Tell Me A Story: National Adoption Month

Showing posts with label National Adoption Month. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

OVERFLOWING

Mary Marcia
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

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

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 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 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.

Kristin gave birth to our grandson, Caleb, in July 2003.

Our cups continue to overflow

beyond boundaries we once imagined.

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend!

The Holy Bible

(NIV Translation)

Romans 5:5

And hope does not disappoint us,

because God has poured out his love into our hearts

by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

John 7:38

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,

streams of living water will flow from within him.”

John 17:26

I have made you known to them,

and will continue to make you known

in order that the love you have for me may be in them

and that I myself may be in them.

Matthew 10:42

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water

to one of these little ones because he is my disciple,

I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.

Marcia Norwood

America's STORYTELLER

Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

THE HORSES CAME RUNNING

Mary Marcia
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:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/10/28/presidential-proclamation-national-adoption-month-2015

We are not all called to adopt -

but we are all called to help orphans.

I have two homemade (biological) children who are now adults, two chosen children through the miracle of adoption, and four grandchildren. We discovered our family needed our chosen children just as much as they needed us.

Daughters Sarah Zheng-Kang and Faith Fu Ju Norwood. Copyright 2002 Marcia Norwood

THE HORSES CAME RUNNING

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!

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!”

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. We kept her Chinese name as her middle name when we adopted Sarah Zheng-Kang in December 1999.
I was 50, with two, adult “homemade”, biological children and four grandchildren, but God broke my heart 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 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.

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!

“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.

“Everything! I even liked cleaning my horse’s poop!” Megan shared. “I like to take care of my horse, Isaiah,” said Megan proudly.

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.

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.”

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 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 cranio-facial 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.

“Yep,” said Megan matter-of-factly:

“The horses came running.

THE HORSES CAME RUNNING!

That should be a Country Western song!”

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.

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/