Peter Pan

My friend's daughter is volunteering at an orphanage in China for a year following completion of her undergraduate degree in Communication Disorders and Sciences.  One of her jobs is to teach English to the children since most of the adoptive families speak English.  An orphan who speaks some English is more "marketable."  Yet not all children have been adopted into families by the age the Chinese government has determined the orphan must be "released."  That age is 14.  Fourteen.

Pan Pan is one of the boys in the orphanage who will soon turn 14.  The English workers call him Peter Pan.  He plays three instruments.  He speaks a little English.  He has not yet been adopted.  He is blind.  Unless he finds a forever family, he will be "released," likely to beg on the streets for his meals.  Winter is coming.

My friend's daughter asked if we would pray for Pan Pan and for his forever family.  Perhaps he will not have an earthly forever family.  And there are so many more stories like his in China - and around the world.  My heart breaks for them.

I also think about my own son.  Had he been born to different parents in a country like China his story would have been much different.  So I'll pray for Pan Pan and I'll thank God for my country and my family.