Just Thinking........

Fu Zhixiong
之雄
We began the paper chase last summer to adopt another "healthy infant girl" Well, God had other plans. In the process of the paperchase, we fell in love with a little boy on the Waiting Child List (which is made up of children with special needs). As you know, we have named this special little boy Luke. Luke has a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palate. I tried to tell myself this made no sense. Luke was not the healthy little girl we set out to adopt. Through much prayer it became clear to our entire family however, that this was the child the Lord intended us to have. He is our son and we can't wait to bring him home.

I had his name translated to give us a little more insight as to who this little guy is. I learned that Fu is the name given to all the children in the orphanage. It's kind of like their last name. Zhi was the name given to every child that entered the orphanage in 2003. Here is where it gets personal. Xiong means HERO! I want Luke to always feel like a hero.

The following is a report the we received from the orphanage.

Fu Zhi Xiong, (soon to be Lucas David Gividen) was born on May 3rd, 2003. His birth parents abandoned him due to his congenital cleft lips and palate. On July 3, 2003 he was taken to the Haiku Social Welfare Institute in Hainan, China.
On June 2004 he received the cleft lip surgery at Haikou City Peoples Hospital.

Luke is described by his nannies as being an open and active boy. He is easy content and does not cry often. He laughs a lot, likes music, and enjoys playing with toys and games. He is full of energy. He cooperates when you dress him. He is happy when being adored by adults. He adjusts to new environments easily. Luke meets his age development level.

The nannies tell us that Luke has a very good living pattern. He goes to bed on time and eats on time. (what choice does he have) :) He eats noodles and porridge, plus milk and rice formula. He has good appetite. He loves fruit juice. He sleeps well.

Throughout this adoption process God has reminded us of our own adoption. This little Chinese boy was abandoned due to his imperfections. Aren't we blessed that God never abandons us because we are not perfect? We all were born into this world lost, alone, full of imperfections, and needing a Savior. If we do not have Jesus we are orphans without much life. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:12

Little Luke doesn't know that he lives in a sinful world. He does not realize he was abandoned and left alone. He is unaware of the time, work, money, sacrifice, tears, prayers, paperwork, more paperwork, "seemingless never-ending" red tape that occurred so that we could bring him home. Yet, God had a plan in mind to give this little boy a family. Luke will have a mother and a father here on earth that promise to love him. He will also have a loving heavenly Father that he is able to spend eternity with.

God did the same thing for us. We have a much greater insight into our relationship with God as His adopted child through the amazing grace of Jesus. What a privilege!!

As our departure date fast approaches I find myself overflowing with love for this little guy. Thank you Father for choosing us to bring home our little hero!

"Shengdi shi hao! God is good!