Zhuhai—November 29, 2013

Imagine the day, you are a three year old little girl, driving down a beautiful road with one of your parents.  The road is known to the locals as “Lover’s Road” because it is so beautiful and scenic.  However, for this little girl, it will not be a fun time because you will be left behind.  That’s right, abandoned.   That’s part of the story for our little girl and unfortunately, the story for so many orphans around the world.  For whatever reason, the parents find themselves in a situation where they believe their child will be better off with strangers than with them.  Who knows why people do this, but in every situation it is tragic.  However, God can use these situations to do great things.  Take the biblical story of Joseph…his brothers tried to get rid of him because they didn’t like him, but God made him ruler of Egypt.  And he told his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen 50:20).  We don’t know the reason why Olivia’s biological parents dropped her off at the pier, but we know that God has another plan for her life. 

Today we had the opportunity to visit both her finding location and her orphanage.  The orphanage looked very nice on the inside: bright colors, lots of kids’ art hanging on the walls, smiling faces of the workers.  It actually looked like any elementary school in Birmingham.  However, the truth is that these kids live without parents that give them lots of love.  No one to teach them about Jesus or right from wrong or that they can do anything in this life.  So, even though these pictures look bright and wonderful, it’s not a wonderful place.  170 kids live there, but now it’s 169!  I tried to be sensitive and did not post any of their faces.

 The track

 Playground

 A little unsure of what to do.

 Artwork

 More artwork

 A teacher that really cares for Olivia

Olivia's room.

To those of you that have been praying for Olivia to handle the day well…she did. She was very quiet (but it seems that is her personality) and took a little time to warm up to her old friends.  She seemed to be very well liked by her classmates and the teachers were so happy to see her.  One was very sad to see her go, but she knows that she is going to a better place…a family.  She shared a room with 11 other girls and right next door were 12 boys.  The beds were lined up next to each other and were basically a pad on top of plywood, not very comfortable, but all they know.  It was sad for us because Olivia told her caregivers that she has been cold with us, but she wouldn’t put on all the clothes that we tried to put on her.  So while we were there, they put another pair of pants on her, 2 layers.  They told us “she is very skinny, so she needs 2 layers on her legs”.  When we left, you could tell she was sad, but she didn’t cry and went willingly, holding Nanette’s hand.  What a praise!

Overall, the day went very well and was not as emotional as we thought it would be, while at the orphanage.   The orphanage workers and teachers have done a good job of preparing Olivia for us and they know that families are the best place for children.  It was a little sad to see the faces of so many other orphans, but maybe God will place them in a family soon.

Upon return to the hotel, she became very upset and cried hard for about 2 hours with nothing to console her, not even the typical walks around the hotel. However, she did cling to Nanette and sobbed on her shoulder.  We believe that she held it together all day and finally lost it to grieve the reality that she was not returning to her familiar friends and what she knows as “home”.  God was again gracious and ended the night with smiles and laughter.  We know that this is very hard for her and will love her through this trying time of change.  This picture so reminds us of how God handles us in our times of grief.  He is always there to comfort us and allows us to cling to Him.  He will never leave us in both the good and trying times of our lives.  His love for us is the only way that we can pour out our love for Olivia, and we KNOW that His love is everlasting!

We had the opportunity to have lunch with one of Scott's friends.  A long story but they met on a trip to another part of China in 2011.  Olivia is smiling!