Sweet Angel

We recently visited an orphanage in northern Ch*na.  A team had not been there in several years so we weren't sure what to expect.  We were oh so very surprised to find love here!  Another thing we discovered was several beautiful children in need of forever families.  So, this is where our fight begins.

With Lee Lee . . . 

Lee Lee was born in 2011 with designer genes and she wears her genes well!  She's the youngest here and plays the role of little sister very well.  Her crib is in a room with four little boys and they treat her just like any brother would - part love and part rival.  

Lee Lee was very shy with us.  It was very hard for me to not just pick her up and squeeze her and carry her around!  But, her body language told me to take it easy, so we did.  I love her.  And, just so you know, her smile is worth it!

The nannies take very good care of her, giving her snuggles, and lots of attention.  She's the jewel of this toddler room.

When we asked about her file, they said, "If you find her a family we will prepare her file."  I think my heart fell out of my chest because a lot of orphanages don't think these gifts have a chance at being adopted, but the door was open even if it was just a crack . . . 

So, here we are, fighting for this one, this one who has more chromosomes than we do, who might have more challenges than a 'typical' person might, this one who is also capable of so much love.

Our team is committed to finding this girl's forever family.

To learn more about our sweet Lee Lee please email (serious inquiries only):

lori mcmurphy @ gmail .com

gen dvm @ gmail.com

kimberly a humphrey @ gmail .com

(but don't use the spaces:)

Nick

Nick needs a family! We just spent about 5 days with this sweet boy. Born in 2007. He's a very good boy and gets along well with others. He would make a great brother. Likes sports and playing with cars. He has waited so long his SWI said his paperwork expired and is being renewed. He really loved the older boy with us and would like to have a big brother but said he liked little brothers and sisters too. He asked the boy with us if he could go with him when we left. It was probably one of the harder moments of our trip...to say that wasn't possible. He has a personality probably on the strong-willed side. He has definite ideas about how he wants things to go, but he accepted correction easily and responded immediately. He is in a very loving SWI, but he is chafing a bit at the walls of the orphanage. He needs a family to take him to soccer games, school, have a life outside four walls.

Nick loves to be active, loves playing sports. He likes drawing, and he likes transformers.. He is loving. He would love to have a family full of siblings.

Matthew

Meet Matthew. This is another one of our guys we met while on a recent trip. He is six years old. He is the most loveable, sweet, and and fun-spirited boy. His file will be ready and go to the shared list. He has a very minor sensitive special need. He's so easy to love! He's a performer! He loved to sing and did not hesitate to do it when the ayis asked him to. Born in 2008. Matthew would LOVE to have a family and he would be a huge blessing to a family!!!! Could that family be you?

JoJo

This is JoJo born in 2011. Jo's needs are minor. He has a repaired heart condition and strabismus with one eye. Neither seem to have effected his development. His file should be ready in 2-3 months and will go to the shared list, so someone could have their agency watching for it. There is a possibility that he will be LID only so a family would need to already have paperwork completed, but the fact that he has more than one issue might make him Special Focus. We aren't sure about that! Special Focus would mean a family could lock his file before starting paperwork. He needs a family! We just spent a week with him and we can tell you that he is a JOY and that he is full of personality! Are you his family?

John

John --
John is an active little guy who loves playing sports. He also enjoys drawing. What he really wants is a home. He wants a big sister. :)And he wants a family that would love him

Robert

Robert is a six-year-old boy with arthrogriposis. He longs for parents, and would love legs like other kids, but he’s extremely mobile utilizing his thighs to walk. He works very hard in therapy twice per week. Robert likes to share snacks with other kids and help the nannies organize toys at the home. He also loves speaking his mind, and is never afraid to ask questions. He’s a huge fan of superheroes, and seeing what he’s accomplished qualifies him for membership in that club!

Fundraising for China

Will God provide the funds?  Absolutely.  Do we have to do our part?  You betcha.  I heard a quote, not sure who originally said it, but I heard it from our music pastor, "If you want your prayers to work, get off your knees."  That's what we are doing . . . 

