America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking
November is
National Adoption Month in the United States.
Presidential Proclamation
CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/10/31/presidential-proclamation-national-adoption-month-2013
Children
are still abandoned all over the world.
Baby Lost in Zhenzhou
CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:
BABIES ABANDONED AND LEFT TO DIE
CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:
http://www.usaadoptions.com/articles/babies_abandoned.html
ABANDONED CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES
CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Abandoned-Children-in-the-United-States&id=1885499
We are not all called to adopt -
but we are all called to help orphans.
Our Family Story
About the Miracle of Adoption
THE HORSES CAME
RUNNING
Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood
We stood at the metal
gate,
eagerly looking across the fields for the horses. They seemed so far
away. I shaded my eyes from the bright sun with my left hand, and barely
caught a glimpse of one horse on that beautiful, autumn afternoon.
“The
horses need to get used to your voices,” shared Cathie Perry, founder of JAKE’S
CLUB, (Jesus and Kids Evangelistic Saddle Club). She encouraged my girls: “Call them by name. If one comes, they will all come.”
The
voices of the three Norwood girls
rang out over the fields as they called out to the horses Cathie assigned to
them. Each horse at JAKE’S CLUB is named
for a chapter and verse from the Bible.
“Genesis! Here, Genesis!” My timid, 14-year old daughter, Sarah
Zheng-Kang, called out to the registered, Thoroughbred gelding.
“Exodus! Come on boy,”
hollered my brave, 14-year old daughter,
Faith Fu Ju, to the Quarter-type horse.
“Isaiah!
Where are you? Isaiah!” Megan Jewell, my
spunky granddaughter, repeatedly called Isaiah, the brown and white Pinto, in
her best nine-year-old cowgirl voice.
Then
it happened. Genesis lifted his head, looked in our direction and took
off. It was almost surreal…as I watched Genesis, Exodus and Isaiah gallop
toward us. Phil (Philippians): the Quarter horse; and
Numbers: the Missouri Fox Trotter; trotted along with the herd. Megan, Sarah, and Faith were astonished when
the horses responded to their voices and came to them at the gate!
 |
| Megan and Isaiah. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
Big
crocodile tears rolled down my face. It was such an empowering moment for
my three girls who – for their entire lives have had people tell them they
“can’t do this” and they “can’t do that.” Their own bodies have given
them restrictions and limitations that most children never endure. But on that
beautiful, autumn afternoon, my girls experienced powerful “I CAN” moments.
“I
can’t believe it!” Sarah exclaimed. “When you call their name
– they COME!”
 |
| Sarah and Genesis. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
My
daughter, Sarah Zheng-Kang, is our Gentle Lotus Blossom. She lived
at an orphanage in southern China for six years. She endured abandonment, abuse and
neglect. She was blinded in her right
eye by a blunt trauma that also caused injury and scaring to her left eye.
Someone at her orphanage chose the name, Zheng Kang, for her. I was told her
name (which means “Health”) was chosen as a WISH that this little blind girl
would have health. My husband, Ed, and I, kept her Chinese name as her
middle name when we adopted Sarah Zheng-Kang in December 1999. We were
50, with two, adult “homemade”, biological children and four grandchildren, but
God broke our hearts on behalf of His children around the world who do not have
homes. Sarah was six. She weighed 36 pounds. She spoke no
English and was terrified of everything and everyone.
“What
took
you so long, Mamma?” Sarah Z.K. asked me, when she learned to speak
English. “I was hungry every day until you came to get me. I only
had one bowl of rice in the morning and one bowl of rice in the
afternoon. I went to bed hungry every night.”
 |
| Sarah and Genesis. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
Sarah
Z.K. has come so far emotionally, physically and spiritually since she became
our daughter through the miracle of adoption, but some things still trigger
terror attacks. Caring for horses at JAKE’S CLUB helps Sarah overcome
sensory deprivation issues and develops confidence.
 |
| Sarah and Megan. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
When Sarah first came to America, she was
terrified of our little 11 pound Peek-a-Poo puppy, Cotton-Candi. She screamed and rolled up into a fetal
position when Cotton-Candi came near her.
Now our Sarah leads a 1,200 pound horse.
What an amazing testimony to God’s restorative power!
 |
| Sarah. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
“What
was your favorite part of the day?” I asked my nine-year old
granddaughter, Megan Jewell, on the way home from JAKE’S Club.
 |
| Megan and Isaiah. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
“Everything!
I even liked cleaning my horse’s poop!” Megan shared. “I like to take
care of my horse, Isaiah,” said Megan proudly.
 |
| Jacob and Megan with Isaiah. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
Megan,
our Social Butterfly, was kissed with the name “Jewell” as her middle name,
after my father, Jewell Bush, who loved to sing. Megan is used to others caring for her. She was born with a form of hemolytic
anemia, and received her first lifesaving blood transfusion when she was a few
hours old in March 1999. She has had transfusions almost every month of
her life for the past nine years, and she has endured several surgeries. Two
months before joining JAKE’S CLUB, Megan had her gall bladder removed, her sixth
spleen removed, and a portion of her liver.
 |
| Janet and Faith. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
Faith
concurred with Megan: “It is rewarding to take care of another living
creature.” Our daughter, Faith Fu Ju, is our Strong Chinese
Warrior. Her Chinese name, Fu, means “Blessing Earned After Great
Effort.”
 |
| Faith. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
That’s our Faith. She lived in an orphanage for eight
years, and survived by eating bugs and paper off the floor many times,
when "mean men with guns" broke into her orphanage and stole food.
Faith was born with bilateral cleft lip and palate. She was abandoned
when she was two days old, and found at a railway station in northern
China.
 |
| Faith. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
Faith
was four years old, when she and her best friend at the orphanage sneaked out
of the orphanage and crossed the street.
They were holding hands when a car struck her friend. Faith saw her friend’s head smashed and one
arm severed. She ran back to the orphanage
to get help. Officials at the orphanage
told Faith to forget what happened and never speak about it again. Faith wants to be a doctor when she grows
up. She is familiar with hospitals from her own multiple surgeries.
She faces several additional procedures and a craniofacial surgery.
“I’ll
never forget standing beside you at that gate….hearing you call your
horses by name…and watching them come to you,” I remarked again to my girls.
 |
| Sarah. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
“Yep,”
said Megan matter-of-factly:
“The
horses came running.
THE HORSES CAME RUNNING!
That should be a Country Western song!”
 |
| Megan and Isaiah. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
Thanks for stopping by!
Come back often, and invite a friend!
Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking
JAKE’S Club
at New Beginnings Equestrian Farm,
in Oak Grove, Missouri,
is a place
where children and their families
can love horses
and be loved by people who
care for them.
 |
| Cathie Perry. JAKE'S CLUB. Copyright 2008 Marcia Norwood |
What began, in 2000, as
Cathie Perry’s humble vision to “do something with Jesus and horses”- is now an
independent, non-denominational, Christian-based ministry. They serve children with mild to moderate
special needs FREE of charge with basic beginning Horsemanship and Riding
Programs.
JAKE'S CLUB
CLICK on the link or
COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:
http://www.jakesclub.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment