Every morning when I wake up to get ready for school, my little sister Callie greets me as she ‘reads’ books on the couch. Cuddled up in her blanket, she turns the pages with her left hand while the right sits motionless by her side.
While Callie is content to sit and quietly read or talk to her dolls, Emily is a whirlwind of energy that never stops. The minute I walk in the door after school I am greeted by shouts as they race to see who gets to hug me first. Usually their attire consists of some outlandish costumes complete with wings and halos.
Despite bright smiles and unusual antics, my sisters are different from normal children. Both are missing their right hands and both were adopted from China. Yet despite their obvious physical differences, I still marvel at how God brought such joy and love into our home through a decision to trust and obey Him.
In 2002, the Romanian Orphan Choir from the village Camenial Felix preformed at Peoples Church. Our family had the privilege of housing two older teenage boys from the choir for the weekend. This experience started a long four-year journey that lead to the arrival of my two sisters.
“It was Sept. 24 the day the choir left and I was reading my daily Bible. That day the verse I read was Psalms 69:5-6,” Kimberly said. “It describes about how God is ‘father to the fatherless and he places the lonely into families’.”
“Also when my husband and I traveled to Portugal we went to a cathedral and saw an abandoned baby left on the steps,” Kimberly said. “I was shocked and heart-broken to see the value of human life. The seed of adoption was placed in my heart and that desire grew after we had two miscarriages.”
The number of orphans in the world is staggering
MyOrphanage.org found there are 100 million orphans worldwide. Only 25% are in orphanages; the other 75% have no home.
According to the Center for the Study for Global Christianity, Justin D. Long’s article, Abandoned children and Infants there are between 1-3 million orphans and 40,000 orphanages in China. The majority of the abandoned children are girls. It breaks my heart to think that my beautiful sisters were part of this statistic.
After the decision to adopt was finalized, countless hours of paper work and two trips to China, my sisters were adopted in ’04 and ’05.
“We don’t even think about their special needs anymore,” Kimberly said. “The girls find a way to do everything. I think people stare at them in public mainly, because they are Chinese and they don’t look like the rest of our family.”
Though I love them, at times I get quite frustrated because of the responsibility. Sometimes when I want to go spend time with friends or go to a movie, I have to baby-sit Emily and Callie instead. After a long day of school, with homework undone, patience is difficult when they constantly follow me and want to play.
Although I get irritated and annoyed when my things mysteriously ‘disappear’ or I come home and my room is a disaster, I cannot imagine my life without them.
Life would seem dull without their sunny smiles. Whether they are playing “dogs” or chasing each other on their bikes they are full of energy and passion.
Emily always ends up in some new mishap such as scratching her name with a rock in the side of our SUV or cutting her hair because she doesn’t like the way it looks. Everything she does is animated.
While Callie is more laid back and shy both bring life to our family. With her warm hugs and high-pitched laugh, her passion and love for her siblings is evident.
When I see them running around the playground with their friends or swimming in the pool, I wondered what would have happened if they had spent the rest of their life in an orphanage.
Though many would say they are blessed to have been adopted and given a home, our family would say that we are blessed to have them in our lives.
