GongYi Home of Hope

Shannie’s words | Nate’s words

Shannie writes:

We left on Friday afternoon this time. Nathan and I were both so very anxious to get up there and see our new Orphan, Henry. His real Chinese name is He Long Qiang, (huh long chang). You know, from our very first search our thoughts have been with him, but we could not have him due to his physical impairment. We knew as soon as he began to run from us so we would not see his face that God was going to change his life. No more will he have to hide that precious little face in shame.

We went straight to the hospital, no time wasted. Mr. Li was out in the parking lot waiting for us when we arrived. We went right up to the fourth floor where Henry was standing in the window watching us come up. What a precious little boy he is. I mean, he is so gentle natured and so sweet, shy as he can be.. but full of life, love and joy in his heart.

He was so excited. We kept asking them if he knew what was happening,they assured us that he knew and was so happy. Now, remember, this little boy is 10 years old, was thrown out by his father who didn’t want him anymore because he had another son who was perfectly fine. He has been laughed at, scorned, shamed and made fun of for as long as he can remember.

We talked with the doctors on staff and one of the surgeons, there would be a specialist coming in from Zhengzhou on Saturday and we would talk with him as well to find out more details. After spending some time with the people at the hospital and making sure Henry was settled in and comfortable, we headed over to see the Orphans at Home Of Hope. We took the two House Mothers with us since they were up taking care of Henry as well. It was good to see just about the whole crew of Government people that helped us in our search show up.

Saturday morning we awoke and headed over to the Orphanage to see all our children. We found them all nestled in front of the television set watching cartoons. Mr. Li had brought his VCD player and some cute cartoons so they were really engrossed in watching.

They all jumped up when we walked in the door, hugs and kisses all around.
We decided to take them away from their television and out to play. We walked with them over to the school play ground and played ball. Nate and the boys played and as seems to be par for normal, the girls carted me off to the other side of the play ground to show me their exercise routines and dances they were learning. I love being able to bond with these girls this way. I only wish the language barrier was not there. Some day I will learn this language, I hope.

We got back to the Orphanage and there was Nate and the boys wondering where we had gotten off to since we left before they did. (grin) We kept it our little secret and went on with our activities. We worked with them on their English names and alphabet for a while on the new chalk board we brought them and then washed up for lunch. I tell you what, I eat some of the yummiest food at the Orphanage.. these ladies can cook. Everyone keeps telling me that I like the ” common Chinese food “… I suppose they are right. I only know that I really do like what they feed us when we eat with the children. It may not look like much.. but it is filling and good !!!!

When we got ready to leave, we decided to ask if Holly and Logan would like to go with us to see Henry before his surgery. They jumped at the chance and ran to get their jackets. We all piled into the car and took off for the hospital.

Along the way, we remembered that Hank had a birthday coming up and it would be a good time to get him something while we had the girls with us to help. Logan is a real penny pincher…. she never wants us to spend money and watches every zhao we let go of. (A zhao is like one dime to a dollar.) She didn’t want us to spend any money on Hank and persisted in telling us it was not necessary to buy for him. Nate explained to her that we WANTED to get Hank something, we wanted to make this special for Hank and we wanted her and Holly to help us find something good for him. We ended up getting him a harmonica and a rubics cube. Logan thought it was too much anyway. (grin)

We took the girls by the Hotel to see our room and thought we might get some rest in. To our surprise, here came Hank walking in our Hotel room door. After Hank came Jenny and after Jenny came Aaron. Seems Aaron had taken off with Hank and Jenny and decided to hop a cab and come to the Hotel to see us. What got into him I will never know, I think he was missing his play station. (grin) He brought the kids to us and then went to his room. I do think Nate scolded him a little for running off with the kids and not telling anyone. The Mothers would be frantic !!!

So we piled them all in the car and took Jenny back to the Orphanage, Hank wanted to go with us to see Henry too. Nate, Holly, Logan, Hank and I went to the hospital and Henry was tickled to see us all walk in the door. We took some pictures with him and the children and with the him and the doctors, and with him and Nate and I. We just had a regular picture taking party. The nurse came in to give him a shot and told him to lay down and rest, but that didn’t last too long before he was sitting up and smiling away again.

