Abandoned in Hubei: Jessica's Story

It was a humid 85 degree day in Hubei. A young mom held her three month old in her arms as she walked onto a bridge near the Yangtze River; she hushed her little girl, hoping to not be discovered for fear of being arrested for what she was about to do. As the sun rose just above the horizon, the lady placed her baby on a safe spot and pinned a note on her shirt.

“Shhhh! Qi ChunTeng!” Quietly, the young mom ran down the dock, looking fearfully around. At any moment she could be caught and reported to the police for abandoning her child. But what else was she supposed to do? Where would she find the money to raise this child? She was struggling financially. And her family would shame her for not giving birth to a son; she really didn’t want a girl after all.

In Wuhan, it was illegal to give up your child for adoption or you would have to face consequences from the local police - including possible fines and detention. To abandon a child was also against the law, and if the parent was caught leaving their child, they would be reported to the authorities. People who turned them in would be rewarded financially; this was especially motivating to the people of Hubei since the government controlled all the wealth.

Qi ChunTeng’s mother slipped away into the distance, feeling ready to forget this chapter of her life and begin a new one.

Soon little Qi ChunTeng’s wailing was heard by a village lady, who was on her way to the market. Most people of Wuhan were very used to finding abandoned babies, and would not go out of their way to help them, but this lady was different. Slowly, she bent down to the ground and scooped up a tiny, beautiful little girl. As the lady held her, she realized there was a piece of paper pinned to the baby’s sweater. She glanced at the description on the paper:

五月二十四日，二00二年

莂春腾

The woman realized that this little one couldn’t be more than twelve weeks old! She went to the police station and handed Qi ChunTeng over to them. The police filled out her paperwork, and placed her temporarily in the Qichun Welfare Home, a fifty year old orphanage down the street. An ad was placed, telling the community about this abandoned little one, along with the many other weekly abandonment announcements in the paper. The authorities did not see many of these deserted children ever reunited with their biological families.

Qi ChunTeng awoke in a metal framed crib, hearing the babies around her crying. This orphanage was understaffed, and although some of the employees truly loved each child, there were not enough people to go around. Most of these children did not bond with the workers, but learned to fend for themselves, as well as they could. This caused the little ones to be closed toward other people, since even the most basic needs weren’t always met. Any love that was given to these children was temporary--from their parents, to the police, to the orphanage staff, to foster care--as the children became older, an underlying question remained: “Am I worth enough to anyone for them to take the time to care for me faithfully? Will everyone get up and leave on me?”

After nine months at the orphanage, little Qi ChunTeng was transferred to a home with two sisters who would become her temporary foster parents, because a family from the US was pursuing her adoption. This was arranged to give the adoptive parents the impression that their child had received one-on-one care from the very beginning. The Chinese government did not want the adoptive parents to become aware of the difficult conditions these orphans had endured prior to a family’s promise to give them a forever home.

By the time she was sixteen months old, the time had arrived for Qi ChunTeng to meet her adoptive family. The sisters notified the adoption agency that little Qi ChunTeng had a high fever the evening before; the agency decided it would be best not to expose the Eddy family to Qi ChunTeng’s illness, and looked through their files for similar children they could instead send home with them. The orphanages were so full that they didn’t want to send this family back empty handed.

The day the adoptive family arrived, miraculously, their little girl’s fever had subsided. Soon Qi ChunTeng--now known as Jessica--boarded the plane with her new family, and hesitantly embraced this new life as a member of the Eddy family. Eventually Jessica came to understand that her new mom and dad loved her, and were not just temporary people in her life. As she got older, Jessica came to realize that in the same way her family welcomed her in, so her heavenly Father welcomed her with open arms. After being shown Christ’s love in this family for several years, Jessica trusted Jesus as her personal savior, and understood that Jesus was the one who protected her at every moment. When her mom abandoned her at the dock, when the village woman handed her over to the police, when the police transferred her to the orphanage, and when the orphanage moved her to the foster family, He was with her every step of the way.

