Micai's Hope
How could we reject a child because he had imperfections.
I had made a somewhat spontaneous and ironically timed decision to join the HopeHouse Orphanage Mission Trip, 2006, at the most drained season in my life, but I’m so thankful His quiet voice can be heard in spite of my small faith that often scrambles His signal. If I had listened to myself, I would have missed out on personally witnessing modern day mini-miracles...too numerous to list.
Our team visited two HopeHouse families in their homes and met several others during the week. Theses visits provided the opportunity to truly experience this ministry at work! The family’s home where I visited was the Ryabushev Family, one of the recipient’s of a HopeHouse Building Team in April.
HopeHouse Father Dima, his wife Ira, and their five children were living in a small, dilapidated structure as their HopeHouse was being built nearby. Dima and Ira adopted three children. I was touched as they shared with us that during the adoption process they had been given a choice to choose or reject a challenged child named Micai. Micai, at three, could not walk or talk and had disabilities that (they were told) would prevent him from ever being able to do so. “How could we reject a child just because he had imperfections”, they told us. Our team met Micai, now fi ve, and it was hard to believe he was the child in their story. Not only could he walk and talk like any other fi ve year old, the joy in his smile could power Texas.
I was moved by the integrity and depth of character of the parents chosen by HopeHouse to be good stewards of their donated home and good parents to their adopted children. The obedience, prayer, sensitivity and love that Dima and Ira had poured into Micai, served as fertile soil that allowed him to blossom beyond recognition in just two years, a poignant reminder that children need more than food, water, and shelter to thrive.
After that visit, I couldn’t and still can’t stop praying that some of the kids we met in the orphanages will someday fi nd their way into a HopeHouse “home”. There, they would have the chance to thrive and grow into men or women of God – “equipped” and possibly even “called” to become HopeHouse parents themselves someday. Thus, giving other forgotten children the chance to fi nd family and best of all, discover that God doesn’t reject us in spite of our imperfections, but instead offers His unfailing love.
