Love Starts Here (Love Without Boundaries Guest Post)

Just as mine is, Kelly’s social media feed is filled with images of orphans waiting in China. Sometimes it’s overwhelming. Sometimes those little faces get lost. But in February of 2013, my friend didn’t scroll past LWB’s blog post, “Jenny, Jenny”. She read it and took a moment to share it, urging, “Jenny needs a family.”

And our love story started there. With a keystroke, a friend introduced us to our daughter, and love came fiercely.

Her face appeared on the screen and our journey began. “Oh, we’d love her,” I responded in the comments. It was a casual response, but my heart was gripped. I smile now, unsurprised that first words spoken of her included love.

A long list of potential families had already responded on the LWB blog and Facebook page. Hands trembling, I emailed our agency, and they responded, “We will inquire, but prepare yourself, because it is a long shot.” We understood, but this little soul had seized our hearts.

As turns it out, love is a potent force. More compelling than agencies, countries and a long line of families in line for, or reviewing, a file. Miracles manifested, and remarkably, her file landed in our hands, requiring only a “yes”.

Before we could board a Beijing-bound plane though, we had to push and pray through a wall of doubt and fear over what “complex medical needs” might mean. Also in our way was an ocean of logistics, eight months of paperwork, fingerprint rejections, an extended LOA wait, and two countries’ worth of red tape.

As we awaited travel approval, our “Jenny” was hospitalized again and again for infections. We studied images of her in the care of “ayis” in hospital rooms from Beijing to Shanghai, and it was evident that she knew love.  Finally, we fully felt and understood the mission of Love Without Boundaries. Love. The true, breathing, active kind.

Despite the costs, our daughter received ongoing treatment and specialized attention at the Heartbridge Healing Home. She was listed as “urgent” on the list of children needing surgery sponsors, and people gave and sponsored, prayed and gave some more. Though she had no parents by her side, she had an army of individuals who’d said, “Love starts here.” And in the truest way, they made all the difference.

The day finally came when her new, terrified parents felt the weight of her in their arms, knowing her needs were urgent, but unaware of the severity. Cycles of surgeries, infections, and hospital stays in three cities had left her organs beginning to shut down, and we had no idea.

All we knew is that our beloved Han Huizhen was a feisty little one with a high fever, who either slept or watched us from a distance with traumatized eyes. She’d only known the care of nannies and nurses and they’d been taken from her. Her experience with love started with them. It was the best and most gut-wrenching scenario we could have asked for.

Read the remainder over at Love Without Boundaries.