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An old Chinese proverb worth sharing -

robin — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 01:31:59 +0000

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”

The old woman smiled, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.”

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

"Special Needs" in China

robin — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 13:01:34 +0000

When a child has anything outside the norm-heart murmur, cleft lip or palate, cyst, or even birth mark-China considers them “special needs”. I mean really, what child doesn’t have special needs anyway. In China, they don’t even offer children with any kind of mental disability for adoption. But once every 6 weeks or so, they will send our agency a group of around 20 referrals for children with minor “special needs” and they usually have a limited amount of time to place them with families. If they aren’t placed then China may send them to another agency or may give up and leave them in an orphanage until they turn 16, at which time most are turned out on the streets to fend for themselves. Ella Grace came to our agency on this list on June 8, 2005. She was on this list because of her 2nd degree cleft palate which is still unrepaired. Because of her palate-which is unique in that there is no lip involvement just like our Katy-we knew this was the child God had for us. That was the “marker” God used to identify her for us. That was pretty special in our eyes.

China and Abandonment

robin — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 03:44:12 +0000

The following is a little explanation about adoption and China I took from the America World Adoption Association site- “China is a country whose culture dates back to the earliest records known to man. At first glance, some of China’s beliefs may seem quite different than those we hold in the western world. One example of this is the cultural preference for a male child. There are several reasons why Chinese families might prefer a boy over a girl. In rural provinces, a family’s livelihood depends directly on the output of its family members. Because of this, a family with sons would be at a considerable advantage than one with daughters. Historically, it is also the son’s honored responsibility to take care of his parents in their old age. A daughter, however, would be expected to care for her husband’s parents rather than her own. In this regard, the Chinese believe that having a son is crucial to their livelihood, as well as a form of social security for the parents when they grow older. Although in recent years, China has done much to change these belief systems, many families, especially in rural areas, still strongly favor the birth of a male child. This situation is further complicated by China’s One- Child Policy, which prohibits families from having more than one child. As a result of this policy, there are thousands of abandoned children throughout China, with the vast majority of them being healthy girls.”