I spent much of the past week urgently looking for a Chinese family to adopt Esther. Thanks be to God, this heartbreaking story had a very joyful resolution. Here's the story.

I was sitting at my church, where I sometimes use the kitchen area as my professional "office space". While working, I called a friend in China to talk about ministry.

He told me about Esther, a 2-year old girl who was placed outside the entrance of an orphanage. It was obvious that the person who anonymously left her there really cared about her, but could not take care of her. My friend heard about this girl's case and her urgent need for heart surgery. After successful fundraising, he found one of the best child heart surgeons in China to heal her and save her young life.

I'm not sure exactly what caused Esther's heart problem. But it was clear that her heart was "broken". She cried continuously at the orphanage, except when she was asleep. And nobody was allowed to hold her or comfort her. "Because this is how children manipulate you--they are very smart". That is the mentality--and the policy--for caretakers in many orphanages in China and in some other countries.

近來，你或許收到來自我的一個短訊，是關於幫助一名小女孩尋找領養家庭的事情。過去的一星期，我迫切地為她尋找一個中國的領養家庭。這個星期，這個讓人心碎的故事終於有了圓滿結局。以下就讓我來為大家分享這個故事。

那一天，我坐在教會的廚房——一個我日常辦公的地方。工作其間，我聯絡了一位身在中國內地的朋友，彼此談起事奉的事情。

他告訴了我關於以斯帖的事—— 一個被遺棄於孤兒院門外女孩的事。只有兩歲的以斯帖（Esther)被遺棄在孤兒院門外，而情況顯然是，遺棄他的人並非不愛她，而是因她生病而沒有能力照顧她。以斯帖急需進行心臟手術。我的朋友方聽聞她的個案，便馬上為她籌募手術經費，並成功尋找到中國最好的兒童心臟手術專家為他醫治，挽救了她年幼的生命。

我並不具體了解以斯帖的心臟問題是什麼，但無可否認的是，她的心真的受傷和破碎了。除了睡覺的時候，她在孤兒院裏持續地哭泣。而無奈的是，在中國內地或一些國家的孤兒院，照顧者普遍地認為「孩子很聰明，他們總是利用哭泣意圖操控別人。」這種思想甚至成為孤兒院的規定，即便孩童持續地哭，任何人卻都不允許抱他或安慰他。
 

Then my friend explained that, at age 18, many disabled children graduate from orphanages directly into adult institutional care facilities--and sometimes directly into elderly homes. That's when my heart broke.

I know I can't help every orphan that needs a home, but Esther's story was special, and I wanted to do something.

I held back my tears, and made a decision: I wanted to find adoptive parents for Esther before she returned to the orphanage.

據我的朋友所說，很多在孤兒院裏成長的殘疾兒童，18歲以後便會被直接送入成人護理機構，有時甚至被直接送進老人院。聽到這裏，我的心很難受。我確實並不能幫助每一位孤兒去尋找合適的家庭，但以斯帖的情況很特殊，我真的很想幫助她。此刻，我收回淚水，下定決心要幫助以斯帖在重回孤兒院前尋找合適的寄養父母。

I thought about Esther in the Bible, who needed favor with the king, and fasted before her important meeting. I decided to do an "Esther fast", and eat nothing until Esther returned to the orphanage, or was matched with an adoptive family, whichever came first.

Policies required that the adoptive family be Chinese. But for legal and cultural reasons, very few Chinese people are able or willing to adopt.

So, I knew that this would be difficult, and I was actually expecting people to say things like: "Chinese people don't adopt." "It's hard in this culture." "Can foreigners adopt her?" And, that's what happened. That's what nearly everybody told me.

But people also prayed, and I know there were at least several couples who seriously thought and prayed about it. However, there was no match.
 

我馬上想起聖經中的以斯帖，為了迫切尋求王的幫助，她在與王關鍵的會面之前，展開了禁食。於是，為了讓我們的以斯帖配對到合適的寄養家庭，或至少直至她回到孤兒院之前，我決定展開「以斯帖式的禁食」。

由於當地的政策要求所有寄養家庭必須為中國人，但基於內地的文化和法律原因，很少中國人有能力或願意領養。因此，我預料到很多人會如此說：「中國人從不領養孩子。」、「在這文化裏，很難有人會領養孩子。」、「可否讓外國人領養他呢？」。而儘管事實是近乎所有人都說著諸如此類的話，但仍有少數對夫婦很認真地為此事祈求並考慮領養以斯帖中。可惜的是，最終並未成功配對。