8 yrs old

I am just thinking and praying a lot about JC and his being 8 yrs old. He has been in the orphanage all his life. For what it's worth, he lives in a great orphanage. By orphanage standards Shanghai is probably the Tajmahal. He might even be dismayed at our facilities compared to the campus he is used to. But, there is one thing we have that the orphanage doesn't. Family.
I have read and heard folks say it's a crime to bring a child out of their culture and expect him to learn a whole new culture. I wish the world was perfect place where all biological could safely and adequately care for all their birth children and live happily ever after.
I was adopted and don't consider myself traumatized. Sure I hd issues to work through as a child, young adult and adult but I don't think those issues are really any different than what many other non-adoptees face.
Orphans in China who are not adopted become unadoptable at age 14. By age 16 they are released from the orphanage. The culture in China is such that being an orphan is considered very bad luck. So no one wants to hire you for a job. Some people say how will they know someone's a orphan? Well the naming of children in orphanages is such that it automatically identifies the person. Take L. His Chinese last name is Dang. This means communist. All babies that end up in orphanages in his province have this last name. T is from Zhanjiang and all orphans there are given Zhan. Since these are not "real" last names in China it would single them out. Plus T and L have cleft lip and palate. They will have plastic surgery in US and have had some wonderful surgeries in China, but there will probably always be some sort of scarring. This is more bad luck.
Orphans don't have an opportunity to go to college either. That means no good paying job and limits their choices.
So JC is 8. In a few years he would have to move out and care for himself. That's just not going to happen.
We are praying his little heart will be open to the love his Mamma and Daddy have for him as well as the love and harassment his brothers and sisters are sure to shower him with!


- Amanda & Roland