Grace-Anna’s
Adoption Story
Her profile said she was born on October 30, 2009. It went
on to say at 7:30 on December 20, 2009, she was abandoned. She was left with a
birth note and some clothes. It added
some details about her daily living and then the words, “Although she can not
see anything, she responds to sound.” “Now she is 1 year and 1 month and she is
quiet. She does not know familiar persons.”
Then, nothing else was said about little Fu EnHui.
We immediately called the best pediatric eye specialists and
asked them to review her file and give us their best opinion. I remember I was sitting in the parking lot
at the grocery store when the call from the Dr. came in. She was gracious
enough to call me back in the evening after reviewing her chart. She told me in her opinion; I should be
prepared that this child would never see.
I came home and talked it over with Jaret. He didn’t even have to think about it, he
said, “This child will either glorify God with the miracle of sight, or she
will glorify Him through her blindness.”
We agreed to get the papers started immediately! That night, Jaret dreamed of a Chinese girl
playing the most beautiful piece of music on the piano. There was no sheet of
music to be seen, she was playing from her heart.
There was more information sent to us about Fu EnHui. She
had been brought to a foster home until she was 8 or 9 months old. Then they
returned her to the Institute. I don’t know why, nothing is said. I just know
that this precious baby lost another family that cared for her. She was brought
to the special needs institute and left, again.
And there she stayed for almost 2 years.
As papers came in and releases were given, we were planning
our trip to China on September 6, 2012. When we arrived, we were taken all over
Beijing to see beautiful sights and the normal touristy things. Then, September 10 came. We arrived at our
hotel in Nanchung and were told they were bringing our girl to us! What?? Just
like that? I didn’t know what to do. I was exhausted from all the travel and
airplane flights, but there was no way I could take a little nap. So I sat and
looked out the window.
The knock at the door startled us all! I was shaking with
excitement. It was my “birth” moment. I have been blessed to birth 2 of my
babies, and I can tell you, that moment right before you hold your child, no
matter how they get there, it is the same. She may not have been in my tummy,
but there she was, right on the other side of that door. Jaret opened it and there was, the tiniest,
little, scared to death, Ladybug. My Ladybug!! She was wearing a cute little
pastel green shirt and pants with socks and jelly shoes on. They had done her
hair in many little ponytails all over her head. She was clutching a piece of paper. Something
they had given her on the car ride over to comfort her, I’ m sure. The lady handed her over and asked if we had
any questions. Questions??? Yes!!! But I had too many swirling in my head for
just one to come out. I didn’t know what to say. They talked some legal matters
with our translator and waved goodbye.
“Hello, Little One, I am your Momma. And you are Grace-Anna.” She sat there
expressionless and didn’t like this crazy woman touching all over her. I can’t begin to imagine what she must have
felt like. She was pretty quiet at
first. It was later that she found her
screams and wouldn’t stop using them! We
realized we didn’t have anything to feed her with, so Jaret ran out to the
market and bought her sippy cups, bottles, spoons, anything for a baby/toddler
to eat with. We tried to give her drinks
of milk, water, or juice and nothing would go in right. She kept choking and spitting everything up.
I had no idea how to feed my poor baby. The next day we found out that at the
special needs orphanage, they did not feed the children. They mixed up the
required food and milk and nutrients in a blender and went child to child with
a syringe. My three year old had no idea
how to eat or drink.
That night I decided to give her a bath. When I took off her clothes I saw all of the
scars she had from head to toe. Some were freshly scabbed over. Her legs were
like leather with scratches and scabs all over them. As I put her into the bathtub, some of the
scabs washed off. I sat there on the floor of the bathroom in a hotel in China
and I felt Jesus right by our side. I
began to sing “Amazing Grace”.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I am found.
Was blind but now, I see.
Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did
That Grace appear.
The hour I first believed.
I saw myself in that bathtub. I was scabbed over, lost,
rejected, and afraid. But then my Lord came to wash me clean and because of His
scars, I am saved! It was a beautiful moment! Grace-Anna had already begun to
show me Christ’s love. And that’s what
she does, still to this day, she shows me how to live more like Jesus.
These two years since we brought her home have not been
easy. There’s a lot in the adoption world that you are not told about. I had never heard of Sensory Processing
Disorder before. But now I know my two adopted daughters are poster children
for this disorder. The scars Grace-Anna had all over her body are mostly self
-inflicted. She would sit there and pick and pull and scratch herself all over
just to feel something. She still continues to do this when she frightened, or
over-stimulated, or under-stimulated, or in pain. She still sleeps in mittens every night. I am
now very educated in sensory therapies. We do them every day. She also wears a
knee cage on her left knee because her physical therapist found that she has a
torn ACL in her left kneecap. Our best guess is from falling out of her crib
with her leg tied down. Her hips are
permanently deformed to look like she just got done riding a horse. This is
from sitting hours and hours a day in the potty-chairs that kept their hips
over-stretched. Her little feet turn inward when she tries to walk because of
the lack of muscle tone. She is still not potty trained (far from it) at 5
years old. She lacks the muscles to hold
in her potty. Her little hands shake
when she tries to string beads, feed herself, get dressed, or anything that
takes work from her hands. She can not sit still to listen to a book or hear a
movie. She can’t tell me of her emotions yet. She refuses to speak Chinese or
talk about anything from China. She
still has night terrors, the worst you’ve ever seen. We will never know what our baby’s life was
like. I’m sure she has endured more than we could ever imagine.
We have done our best to bring her sight. We’ve been through
numerous surgeries, 3 corneal transplants that have all failed, and we still
give 11 drops of medication in her eyes
a day. After her transplants, she had a
glimpse of sight. We talked about flowers and colors and cars and people’s
doors along our walks. She saw the
beautiful things that God has created, even if just for a brief moment. Her eyes have clouded over again and she is
back to relying on touch for everything.
This is God’s plan for her life. I am finding peace with it. My husband showed much wisdom from the
beginning in saying that she will glorify God either with sight, or
without.
People often say things like, “She is so lucky.” They have
no idea that it’s the other way around.
Since the moment Grace-Anna Fu EnHui came into my life, she has made me
more like Jesus. He has a lot more work
to do on me, but we’re making progress. New hurdles are cleared everyday.
Jesus looked the whole world over and set the lonely in my
arms! He sent a blizzard to place His
child in our family. We named our child,
Grace-Anna, which means double portion of grace. While we were in China we
asked what EnHui meant. Only God could
have written this story. Her Chinese name means to bestow or give…..Grace.
