed FATHER'S amazing preparation since my friend's mother is also a sister in Christ!! They were extremely helpful and nice. We had so much fun together
A three day journey is not long, however the Lord did show us his mercy, love, power and faith. The children from the orphanage are all doing well!! I have a more clear understanding on the verse which says work is for helping others in a better way. I spent one month's salary for the kids and my students also bought many stuff for the kids after hearing about my journey. God is with me, I do not do things alone. I wish I might have more chances to do this in the future.
Thank you all for your prayers and love for Chinese kids…
I had the opportunity on Christmas Eve to visit 'Mr.Fang' and his family. They live about an hour away from us in the mountains.
Mr.Fang and his wife foster two teenagers with severe cerebral palsy, a younger child who has been abused, and they have two children of their own. A very big family for China!
He is a lovely Christian man who loves the children and treats them all as his own. They have no front door, electricity, or heat, and all the kids sleep in one bed. (It was minus 7 degrees on the day I visited!)
Mr.Fang told me how the Lord has provided for his family through his job of cleaning an International school (which our boys attend) for two hours a day. The school DOES in fact have a front door, heat and electricity – not to mention computers a library and a canteen!
The two foster boys are completely dependent for all cares including feeding and dressing and toileting. They have outdoor toilets (remember, it is minus 7 degrees!) and he sits them on it after meals – it is the best he can do without plumbing!
After I got home and defrosted with a hot shower and multiple cups of hot water, I reflected on the fact that Mr.Fang is one of the true “heroes” of China. And I was reminded again that indeed it is “more blessed to give than receive."
I am trying to organize a team to visit the family regularly and help with the kids. I have spoken to the school who are organizing a fundraiser to help the family, as we really want to help them and show how much we recognize his selfless devotion to the care of orphans.
Keep Mr.Fang and his (very tired) wife in your thoughts and prayers.
Julie Vidler
Things have happened so quickly here!!
At this moment, Julie is in another province, 800km to the southeast of us, where 2 weeks ago an orphanage there discovered that 2 of their children have HIV, and via a British nurse working with them, a request for the care of these children went out across the country.
After some discussion, we gladly agreed to this, and spoke with the orphanage directors, who were just as keen for us to take care of these children.
So......probably later tonight, we will have 5 children under our roof!!! Thomas, James, Maggie and a 2 and a 3 year-old child. 1 boy. 1 girl. Julie and I are so excited to begin something that we have had on our hearts for so long (almost 18 months now!!)
We have already spoken with the HIV Professor here who is very willing to sign the prescription that allows them to have life-long anti-HIV medications supplied free.
Now we plan to care for them in our family until we can rent another apartment, and find a "mama" to live with and care for them.
From there, we will provide all medical care, social integration and education - with the hope that they will be adopted in the future, with the best possible chance to live a long and disease-controlled life.
We would so love to set up a model and standard for care of these children, that the community and other care facilities can then see that this is not a disease to panic over, but to still love and nurture these children. In doing this, perhaps those children when diagnosed in the future can actually remain with their biological families - ultimately a far better place with the proper medical care.
We are so grateful for the incredible response to our previous email for your assistance with this - not only was it rapid but extraordinarily generous.
What wonderful people we have - to be able to call 'friends', from around the world.
UPDATE:
Today I feel like I have just had twins! (Although people who really have had twins may disagree!) I left home yesterday morning with a bag full of nappies and toys and returned at 2 am with 2 children!
Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers for us and the kids . We had a great day and all went smoothly from multiple meetings with orphanage officials to flying with 2 kids!
They are cute, happy little things and have been happy and laughing with us all day. It looks like they haven't been out of their "isolation" room since they were diagnosed in September so they are very interested in the outside world.
Zhang Jian Shi (" Peter ") is the boy - James wanted to call him R2 D2 but we thought Peter was better. He is about 3 and was found last year on the street. He looks pretty healthy and is a real "boy" - loves throwing balls in the house and anything that makes noise.
Zhang Qiu Ni - ("Chloe ") - looks a bit younger. She seems to have a lot of energy and was up until 3 am this morning watching play school with Sam! We hope she has a better night tonight.
The kids are fitting in well. Maggie is in her element having someone to boss around and has been busy teaching them her tricks on how to avoid the day time sleep! James and Thomas have also been great with them.
We continue to look for an apartment and a good carer for them who sees it as her passion rather than just a job.
Please pray that we will find the right person and place. Also for the kids who are mostly happy but sometimes get distressed for no reason - they have had so many changes in 6 months.
Attached are some photos - me trying to get them through the airport - and Maggie and them at rest time.
It is your heart, and your generosity that makes this thing possible. Without it, we simply could not give this love to these children.
Gratefully yours,
Sam and Julie.
Maggie, Peter, and Chloe.
