Guest Post - 13-Year-Old Needs a Family

A recent Storyteller Missions team visited another Chinese orphanage and met a young man with one simple wish for a FAMILY!  At 13 years old, he only has months left before his 14th birthday will remove this hope he clings to.  Please read the words of one of the team members who longs to see his wish come true - 

Before you light your first sparkler of the weekend or cut that watermelon, I need to share with you about a boy I met a couple months ago.

I keep sitting here trying to think of clever ways to convince someone that this 13 year boy is more worthy of adopting than the thousands and thousands of others who are available. But I just can't. The fact is, EVERY child deserves a mom and dad. Every child deserves a home with parents cheering them on to find their dreams. Every child should have birthday cakes with candles and friends singing that familiar happy birthday song, year after year after year. EVERY child deserves this.

So what could I possibly say about this shy, 13 year old to help his God-chosen parents to take the step he needs before he ages out in just a few short months? Before we know it, we'll be returning to school, planning fall break vacations, celebrating Thanksgiving and picking out a tree... Meanwhile he waits, day after day after day, wondering if anyone might want to share those memories with him? Isn't he is worth family traditions and memories too? Hasn't life thrown him enough difficulties being deaf in a world that communicates so much with spoken words? I know he questions whether or not he's worth it. He told me so. 

We spent hours together one day. I spoke in English to his 17 year friend named "Star." She either wrote in Chinese to him, or tried to sign to him to understand my questions. He waited patiently. Patiently. How many 13 year old boys wait patiently to answer personal questions about themselves? Maybe that makes him special. I'm sure the fact that he loves    sports and video games and would rather be with friends than in school, doesn't make him any different.

I asked him what he wanted to be when he grows up and his friend said he just wants to be with a family. What 13 year old makes the need to be with his family a priority over being a basketball player or football super star? Maybe that sets him apart too. Most 13 year old kids are preoccupied with name brands and the latest technology, and I had to show him how to take a selfie. Maybe that sets him apart too.

Don't consider this boy because you feel sorry for him. Not at all. This boy is a champion. He lives in a home with hundreds of children and none of them know sign language. No, this boy is a supreme communicator. He's learned to get his needs met without screaming and sassing his care takers. I'm certain that sets him apart from most 13 year olds I know, too.

But I think what sets him apart most for me, if I want to get to the heart of the matter... wasn't that he is about to age out. It wasn't even that he is deaf. It was the inquisitive nature in his eyes that seemed to be asking me, "Will you find my mom?" As I spent those hours with him, drinking in his shyness, marveling at his patience, all other children around seemed to melt away, because I saw him as a son. He was made to be a son, not an orphan.

There IS a parent for him.

We need to find them. No perfect parent need apply. He told me he didn't need a perfect family. If you have room in your heart to love a 13 year old who dreams of family, loves sports and has beat the odds of communicating so much that he does well at school, we have found your son. He is waiting. And we have been praying that you would step forward to begin making those back-to-school, vacation, holiday, birthday memories with him.

Is it you? Are you ready to take him in? Are you the one we've been praying for? If so, please email Kelly at kraudenbush@sparrow-fund.org for the next step.