Living in China, we have had many opportunities to work with orphans. It started, as many know, a little over three months after we arrived; God put Matthew into our lives. Matthew means 'Gift from God'.
Matthew was born with HIV and was quite little in size when he came to us. When we first heard about him he was in an isolation room with little to no care. Due to lack of education about HIV, people were afraid to care for him. Now, three years later, he is a healthy, happy, handsome little boy. We are looking forward to completing his adoption and getting him back to the US, where he will be seen by a specialist and we can know exactly where he stands medically.
We started the adoption process for Matthew a couple of years ago; presently, we are in the final stages. We never thought we would be starting over at our age, but we are so glad we were open to Matthew. He is an amazing little man! To us he is our son, but it will be a relief when it's official!
Cheryl and Jenna volunteer each week at a group foster home here in the city. This home cares for and nurtures children with special needs.
We have also had the opportunity to bridge foster a wonderful little girl for almost 4 months, preparing her for her forever family. She was divinely matched with a family from our home church. We got to meet her forever family when they came to China. Today, we are still able to keep in touch with them. It is a privilege to see one of these little ones on the other side of adoption. She is in a very special family, and their kindness toward us has truly touched our hearts. This is how great our God is: We were praying for a Christian family to adopt this little girl, and they were praying the foster family taking care of her was also a Christian family. God is so
GREAT!
As for an update on our other foster boy, Zachary. He has been with us since June and is doing wonderfully. We are not miracle workers at all. Our works have been simple: we have loved him, hugged him, and fed him. He now weighs twenty pounds (ten or so kilograms) and eats like crazy. There are few types of food he does not like. Italian has been his favorite food thus far. Zachary still has a long road ahead of him, as he has a number of health issues and the poor little guy is fighting. It is truly amazing how far he has come in just the 4 short months he has been in our home. Zachary means 'The Lord Remembers'. The world forgot him but the Lord remembered him, and took him out of a horrible situation. He is a very special little boy and we hope he will have a forever family of his own one day soon. Until then, we are happy to love him!
He is scheduled to start his HIV medication next week which should help him a lot. We have been waiting for him to be in good enough shape to start his course of treatment with anti-retrovirals.
In September, we had the pleasure of having the leader of Matthew's orphanage come to our home. Such an occurrence is most unusual -- to have the leader of a Chinese orphanage visit your home. He brought Matthew to us three years ago and had not seen him in person since. Although Matthew doesn't understand all of this, we were glad to have a picture of the two of them. We send them monthly updates and we have had a good relationship with this orphanage.
We have been so blessed that God has put us in China at this point in time and has brought into our lives these precious children. We are so thankful to all of our family and friends; without them, all of this would not be possible.
Thank you for your prayers and support,
Rick
