Photos and Text Copyright 2009 Marcia Norwood
AMERICA'S STORYTELLER
Our daughters were born in China -- six months apart -- in 1994, and may never have known each other if not for the miracle of adoption.
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Left: Faith Fu Ju in Northern China 2002
Right: Sarah Zheng-Kang in Southern China 1999 |
People ask, "Are they REAL sisters? Are you their REAL Mom?"
I reply, "They are REAL. God made them sisters. And I'm about as REAL as it gets."
It doesn’t matter that my eyes are green and theirs are black. It doesn’t matter that my hair and skin are lighter, and I am old enough to be their grandmother. I am their mother. God brought us together as miraculously as if these daughters had grown in my womb. They grew in my heart.
My husband, Ed, and I have two homemade (biological) kids: Kristin and Benjamin, who are now adults; and four grandchildren: Joshua, Emily, Caleb, and Megan. Ed and I were both over 50 years old when God broke our hearts on behalf of His orphaned children around the world. Most of our friends and family did not support our decision to adopt internationally. They thought we were absolutely crazy to adopt at our age.
Ed and I flew to China on our 29th wedding anniversary in 1999, to adopt our first Chinese daughter, Sarah Zheng-Kang. We returned to China in October 2002, to adopt Faith Fu Ju.
Strangers ask, "Are they twins?"
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Sarah Zheng-Kang and Faith Fu Ju
Imperial Palace, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China
October 2002 |
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Sarah Zheng-Kang and Faith Fu Ju
October 2002, White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou, China
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We wink at each other. Sarah and Faith dream up imaginary scenarios where they are biological sisters--separated at birth and joyfully reunited when adopted by American parents, but Sarah and Faith know their true life stories include abandonment, abuse, and neglect.
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Sarah Zheng-Kang and Faith Fu Ju
In the Streets of Shenyang, Liaoning Province China
October 2002 |
We are cautious with whom and when we share details of their lives. Sarah was blinded by a blunt trauma to her right eye as an infant that also caused scarring to her left eye. An official estimated her to be 10 months old when she was discovered alone, outside a police station in Changsha: a city in mid-southern China, whose population is over six million. Sarah was 5 years and 11 months old when we met her. She weighed only 36 pounds.
When she learned to speak English, Sarah asked me, “What took you so long, Mommy? I was hungry every day until you came to China. I had one bowl of rice in the morning, and one bowl of rice in the afternoon. I went to bed hungry every night."
Faith was born with cleft lip and palate. She was two days old when she was abandoned at a railway station in Benxi, a city with over a million people in northern China. She lived alternately at an orphanage and at her foster family’s home, until she was sent to a boarding school for orphans in Beijing.
Faith was eight years old when we met her. She was afraid to eat the food we gave her because a boy at her orphanage said her new American parents would poison her. Faith’s next food phase was hording and hiding food: a common "orphanage behavior."
There were times she would eat until she threw up if we didn't stop her. Faith's memories of her life in China, unfolded on their own time-table. She still remember the times there wasn’t enough food at the orphanage. More than once she went without food for several days and ate bugs and paper off the floor. Faith's right hand was continually clenched in a fist: a habit she developed at the orphanage so she could hide food, bugs and other precious things in her hand.
One evening when Faith had been in America for six months she tied a doll blanket around her hand and arm with a ribbon. She was afraid the food in her hand would fall out during the night as she slept. She hid her arm under the covers. I didn't discover it until the next morning.
Faith had tied the ribbon so tight that her arm was numb. My tears fell on her right arm as I untied the ribbons that bound her. I rubbed her hand until the blood flowed to every little finger and promised her she would never be hungry again in America.
I began with, "Open your hand, Faith. I want to put love inside," and I gently put a kiss inside her hand.
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| Faith and Sarah, Christmas 2002 |
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| Faith and Sarah, Christmas 2002 |
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Daughter Sarah Zheng-Kang, Granddaughter Megan Jewell, Daughter Faith Fu Ju
Christmas 2011 |
We can make a difference by opening our hands to hurting children…one child at a time.
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Friend Rebecca, Granddaughter Megan, Daughter Faith, Daughter Sarah
Orphan Sunday, November 2011
Living Stones Community Church |
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Friend Rebecca, Granddaughter Megan, Daughter Faith, Daughter Sarah
Orphan Sunday, November 2011
Living Stones Community Church |
Looking for an inspirational speaker
for your next event?
Contact Marcia!
Marcia has appeared on radio and television. She is a featured speaker for adoption groups, churches, festivals, libraries, schools, women's groups, retreats, and seminars.
Marcia and husband, Ed, have four children: two homemade (biological) children (now adults), and two chosen children from China, who are teenagers. They are blessed with four precious grandchildren and three frisky, rescued puppies.
God's presence in Marcia's life has changed ordinary experiences into extraordinary adventures around the world.
UNTIL ALL HIS CHILDREN HAVE HOMES!
Marcia
