Tell Me A Story: OVERFLOWING

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

November is National Adoption Month

Our family celebrates the miracle of adoption!

Overflowing

We adopted our first daughter, Sarah Zheng-Kang, from China, in 1999, through Children's Hope International.

CHI

CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:

http://www.childrenshopeint.org/

We were in the process of adopting our second daughter, Faith Fu Ju, in the summer of 2002. We kept pictures of Fu Ju, on the refrigerator during the nine months we waited to adopt her through Holt International.

Holt International Children's Services

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http://holtinternational.org/

I prayed for the little girl we would name Faith. We kept her Chinese name, Fu Ju, as her middle name to honor her Chinese heritage. I talked about Faith Fu Ju as if she was already a member of our family, even though she lived thousands of miles away at an orphanage in northern China, very close to the border of North Korea.

“We’re getting used to her face,” said our four-year-old granddaughter, Megan Jewell, as she walked past Fu Ju’s picture on the refrigerator.

Our our 30-year-old-homemade (bio) daughter, Kristin; our five-year-old grandson, Joshua; our seven-year-old, chosen child, Sarah Zheng-Kang; and our three-year-old granddaughter, Emily, were in the kitchen with Megan and me to get a drink of water.

“Will you still love me and play with me when you bring Fu Ju home?” asked Emily.

I knew Kristin, her mother and our first-born, wondered the same thing because we talked about it before we adopted Sarah ZK.

ME: "Oh! Yes! Emily! I have enough love for you no matter how many children I love."

I used the pitcher of water in my hand and some multi-colored plastic cups to illustrate.

EMILY: "I want the pink one."

MEGAN: "I want the purple one."

SARAH ZK: "I’ll take orange."

JOSHUA: "I don’t care which color I have. What are the extra cups for?"

ME: "There is a cup for everyone it our family."

I put out extra cups for my husband, Ed; our son, Benjamin; our son-in-law, David; my parents, Jewell and Natalie Bush, and one for Faith Fu Ju.

ME: "The pitcher is me. The water is my love. I have lots of love to give to each one of you."

I poured cold water into each cup.

EMILY: "What happens when you run out of water?"

ME: "Watch and see!"

I refilled the pitcher with water from the faucet, and refreshed each cup with cold water until it overflowed all over the counter and on to the floor. The kids were surprised and thrilled that I made a mess on purpose.

ME: "If I need a refill – if I need more love – I go back to the source: God is Love. God is like the faucet. The Bible says that God has “poured his love into our hearts,” and we are to give a cup of cold water to the little ones in His name. Do you understand?"

EMILY: "Yes! Let’s get out some out more cups for Aunt Gloria and Uncle Bret and Aunt Gail, and Uncle Terry and Aunt Lisa..."

MEGAN: "...and Conner, and Taylor, and Lacey and Jeramy!"

JOSHUA: "It’s my turn to dump the water in their cups."

SARAH ZK: "No. It’s my turn."

KRISTIN: "Let’s take turns."

ME: "Learning to share takes practice."

Faith Fu Ju became our daughter through the miracle of adoption in October 2002.