Grace Finds a Home

Today we had two appointments in Guangzhou. First we went to the clinic where Grace had the required medical exam for all adopted children. We found out that she weighs 15 kilograms. As close as I can figure, that means about 33 pounds. That is probably about normal for an almost four year old...but it's an interesting number to us because it is only 6 pounds less than what Bradley weighed when we adopted him at eight years old. I think that says something about the difference in the level and quality of care given in the orphanages here in China as compared to the ones in eastern Europe.

Bradley was basically malnourished when we picked him up. Grace is very well fed and well cared for. When we left the orphanage with Bradley they took all the clothes he was wearing--all the way down to his underwear. I had to provide his going away outfit. With Grace, she was given to us with a pretty outfit on and she was carrying a little backpack with a spare outfit in it along with a little photo album with pictures of all her nannies and friends, a teddy bear, a brand new doll still in the box, and a lego-type block set still in it's shrink wrap.

We also found out that she is 101.5 centimeters tall. If somebody knows how to translate that into inches, please write back and let us know. In any case, she looks very normal to us. Grace comes to us as a "special needs" child. Her special need is that she was born with VSD. This stands for ventricular septal defect. It means that at birth she had a little hole between two of the chambers in her heart. She had surgery to repair this when she was one year old. The prognosis is that she will be a perfectly normal child with no symptoms or ongoing treatments. The one reminder she will have of it is a 4 inch scar on her little chest. The doctor at the clinic listened to her heart today and said it sounded as normal as could be. She may have a "special need", but what kid doesn't? To us she is just special.

Next we went to the main police station to apply for her Chinese passport. I think she needs this in order to leave China for the USA. It takes a few days for it to be processed. We have to have it in hand before we go to the US Consulate for our immigration appointment. What was interesting about this visit was the waiting room. It was a huge space filled with rows of chairs. Nearly every chair was filled with couples and their adopted children waiting for the passport interview. During the time we were there, at least 75 families passed through. We were only there for about 40 minutes. We wondered "does this go on all day and does it happen every day?" There are huge numbers of children being adopted and taken all around the world from China.

Tomorrow we have no official appointments. So our facilitator, Helen, is taking us shopping. We will tell you more about this special lady in a future post. If we buy anything, which I am sure we will, I think we'll need to buy another suitcase in order to get it home.

This hotel has an exercise gym on the top floor. Each morning as I do my time on the treadmill or the bike, I can look out across this city. I can see tall apartment buildings stretching as far as the eye can see in every direction. Hundreds and hundreds of people live in each one. It struck me that very few of these people have heard of Jesus, let alone have a relationship with Him. Furthermore, they live in a country that has basically made Jesus illegal. Most people who worship Him here have to do it in secret. It will be interesting to watch the ways the Holy Spirit will work to make the name of Jesus known to the billions in China. Come to think of it, maybe adoption is one of those ways.

Until next time...

Rick and Kathy