One day, while a middle school small group, a friend asked Jessica rather insensitively: “Are your parents actually your real parents?!” Jessica was taken off guard by her comment; she really hadn't thought about that. As the small group leader continued with the lesson, Jessica began to realize why she had felt so insecure in the past several years. She felt alone and rejected as she began believing the lie that her mother had left her because she was unworthy of love. Because of these lies she believed, Jessica became very introverted.  

A few years later Jessica was great impacted by two passages:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:13-17).

Through His Word, Jessica found freedom to fully forgive her mom and let go of the lies that she was unworthy or unloved, combating both lies with the Word of God. She started praying specifically that her mom would come to know Jesus as her personal Savior. And that she would one day be reunited with her.  

There over 160 million orphans in the world who need to be rescued. Jessica’s story is such a beautiful reminder that every life is so valuable to our King. God has called each of us to stand in the gap for orphans:

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9).

“Whoever receives one little child…in My name receives Me.” (Matthew. 18:5).

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).

Let’s be women who joyfully stand for these lives! He so longs for each of these orphans to come into His family, through Jesus!

When Abortion Makes Sense: Corinne's Story

There was a girl living in Constanța, Romania; she was poor, unemployed, and lived with her family. Eventually, with only a 7th grade education, at the age of 18 she found herself pregnant. Her boyfriend was not in the picture; she was trapped. Her father was not happy about this news at all; he told her that he expected more of her, and pressured to go have an abortion and forget about this baby. At that time in Romania, seventeen out of every twenty children were aborted.

She was faced with a decision; it seemed like everyone was against her. Her dad definitely wouldn’t be satisfied if she chose life. She had so many questions: “How will I have enough money to raise a child? I’m out of a job!”, “I don’t know how to be a mother and I know I’m not prepared. Wouldn’t my child be better off aborted? Her life would be so hard!”, “If I don’t have an abortion, what will I do with this baby? Won’t she end up in one of the horrible orphanages? She would be so sad alone.”   

Against all expectations and odds, the young mom - named Elena - chose life. Soon the nine months were complete, and she was whisked back to the delivery room, and gave birth to a beautiful dark haired baby girl; she gave her the name “Luiza.” She was absolutely lovely, and so worth choosing life.

Elena was fearful, but had come to a decision. She was not ready to raise Luiza on her own and chose to give her up for adoption.

Soon her little baby was sent to an orphanage. Luiza awoke to find herself in a room full of cribs; there were multitudes of babies crying and just a few staff members to care for them. She was placed in her own crib with a small blanket. As she laid down, the little one in the next crib over cried out - scared and unsure of what was going on - so one of the workers quickly mixed some formula and water into a bottle and put it in the little one’s mouth to quiet the wailing. Each of the workers felt completely overwhelmed; in the past ten years a statistic had been taken that there were more than 100,000 children in government institutions in Romania [1], and the orphanage did not have nearly enough money to hire the number of staff they would need to take care of this many children.

Luiza felt forsaken. She had never bonded with anyone; she felt utterly alone. It was no use to cry; she could rock herself back and forth, but other than that, there was hardly ever comfort for little Luiza.

Until one day. In the office of the orphanage, the director was looking through some new papers from a family from the United States who wanted to adopt a baby girl. There were so many girls who so badly needed to be adopted out of this orphanage; how were they going to choose which one to pair them up with?

They came to a decision that Luiza would be the one they would match with the American family. She was quickly sent to a foster home where she would be cared for by a foster mom named Mama Maria, a widow who lived in the Constanța area, until her adoptive family arrived to take her home. Mama Maria took wonderful care of Luiza; for the first time in her life, Luiza bonded with someone. She loved to spend time in the outdoor garden with her foster mom; Mama Maria poured her life into her.

One day two strangers arrived at Mama Maria’s house. Luiza did not know what was going on, being only thirteen months old. Mama Maria was acting stiff and keeping her tightly in her arms. But the time had arrived, and Luiza now had a new family who was going to take her home. With much sadness that she masked with a smile, Mama Maria handed her precious Luiza over to her new mom.

