Little Chinese Starfish

A post from Chrissy Adams, missionary to orphans in China:

I walked into a government orphanage in China with 7 other volunteers. Our mission was to find the babies that looked the un-healthiest and take them to their new home at Starfish Foster Home where they would be nursed back to health in a loving environment. So we walked into a room with at least 35 infants lined up in cribs and started searching for the sickest looking babies. The room was pure chaos as we began our search through the cribs for our babies. We only had a short window of time where we would be at the orphanage so we had to make a quick decision on which child we would help rescue. As I walked next to crib after crib I was overwhelmed with the idea that I was only allowed to pick one child but then I saw him in the back. I saw this little baby boy wrapped up in several blankets. All you could see was his little head sticking out of the blankets so tight on his little body that he couldn’t move. He had a cleft lip but he was also very, very malnourished. And I remember thinking he looked the un-healthiest out of all the babies I had seen so I picked him up and I chose to take him. I started the process of weighing him to take him to his new home when 2 nannies from the orphanage tried to take this little frail boy out of my arms. I started scrambling for the few Chinese words I knew and then saw the director of Starfish Foster Home across the room from me. So I quickly called her name in a state of panic and she came quickly to see why the nannies were taking this little boy out of my arms. She started talking with the nannies for a few minutes before they hesitantly gave me the little boy back. In the heat of the moment I had no idea what was going on, all I knew is that I knew that boy wouldn’t survive if he stayed at the orphanage and that I was going to do anything and everything in my power to take him home with us. So we proceeded to weigh and measure the babies that we were taking back with us and quickly shuffled out of the orphanage as 8 foreigners with 8 Chinese orphans in our hands and we all piled into taxi’s to make the journey back to Starfish.

I’ll never forget seeing his little legs, arms and swollen belly. I had always seen malnourished babies on National Geographic but I had never held one in my arms. The baby I had in my arms was incapable of bending his limbs and barely moved at all. He just starred up at me for that whole 45-minute taxi ride with little eyes that were glazed over. He never once responded to my voice or to any movements around him or even my kisses on his little cheek. I remember being so fearful that he was going to die in my arms on the taxi ride and just praying that God would keep him safe until we got home.

When you volunteer at Starfish and you go to the orphanage and bring back a baby you get to name them. So I named my little boy Cameron. I remember the director of the orphanage giving me very detailed instructions on how to feed Cameron and how worried she looked at him in my arms. And I remember the chaos of that day and how everything seemed to be spinning at 60mph around Cameron and I. But I held him and kissed him and prayed over him until the day was over and I had to leave him behind. I left him that night lying in his crib not knowing if he would make it through the night let alone survive for a week. But I prayed and I prayed and I prayed that God would spare his life and allow him to grow healthy and strong. And that God would allow Cameron to be placed in a Christian adoptive home that would raise him in the ways to be a Godly man that loved the Lord and that loved the people around him.

One month later I saw Cameron for the first time since the day I had met him and he had changed my life. And he was hardly recognizable. He was chubby and healthy. I remember picking him up and seeing him smile and be so responsive. His little arms and legs were moving freely and with ease and his little belly was no longer swollen because it was malnourished but it was swollen because he had drank so much milk that day. And now I get to spend every day working at Starfish Foster Home and giving kisses and hugs to the 50 other babies as well as Cameron that all have a similar story to his. It wasn’t until later when talking with the director of Starfish that I realized why on the day that I met Cameron those 2 nannies were trying to take him away from me. They thought Cameron was too sick to save, they didn’t think we should waste our time to save his life because in their minds this baby wasn’t worth saving. And that is a common story of the babies in Starfish, someone didn’t believe that they were worth saving but through Gods grace and provision, Starfish Foster Home believes that every child is worth saving. No matter how sick, how neglected, how emotionally damaged the children may be, we take them in and love them. Whether they are with us for 2 days, a few weeks of a few years. Every child deserves a chance at life, and through God’s amazing provision that is exactly what every child receives at Starfish Foster Home.

Chrissy Adams: www.placemeinyourplan.blogspot.com - Please visit Chrissy's blog to read more about her journey in China working in several orphan care organizations. But more importantly please check out the Starfish Foster Home information and look at ways to get involved with this amazing organization that choose to care for every beautiful orphaned child.

Starfish Foster Home Info:
E-mail: Chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Blog: www.chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
www.chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
Website: www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
Photos of Cameron, Then....


And now....