We have surprising news to share…we are adopting a child!
Allow us to introduce to you: Xiao Xin! He is a 13 1/2 year old boy from China.
Xiao arrived at Bethel, a foster care facility, in 2006. He had been abandoned when he was only a few months old, and then sent to an orphanage. When he came to Bethel, he was blind, couldn’t walk, talk or eat solid foods. He had a successful heart surgery in 2005 for Fallots Tetrad Heart Disease. He has made significant progress at Bethel.
We first learned about Xiao from our adult daughter, who found out about him from an Instagram post. Our future didn't include adoption from China, or so we thought! However, after much prayer we knew God had placed him in our path and that we were to bring him into our home and make him a beloved son.
In China, children are only eligible for adoption until their 14th birthday. After that they loose their chance at having a forever family. A future for children who will age out of the system differs from child to child. Since the type of therapy needed for Xiao is not currently available in China, his future looked bleak.
Xiao's birthday is February 20th. Because we have a little over 5 months, we are moving at a very rapid pace with paperwork and fundraising efforts.
As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign, since adoption related costs can easily total up to $35,000 or more and we have such a short time to raise the funds we felt this was our best option. Thank you for taking time to read our story. We know not everyone is called to adopt, but everyone can do something, beginning with daily prayer for the orphan crisis.
This is a quote by a 30 year old orphan who aged out of the orphanage where he lived his whole life.
"Children in orphanages don't need more money, nicer buildings or better clothes. I am not an orphan because I lost my home or provisions. I am an orphan because I lost my parents. I needed a mom and a dad. I needed a family. Christians treated all my temporary symptoms of need but never cured my long-term disease of being orphan. I am still an orphan."