Bless his heart. in spite of that harelip, he really does have a cute smile. His lip is a double split so he has little ” wings ” on both sides of his nose that curl up when he smiles. It’s quite a unique smile and I found myself attached to that smile and Henry in no time at all. He just smiles so sweet and reaches out in such a tender manner. He can touch you with his eyes when he really looks at you. I fought tears many times just seeing him smile up at me.

The special Surgeon from Zhengzhou came in and we went to a special office with Henry in hand to talk to him before he took him into for the operation. This was the first time he had even seen Henry. They had lengthy discussions with other doctors regarding the procedure but he had never looked at Henry prior to this moment. He was a very nice man and his demeanor was likable. He looked at Henry for about 2 minutes and said “No problem.” He then told us that he would not have to wait the 6 months to do the next surgery as they had thought. He would do the next surgery in about 10 days! So, Henry will just be getting over his first surgery when the second one will take place.

After we met with the surgeon, we all went back to the room and waited. I sat next to Henry on the bed and held his hand, patted his back, kissed his cheek and grew more and more attached to him in no time at all.

Soon enough, they came after him with a stretcher and wheeled him up to surgery. The tears could no longer stay within their boundaries and came washing over me as the doors closed on the elevator to take him away. All the crowd of Chinese people were amazed to see me crying over this child, but I could not help myself. How in the world I got so attached so fast and how something like this could hurt so deeply I will never know. You would have thought they were wheeling a child in that I had labored, nursed and raised for the last ten years.. not a child I hardly knew. Ah but God knows that child.. so my heart cried out for him none the less.

Logan, Holly and Hank were a bit antsy at this point so we all walked down to the bakery and got ice-cream to pass the time. It was a nice brisk walk and we drew lots of attention as we always do anytime we go out. (smile) We sat and ate our snacks and gave our two House-Mothers English names.

Mrs. Li is now “Jade” for her name means “beautiful jade,” and Mrs. Sun is now Maggie, for her name means “magnificent”. Well, it sounds like it, you know ? (grin) They liked them. it is always fun to give them new names, they get such a kick out of it and so do we.

We walked back to the hospital and were told that the surgery would last about 3 hours instead of the estimated hour and a half. They had to take in some more blood as well due to the extent of the surgery. Seems things were a little more complicated than what they had expected, but our Henry was doing fine and things were looking good.

We noticed the children were beginning to look a little worn around the edges. Then the nurse came in and told us that the children should probably not stay around. Henry would need lots of rest. So we decided to go ahead and take the kids home. They were used to naps in the afternoons and today had been somewhat of a strenuous day for them with all the excitement We took them home, stayed for a while and read, played a little and then took off for the hotel again. We were going to go back up the hospital, but we called and they said that Henry was still sleeping heavy and we should just come in the morning if we would like.

Nathan and I both had a hard night. I know Nate was up and down every 30 minutes of so, and I just laid there and prayed for as long as I can remember. I would fall asleep praying and wake up praying, fall back to sleep praying and wake up and pray again. It was what seemed like a long night for both of us so we got up early and got ready to go back up to the hospital. Nate woke up the boys and told them to meet us at the bakery for coffee and we took off.

We had our coffee and headed up to the hospital. When we arrived, Mr. Li and Jade and Maggie were all there watching over him. I tell you, these people are good, warm hearted people and they take excellent care of our children. Henry was sleeping soundly. He has tubes in his nose, tubes in his throat, and a lot of drainage. Bless his heart, he was so brave and so strong.

They told us they had given him nothing for pain since the surgery.. can you imagine ? But, he was sleeping like a baby and when he woke up he didn’t seem too distressed. The only time I saw any sign of pain was when the nurse came in and put an IV in his arm. He winced but never even cried out. What a strong little man he is. His little sinuses were so swollen and he could not breathe through his nose, so he was having to breathe through his mouth and that was difficult for him.

