If you know me, you know I love stories. In college, I won a pair of tickets to see
“Into the Woods” traveling-Broadway, probably the best and most expensive seats
I’ve every occupied. “Into the Woods” is
just a menagerie combination of all the fairy-tales in the first act,
Disney-perfect, the fairytale coming true.
The second act it all goes dark and everything that could go awry in the
darkest way imaginable does. For this
Technicolor girl, it was a highly disturbing experience and I have never ever
had any desire to see that musical again.
I’m sure I could drag something allegorical out of it, but I don’t want
to. I just want to know good ultimately
wins, and even if the Big Bad Wolf goes psycho, that there is a victor and I
don’t want anybody messing with my mind in regards to that truth, especially on
a stage. Not a fan of happily ever after
either, but I want to trace the storyline looking forward and in retrospect and
know beyond a doubt who wins.
I haven’t mentioned it here, but a funny little blip came
across my radar two months ago. At that
point, we were truly just holding our nose above the drowning waters, knowing
we were past the big waves. I got a random message from someone I know very
loosely. She knew Asa had liver cancer
and asked if I would be willing to offer counsel to a family who was
considering adoption of a child with liver cancer. Easy answer.
But, of course. And I sat back
and began to watch God show off.
Two years ago, not too long before Asa came along, a little
boy was born to a Chinese couple, a little boy with a big liver tumor that made
his belly stick out like Asa’s did. And
the same couple, I’m sure distraught with the one child policy and the thought
of their only heir being imperfect, sickly, left that babe at a hospital. Diagnosis:
hepatoblastoma, the one in a million kid cancer that Asa had, the one
that Texas Children’s, one of the few hospitals in the states that treats this
cancer, only sees 10 cases a year from all over the southern US. But what happens next is entirely
strange. Instead of getting pitiful
orphan care, this Chinese boy got top-notch, cutting-edge medical
treatment. He was stabilized, whisked in
and treated with chemo-embolization – chemo straight to his liver and he went
through exactly what Asa went through, the horrid secondary effects of
sloughing off tumor, called tumor lysis, and he victory of all victories,
survived. It was a long hard road, but
it appears, as it does with Asa, no more cancer. He was put in an orphanage, group type home
and he thrived, but no one adopted him, because that big C word, it’s scarier
than a lot of more obvious physical disabilities.
But along comes a family, a family who has experienced their
own loss, a family who just so happens to speak Mandarin, but God has yanked them
up and dumped them in the rural central US, filled their home with a few other
physical disabilities, and left them, left them a few hours from the other
major hospital in the US that deals with this one in a million chance
cancer. Their house is full, very full,
but along their radar comes a smiling face, a familiar face, because dark eyes
and round faces are still on their hearts, and a boy named Jun Jun captures
them.
And then I was called for counsel. What is hepatoblastoma? What does this mean? Do you understand these medical records? I
was called, the parent of a child treated not only for this cancer, but with
chemo-embolization, not a standard procedure in children in the US for this
cancer. Tony and I may be the only
parents in the US at this time that would have that experiential knowledge
regarding a child. Explain that. You
can’t. But God.
The story departs to a weird, seemingly diverted path at this point. After all the discussion, the couple who
inquired suddenly decided that they weren’t so sure that God was calling them
to this child and went to prayer and as back up, they held their arms out and
handed Jun Jun to us, the only other couple without gross fear of his
condition. And we were left for a week
or so to wrestle in prayer for this boy, and wrestle with the fact that we are
a bit older than this couple. During
that week, God turned the world upside down on behalf of this boy. People began offering this other couple
serious money for adoption expenses, expenses on an adoption they weren’t even
decided upon, an adoption they hadn’t even announced. Someone offered to take their special needs
kids while they went to back and forth to China – twice. After this and prayer, it became abundantly
clear where Jun Jun was supposed to be.
And after jumping a few more hurdles, last week Jun Jun was cleared by
China to be adopted by this family.
And today I sat in church and listened to a man speak about
God’s heart for the widow and the orphan and I was again reminded through
another story that God truly moves mountains upon their behalf and again, I saw
God weave deep redemption from suffering.
Dark doesn’t win. Light does, no
morbid second act where all goes wrong. Great
joy! The end game is settled.
If you want to hear Jun Jun’s (aka Gable’s)story from a
different perspective and see more pics, check out Amy’s blog at http://nblo.gs/115Ziw . There are several posts there. If you are
interested in contributing to the cause to rescue yet another little
miraculously healed boy and praying for an expeditious adoption, I’m sure the Shaw’s would love to hear from you.
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