Journey To China For Mom and Son

We adopted our son, Joshua, at the age of 11 from Luo Yang, China. He was on a list with a group of older children from the orphanage. An amazing out pouring of love from families in the United States came forward to give these children families. We applied and were approved to adopt one of the youngest children in the group! We longed to bring him home! In February of 2010, we traveled to China to adopt our son.

We were told though official paper work that Joshua had lived with his grandfather after his father and mother had both died and that his grandfather was too old and weak to care for him, so he was placed in the orphanage. Before leaving China to come home, I asked Joshua if he wanted me to try and contact his grandfather so he could say good-bye to him and he said, "NO!" During the three years that followed, I repeatedly asked if he wanted me to try and find his grandfather. After three years, Joshua said, "YES!"

Through the help of a friend, we immediately found an uncle and a cousin. Shocked with the findings of more family members, the true story came pouring forth. Our "orphaned" child actually had several family members back in China. Their orphanage director had "falsified" the records of all these children and they were told not to tell or they would be sent back to China!

Our son had been living with the burden of a lie for three years and was then fearful that we would send him back to China.

He told us he does have a birth mother in China that abandoned him when he was little, to remarry, after his father died. His grandfather is still living and we were able to make contact with his grandmother, before her death, a year ago. Now, six years after adopting our son, Joshua wants to return to China, to visit his relatives and roots.

Joshua and Mom and hoping to raise enough money to return to China for a two week visit in early summer, after the school year ends.

We will need to raise $7,000.00 for airfare and accommodations for our journey.

As you can imagine, this is a very emotional situation for Joshua and for us.

We feel this is an important trip for Joshua and will help him secure his heart and mind for the future.

Thank you for taking time to read and hear our story. If you feel called to help us financially, we greatly appreciate whatever you can do. Please keep our family in your prayers as we seek to reconnect our adopted son with his birth family in China.

God bless!

Ken and Twila Eden