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By Lindsay Adams
I was standing in a room, in the middle of QuinYunDian, China, a little town south of Beijing, with dirt roads, toxic water, great poverty, people working in fields and riding bikes instead of cars.
I was looking into the big wide eyes of a little orphan girl, Julia, a 4-year-old girl with dwarfism and scoliosis. Little did I know that in the next three weeks, I would fall in love with her, treat her as my little sister, vow to rescue her, find her a family, and bring her back to America.
For me, it seems I have been drawn to special needs children since I was in the sixth grade. My work on their behalf planted a seed in my family — one for the love of children all around the world. And just two years later, my family adopted a little girl from China, Olivia, and then again this year, Isabella.
Still, I didn’t want to just read and see pictures of the children I was helping. I wanted to physically be there for the Chinese orphans.
In 2007, our social worker for my little sister’s adoption, Carrie, and her husband quit their jobs, sold everything they had, and moved to China to help New Day Foster home. It is a medical facility that is not affiliated with the Chinese government, and the workers there go to government-run orphanages and bring back children with severe special needs to care for them and provide surgery.
This past summer, they invited me to come and help at the foster home and teach the children English. I finally convinced my parents and was on a plane to China.
I always will remember coming off the airplane in Beijing by myself, and riding in a little car with no air conditioning, to that little town called QuinYunDian.
In Beijing, there were huge skyscrapers, I saw the Olympic buildings, and people were dressed in designer clothes. As we drove south we crossed “the bridge of divide” and entered a new world. People were working in fields; designer clothes were replaced with worn clothes. The poverty was evident, and it seemed like everyone was looking down.
In the midst of this, however, was Julia, the one person I found to always be looking up. She always had three pigtails, one on the top of her head and two on the sides. She was a dwarf, but that didn’t stop her. She had a radiant joy. She had a light that everyone could see, with a booming laugh that would leave you rolling on the floor.
My favorite part of the day was when she would arrive for her English lesson. She would walk through the door, see me, immediately start laughing, and run into my arms.
We would then twirl down the hall into the preschool. She was a firecracker and had no problem telling me when she didn’t like the Jell-o I made, or if my lesson was “too difficult for her.” She always made my day.
I found myself immersed in the Chinese culture and falling in love with everyone around me. I just knew I was in some place special. And I wanted Julia to have a chance.
After several weeks, I had to leave China, but leaving Julia in China was the most difficult thing I ever had to do. I cried for four hours on that plane ride home. I knew I had to come back and find a way of bringing Julia home.
While in China, I had been e-mailing family friends Mark and Michelle Gilbert, who also were parishioners at St. Jude Church in Allen. Michelle was my confirmation sponsor and they already had an adopted daughter, Lydia. I just had a feeling that this faithful couple would be perfect parents for Julia.
God obviously thought so too, and after much prayer, the Gilberts felt God was calling them to be Julia’s parents; they agreed to adopt her. The one problem was the cost. They needed $11,000 by the end of October, and another $15,000 by the end of the adoption next year. With the U.S. economy flailing, it seemed hopeless.
But I knew I couldn’t let down Julia. So after appealing to our pastor, Fr. Tim Church, he graciously agreed to help. A few weeks later during the homily, Mark, Michelle and I spoke to our fellow parishioners at every Mass at St. Jude’s. We talked about Julia and asked for their help.
Although everything went well, I was very concerned we wouldn’t be able to raise enough money. When Father Tim called, I started sobbing. Our fellow parishioners had donated more than $45,000, more than enough for Julia and with some left over for other special needs adoptions.
I knew Julia was going to be OK. She would no longer be in a place without toilets or showers in the homes. She would no longer be in a place where it is illegal to teach children about God. Julia was going to come home.
Before I left for China, a lady had told me that although I would fall in love with all the children, there would be one child who would become "mine,” one I would hate to leave behind. Well, she was right — and wrong. I won't leave Julia.
I believe there are no coincidences, and that life is a series of small miracles. It was a miracle I met Julia. It was a miracle Michelle and Mark were destined to be her parents. It was a miracle that our friends and fellow parishioners opened up their hearts and their wallets.
And it will be a miracle when Julia — that little girl with three pigtails and a broad radiant smile and a laugh that is infectious — walks though St. Jude’s doors for the first time and realize that she is finally home.
Lindsay Adams is a parishioner at St. Jude’s Parish in Allen.
www.movingheartsforjulia.com
(c) 2008 Texas Catholic
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