Savannah

Families come in all shapes and sizes, but for the children who live at New Day Foster Home in China, family is an idea, a hope, and a wish that they have for their future. Each child at New Day has been abandoned by their family for one reason or another, most of them because their families couldn’t afford the expensive medical care that they required, such as intensive heart surgery.

For Savannah, it was a different story. She had been abandoned when she was two years old because she had been born a dwarf. Going on seven years old, Savannah was the oldest child at the foster home. The home was constantly getting new children to care for and constantly sending their current children out to be adopted. Savannah had waited six long years. Her unfilled longings for a forever family was beginning to do a number on her self-confidence. She had watched so many children walk through the doors of the foster home holding the hands of their forever family. Savannah’s hands were still empty.

It was an ordinary, warm summer day in China. It was song time at New Day Foster Home’s preschool and all the kids and helpers were involved, singing a high-pitched ballad of multiple preschool songs.

Suddenly, Elva, who worked at the foster home, came around the corner and called Savannah out of the room. Since the children were often called out the room to attend physical therapy, see a doctor to receive a check-up for their various medical conditions, or receive a lesson in potty training, her exit was hardly noticed by the students, staff, and volunteers. The day at preschool progressed as usual, going from high-energy song time to a calmer period of arts and crafts. That day we were designing rainbows on construction paper from a variety of different colored plastic beads. I was helping the children choose the beads and stick them on correctly, enjoying myself as usual.

Suddenly, Savannah flew through the room, holding a white sheet of paper high in the air. She was beaming. She excitedly ran over to the preschool teacher, showed her the piece of paper, and started chattering excitedly in Mandarin. I left the child I was helping for a moment to find out what all the excitement was about.

I reached Savannah who also knew a lot of English, and asked, “What is it Savannah?”

She proudly lifted the piece of paper to my face and exclaimed, full of smiles and giggles, “I have a family. I’m going home to see my family in America!”

I lifted the paper from Savannah’s fingers and took my time gazing into the faces of each of the members of Savannah’s new family. Her new mom, dad, brother, and sister were all holding hands, smiling. It was obvious from the picture that each and every one of them was a dwarf like Savannah. The brother not only was a dwarf but also had been adopted from China not long ago. Families come in all shapes and sizes, and my little friend Savannah had finally found the family that she had been waiting a lifetime for. Her years of patient waiting had not been in vain for she had found the perfect forever family.