tainted milk and a few lessons I've learned

I mentioned briefly in the last post about the tainted milk and deaths related to it in China. The lastest numbers I have are that 3 infants have died and 6,000 children have become ill. Now, those are the official numbers from China...so it is likely that these are understated numbers. Here is a link to a short news clip on the situation in China. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4773716.ece
It is a topic of discussion on a yahoo group that I am a part of that is for families that have adopted or are adopting from Chengdu. A few minutes ago I just left a response to a question about the safety of the milk that is served in the orphange there. Here is some of what I wrote and how I feel about all of this right now...

Several months ago there was a massive earthquake just 60 miles from the orphanage in Chengdu. Now, there is a country-wide recall of milk products. It has all made me reflect on a few things. One is that I couldn't help but see the significance in the fact that just a few weeks after we see the face of our son and decide to bring him into our family that there is an earthquake in his city...the only city in China that I could actually locate on a map...a city that I didn't even know existed before this spring...a city that I probably wouldn't have even cared about had a little orphan boy not been there. Now, the country that our son lives in is in the news again. And I can't help but think that I really wouldn't have even cared about hearing of tainted milk in China just a few months ago. I would have likely been making dinner and just glanced at the story and thought, well, I probably would have thought nothing. Except maybe something like, "what did they say the weather was going to be like tomorrow?" But now, I hear the word "China" and "babies" and "tainted milk" and my heart sinks. Not again. Why China? Why the one country that I really care about at all? And then it hits me. I really haven't cared about much of anyone else in the world until now. Not until it somehow affects me. And that is a tragedy. A sad statement on what I spend my time worrying about and thinking about and planning for.

But things are different now. Now I have a face to think of when I see little Chinese babies waiting in line to get tested for sickness. I think of our little Caleb. I think that he doesn't even have a mom to stand in line for him at a doctor's office right now. He doesn't have a dad to take his temperature and sleep with him at night if he isn't feeling well. He does have our prayers though, and that is sufficient. But I keep thinking of all the other orphans who are nameless to me. Who prays for them? Who even cares that they may have had a drink of poisoned milk? Does anyone care? Well, I am starting to. Things are so different now that I know faces and names of waiting children in China, one of them being our son. I feel like my eyes and heart have been opened to people throughout the world that I normally wouldn't think twice about. Especially children that don't have the gift of a mom and dad to protect them like only a mom or dad can do.

So, this process of waiting on paperwork and praying for the safety and health of our son has been a much bigger thing in my life than just "waiting on paperwork." I truly feel blessed to have a softer heart for the Chinese people in particular. I feel like they are part of my family and I ache when I hear of the suffering they go through. I don't even have my son in my arms, but I feel so connected to the people he lives with and the country he will call his birthland. And I pray that I won't forget the feeling I have when I hear of tragic things happening in China. Because I think that it is a tiny bit of what God feels when he sees the whole thing too. He doesn't just think about a country with an earthquake, or a city with tainted milk. He hears the cries of the babies, He comforts the weary mom, and He knows every one of their names. I am privileged to know the name of one small boy. Ji Ru Ping. Our little Caleb.

Please continue to pray for Caleb and all the orphans who have a name and a face that is lovely to our God. julia...still waiting and learning lessons on the way