An Easter story

Three Easter Sundays ago, two volunteers for Love Without Boundaries visited a rural foster home in China. One of them noticed a baby boy, and she started asking questions. She immediately brought the child into the care of Love Without Boundaries, where he received medical care and was placed in a foster home with a loving family where he thrived.

Not every child in China has his or her file come available for international adoption, but because of what happened that Easter Sunday--and because of the care Love Without Boundaries gave to that little boy--his file did. On Jan. 4, 2009, his parents received a call, and on Dec. 7, 2009, the luckiest parents in the world met their son for the first time.

 

The fact that we know this story is almost a miracle itself, and discovering that one of the two volunteers lives within two hours of us (the other lives in Ireland) just adds to an extraordinary story.

As awesome as the story is, though, somehow we weren't surprised that Louis was so loved and cared for before we met him. As we waited for Louis--and as we wait now for his little brother--our prayers have always been not just for our sons, but also for all those loving and caring for them along the way. And those prayers won't change after Michael comes home. If anything, the prayers for those who helped Louis are said even more fervently now that we know what a difference so many people made in his life.



When we first heard of Love Without Boundaries, John and I knew nothing of the organization. Today, we proudly--and gratefully--sponsor a child in foster care in Louis's hometown. We have even had the pleasure of sponsoring a child in Louis's former foster home, and that has given us a wonderful glimpse into the day-to-day life our little guy experienced.

By the time we were matched with Michael, I had become a bit savvier and it only took me a week or two to discover that Love Without Boundaries was also playing a role in his life. I realized then that his chubby, rosy cheeks and healthy, full figure were a credit not only to the appetite he seems to share with his big brother Louis, but also to the nutrition program Love Without Boundaries offers in Michael's orphanage.

Call it coincidence. Say it's because this organization is playing a role in so many children's lives that we could have expected they would also be in Michael's life. In our household, we don't need an explanation. We're just enormously indebted fans of Love Without Boundaries.




I don't believe I have ever blogged about Love Without Boundaries. But this week Love Without Boundaries is having an auction on eBay to raise money to save children's lives through surgery and other medical care, and they asked people with blogs to post the link. I was just going to post the link, and then I started thinking.

Before Palm Sunday Mass this morning, we sat on the floor of Louis's bedroom, making up a rhyme about Jesus's palm-waving entrance into Jerusalem. On Palm Sunday three years ago John and I didn't even know we were going to adopt, never mind adopt from China. Louis's story looked very different that day, too. Without Easter Sunday 2008--and without Love Without Boundaries--would we have been sitting together this morning searching for a rhyme for "Jerusalem"?

We are so very blessed.