China Little Flower

This post won’t make you laugh or feel good, however I wanted to share this with you if you have time.
Every Tuesday night I get together with a group of incredible women to discuss our faith and how we can grow closer to Christ in our crazy, busy, and hectic life. Part of our discussions, are based on a “case study” where we tell a story about someone that displayed Christian virtues. We then decide how we can apply that same virtue in our own lives. In our case study last night, we discussed the "one-child policy" in China and how many babies are either aborted or given up for adoption. As you can imagine, most families don’t want to “waste” their one child ticket on one with a birth defect. This case made me so sad and has weighed heavy on my heart all day. How can you look at a baby and give them up just because they have a birth defect?
Here’s the case we studied last night…

Eighteen months later, after graduation, Shannon began to pray about her desire to work in a Chinese orphanage. She immediately received — and I mean immediately (ten minutes later) — a phone call from a friend, offering her the opportunity she’d been praying for. Four weeks later, she was on China’s east coast, working for a small, privately run orphanage. “She was the only American, the only English speaker and the only Catholic,” writes Stimpson. It was overwhelming in many ways and included an experience with a baby named Max, who arrived with a cleft palate and couldn’t drink from a bottle. Although the staff advised her to let him be, Shannon believed God wanted Max to live so she fed him from a dropper and he slept with her at night. He grew healthy and strong enough for surgery. And he survived.

After a couple of years, she returned home to the U.S. to recover and rest. Then she went back to work for ChinaCare Foundation in Beijing, which primarily took in special needs babies who had been abandoned. The orphanage had a problem. Some of the children were beyond help and were simply going to die. The orphanage questioned the wisdom of keeping them since their beds could be used for children in better shape. They considered sending the dying kids back to the state. Shannon knew what that would mean: Terrible conditions for the babies, who would end up dying alone. So she proposed a solution: She would open a home for these children.

Through the generous donations of friends and fellow FUS alumni, she raised enough money to open the doors of Loving Heart Home in February 2007. Soon, with some new renovations, they’ll be able to accommodate 20 babies.

From the Loving Heart Home website: Loving Heart is a special place to provide comfort, love, and care to orphans who are dying. It is a home filled with love and joy. Since opening our doors on February 1, 2007, we have taken in 23 children. There are currently 11 in our home, 2 have “graduated” out of hospice care and are receiving medical care in other facilities, and 10 have gone Home to our Heavenly Father. Although it is difficult to watch a little one suffer and die, we consider it a privilege to be able to care for these children. To fill their short lives with love and happiness is our goal. One staff member, when asked why she does this work, responded, “If I was dying, I would want someone to be with me, to love me, to care for me. These children deserve no less.”

There are so many virtues that we took away from this case study. I was struck by this woman’s courageous “yes!” to answer God’s call to help the dying. She is so much like Mother Teresa! I’m sharing this story so you can keep Shannon and all the children she cares for in your prayers. I am so grateful to live in a country that provides medical care to special needs children. Unlike the Chinese government, I am grateful to live in a country where I can have as many children as I would like (with disabilities) and not feel pressured to give him/her up for adoption. Thanks for reading and praying for the Loving Heart Home. If you feel moved to do more for the Loving Heart Home you can log on to http://www.chinalittleflower.com/ or send a check to: China Little Flower 7644 Edmondson Drive, Newburgh, IN 47630.