We are selling two different kinds of lotion.  The coconut lotion is thick and rich and great for winter weary skin.  The almond oil lotion is not quite as thick but just as wonderful.  My kids have very dry skin, especially my China born daughter, and this is all I use on her to keep her from getting SO dry and scratchy.  

For a minimal donation of only $10 we will get you some lotion.

Almost looks good enough to eat, doesn't it!

I make more lotion in this mixer than almost anything else . . . I'm not much of a cook or baker.

Here's how to order some lotion . . . 

1.  Click on the Visiting Orphans link on the side bar

2.  Where it says "Fund Category" scroll down to see Fushun Nichols/McMurphy and click it

3.  You can specify a team member (Gael Nichols, Kate Nichols, Kim Humphrey, Halli Humphrey, or Lori McMurphy) but you don't have to, if it goes in our general fund that works as well!

4.  Send me an email at lorimcmurphy@gmail.com with LOTION in the subject line and email me your address.

Isn't that simple!!!

Pieces of the Puzzle

This is how I picture our Father . . . He's putting this massive puzzle together, it's not a hard puzzle, but each piece goes in it's place at the right time.  He has a gentle "I'm going to knock their socks off" grin on His face.  And, we are down here praying for each piece, not knowing when He will put the next piece down.  When He does put a piece in we do a cheer, and cry, and tell people, and tell Him that THIS IS SO AWESOME WE CAN'T BELIEVE WE GET TO WATCH THIS!!!  MORE, MORE, MORE!!!!

There was one little girl in particular that we've been rooting for.  She's verbal, smart as a whip, active, ornery, and very much loved by the nannies.  She told one of our team members that she didn't want her two friends to be adopted because then she wouldn't have anyone to play with (most of the other kids are nonverbal).  Due to her special need she is unable to go to school, we knew that she needed to be lifted up in a lot of different ways.  So we started lifting.  And God started moving . . .

By chance we came across and 'friended' a foster mother in Shenyang which is the capitol city of Liaoning Province.  This foster mother had been fostering a gorgeous little girl who was about to go and live with her forever family.  This little girl was wasting away with very little attention given to her at all in the orphanage.  She was born with designer genes and maybe, for whatever reason, the nannies didn't think she'd ever be chosen so they did not give her the nutrition and attention she needed.  Melinda took her home, fed her, got her medical attention, educated her, loved on her and now she is THRIVING and was about to meet her forever family in just a few days.

One day, Melinda, accidentally posted on one of our timelines and a conversation started about how we had been to the orphanage in Chaoyang, how we loved the children, and would she please just check on this one little girl in particular . . . she said she would.  Pieces of the puzzle . . .

Sweet little girl with the designer genes goes and lives with her forever family.  Melinda, grieving and rejoicing for the little girl, but knowing this is what our Father wants her to do - to foster and get them ready for their forever families.  Now, Melinda has an 'opening' for another child to come and be fostered.  Can you just check on this one little girl for us?  Another piece of the puzzle . . . Melinda goes to Chaoyang SWI and asks about our precious Jing who is very much loved in this orphanage, but has no future here (an orphanage has very little hope at a future no matter how good the care is - that is slowly changing but it is what it is, a family makes all the difference in the world).  Our precious foster mother requests to foster Jing.  She waits for approval and gets it.  A child we were working on getting just a tutor for now has a foster mommy requesting to do so much more! A GIANT piece of the puzzle!

 

Jing, for the first time in her life, has a birthday party to celebrate her 7th birthday!  She celebrates Christmas!  She has a foster sister and a foster brother, is learning English (she will most likely end up in an American home), is getting the medical attention she needs to see if her medical need 'needs' anything, she has an advocate getting her paper work moving so she can have her own forever family.  And, just last July she was an orphan telling us she didn't want her friends to be adopted.  Mountains moving.  Puzzles being put together.

We want to SEE what He has in store for this precious child!