“Corinne Luiza, we love you!”

What did that mean? Didn’t these foreigners know that Luiza only understood Romanian? And what did this crazy word “Corinne” mean? Was this an odd sounding American food? The little girl was unsure…

Luiza was rather emotionless toward her new family; she wanted her other life back. She decided that she only liked the guy - her new dad - but she was very afraid to connect with her new mom. She didn’t want to be neglected or taken again, as had already happened so many times in her short life.

Eventually, with tears coming down her face, Luiza - now officially known as “Corinne” - boarded the plane with her mom and dad. Leaving behind all she had ever known - the orphanage, Mama Maria, and Romania itself - she had a new life. She peered out the window for one last look at the beautiful country, before falling asleep.

Eventually the last connecting flight landed, and Corinne began a fresh chapter of her life. In the years to come, her life was radically changed from being a sad, broken little girl, to a radiant and healed daughter of the King - she had come to know Jesus as her personal savior.

I am so blessed to say that I have the privilege of knowing this girl personally. Corinne’s life is marked by a glowing joy and a deep love for Jesus. She has faced a huge amount of pain in her life - due to the circumstances of her earliest years - but instead of becoming bitter, Corinne has chosen to forgive.

She was unintentionally ignored nearly every day of the first few months of her life while she was living in the understaffed orphanage. This was crushing to her - and the many other children in that orphanage. They were, in a large sense, abandoned. And for this reason, many people look at the lives of such orphans and conclude that they would have been better off aborted. Abortion seemed to make sense; people would tell themselves that these kids would live very difficult and often hunger-filled lives in the orphanages, and then be sent out on the street when they aged out of government care.

It is extremely sad that so many little Romanian orphans had these types of experiences. There were so few people willing to serve these kids, and as a result, many of them have emotional trauma, physical issues from being underfed, or engage in crime (such as stealing) to get the food and resources they need, if they were living on the street.

Each of these individuals who was orphaned in Romania - and other places in the world - is massively valuable in Jesus’ eyes. Yet so few are willing to stand in the gap for these lives. Many Americans spend their evenings contented in front of the TV eating their fat-filled foods while children like Corinne are lying in cribs, crying out to just be held and loved.

There is a serious problem if we are professing to know Jesus Christ, who has said, “...It is not the will of your Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish”  (Matthew 18:14), while we just stand by. Jesus didn’t save me so I could just passively go from one day to the next - promoting my own agenda and dreams - I have been redeemed to know Him and to make Him known.

If His heart is aching for these children, the young mothers, and struggling families, then what are we doing spending $600 on a prom dress, investing hours into Instagram, and complaining about our school classes? Our Jesus hasn’t stopped being a Father to the fatherless! Are we about to?

There is an attitude in our culture that if someone might possibly have a hard life, then we’re doing them a favor to have them aborted. Often doctors, social workers, and Planned Parenthood personnel have told mothers that due to illness, home factors, parental age, or possible poverty, that the only logical decision would be to end their child’s life. Such statements sound loudly of influence from Margaret Sanger - the founder of Planned Parenthood - who once said, “The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” [2]

I challenge all who think this way to look into Corinne’s eyes and see that even though she was born to a very young unwed mother and was practically abandoned, her life is not in any way less valuable than any of our lives, and it truly isn’t any less wonderful either. Corinne is so glad her mom chose life; she doesn’t wish she had been aborted - as the culture tells us these abandoned individuals wish. She is thankful for the circumstances of her past, and the Lord is using them to allow others to see how beautiful every single life is to Him.

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[1] http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/02/20/280237833/orphans-lonely-beginnings-reveal-how-parents-shape-a-childs-brain

[2] http://www.lifenews.com/2013/03/11/10-eye-opening-quotes-from-planned-parenthood-founder-margaret-sanger/

Orphanage Photo Courtesy (1) Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (2) NRP.org (3) Daily Mail