A new little joy

Her life began late in the fall of 2012, and her introduction to the world was a bitter one. Her parents, not knowing how to raise a child with a cleft lip and a cleft palate, placed her in a popular park not far from a police station, where she would surely be found by someone before exposure to the elements could take her life. It was a gamble, but they were right. She was found and taken to an orphanage when, it is estimated, she was only about one month old.

It seems that God had his hand on her life from early on. She was taken to a government orphanage, in her central China city, in which all the workers wore cross necklaces around their necks and played Christian praise music in the background. The little girl didn't get held -- or fed -- as much as most young children who are raised in families. She was, however, protected from the elements, given the basic necessities of life and was prayed for. The government paid for her to have surgery to fix her lip, and later another one to fix her palate. But what she really needed was a mom, and a dad, and a home.

Meet my little friend A. She was adopted by my American friends who live here in the same city as me. In the above photo, A had been with her new family less than one week. But she already knew who here daddy was, and fell asleep in his arms while we all visited together. She now has two parents and two slightly older siblings who are crazy about her.

The family has now returned to the U.S. for a few months to get her citizenship paperwork done and to let surgeons check out her lip/palate condition.

On the day we met, she smiled at me a lot, so of course I love her! I'm looking forward to them coming back this fall so I can spend more time with her, erasing any lingering trace in her mind of a life without love.