I put my WWJD bracelet on his tiny little arm and Nate showed him that he had one just like it on his arm too. I think we actually saw a hint of a smile. We had gone by the store and picked him up a series of books and a small little GameBoy. He is going to be in the hospital for a long time and we wanted to take him something to help pass the time. We will see if we can find some better books around Xinzheng before we go back up there.

From Nathan, April 14, 2000

You know, as I stood there looking at little “Henry” He Long Qiang, waiting for the surgeon to come in and take him into the operating room I couldn’t help but feel a total sense of amazement.

There he was; small, frail – probably with never a “real” meal in his entire ten short years, laying in a hospital bed. There he was, looking up into Shannie’s eyes with such trust and desire to be loved. It was as though his eyes were speaking across the abyss of the language barrier and he was saying, “Be my protector, be my comfort, be my friend, be my family; I need you! Please?”

I think about that now. I think about how his grotesque appearance caused little children to run from him and older children to persecute and ridicule him.

I think about the first night he spent in the Home of Hope orphanage, the Thursday night before he was to be admitted into the hospital for the surgery, how out of eleven of the orphans – kids who had seen their parents die, kids who knew they had been thrown out, kids who had already been toughened by the cruelties of life — how out of eleven of them only three did not feel afraid of little Henry.

I shamefully thought back to the first time I saw Henry in the mountains of GongYi. His hair so matted it seemed to have never been washed. His face was very difficult to look at. I remembered how with the other kids, the dirt hadn’t mattered; how I had been able to hold each one of them and embrace them, but how strained I felt when it came to Henry. His dirty teeth protruded from his distorted mouth, and I felt like I really didn’t want to hold this little ugly human being – until he looked at me with those eyes that said, “Are you going to reject me too?”

I remember the shame I felt. I hadn’t been raised that way. I had been taught to care for and accept people. And on top of all of that, God, who could only look at my sinful nature as being the most grotesque and ugly thing He had ever seen, looked past all of that sin and reached out his hand in love and said, “All I want of you is for you to want a relationship with me!”

Now Shannie sat on the side of the hospital bed looking little Henry in the eyes, and his eyes were saying, “I want a relationship with you!” How could she or anyone refuse those appealing eyes? She couldn’t. No one could have. I can not help but draw a parallel with our relationship with God.

He looks at us through His eyes of righteousness; the Holy God who cannot coexist with sin – and when He sees our desire to reach out and choose to have a relationship with Him, he overlooks all the imperfections in our life and reaches out to us. Just like people have done to Henry He Long Qiang.

Sure, we have to go through surgery – just like Henry. He went through a very painful surgery, and there was no visible change. All the work was done on the inside! Sound familiar?

There will be a second surgery, and maybe more after that, and slowly his appearance will change to that of a normal little boy. One that people won’t run from anymore; one that kids won’t laugh at or tease or ridicule.

A little like us – God looks at us, takes our hand, and begins His surgery on us. Slowly, slowly… At first there is no visible change, but as each bit of deformity is cut away and mended by His Grace and Love, our vile and sinful appearance begins to change. And just like His Word says, when He looks at us, it is not our grotesqueness He sees – but the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As little Henry He Long Qiang awaits his next surgery I am ever grateful for the lessons we learn from these everyday experiences over here in China as we work with these orphans.

The love of God is not isolated to polished pulpits in comfortable sanctuaries. It can be found in dirty holes in mountainsides far, far away from what we commonly know as civilization. It can be found in the touch of a foreigner on the dirty and matted head of an elderly, homeless person who has not had a decent meal in many years. It can be found in the face of a new mother when a person passes and lays hands on her child and speaks a prayer for the baby that the mother doesn’t understand but knows is from the heart.

The love of God is so awesome and His Grace so never ending.

Thank you Lord, for Henry, and all of those like him.

Thank you Henry. Thanks for the lessons.

And thanks to all those folks back home who help in this great effort to reach the lost and dying.

Thank you!