Waiting for a Father: Hearing the Heart-Cry of the Orphans of the World
The heart-cry of every child without parents-a cry to be loved and to belong-told through the story of one boy named Jacob. For over two decades, Gary Stephens, his wife Helen, and their four biological children lived in Hong Kong. There they worked with Vietnamese refugees, then founded several homes for orphans and assisted with local and international adoptions. Later, their work spilled into mainland China, when they learned of baby girls being abandoned in alarming numbers, innocent victims of the one-child policy. Gary and Helen acted, helping to found an orphanage in a city in southern China. But the heart of this story is their son Jacob, who was born without eyes and subsequently abandoned. Underweight and sickly, two-year-old Jacob had lived in four different institutions before they found him and brought him to their home for children with special needs. They adopted him in 1998 and have spent the last sixteen years reclaiming what was lost in those first two. Waiting for a Father is a story of hope and reconciliation, of people who did not look away, who instead opened their hearts to a child who needed them. This inspiring message is a call to action: to help empty the orphanages of the world... one child at a time.
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Waiting for a Father: Hearing the Heart-Cry of the Orphans of the World
The heart-cry of every child without parents-a cry to be loved and to belong-told through the story of one boy named Jacob. For over two decades, Gary Stephens, his wife Helen, and their four biological children lived in Hong Kong. There they worked with Vietnamese refugees, then founded several homes for orphans and assisted with local and international adoptions. Later, their work spilled into mainland China, when they learned of baby girls being abandoned in alarming numbers, innocent victims of the one-child policy. Gary and Helen acted, helping to found an orphanage in a city in southern China. But the heart of this story is their son Jacob, who was born without eyes and subsequently abandoned. Underweight and sickly, two-year-old Jacob had lived in four different institutions before they found him and brought him to their home for children with special needs. They adopted him in 1998 and have spent the last sixteen years reclaiming what was lost in those first two. Waiting for a Father is a story of hope and reconciliation, of people who did not look away, who instead opened their hearts to a child who needed them. This inspiring message is a call to action: to help empty the orphanages of the world... one child at a time.
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Waiting for a Father: Hearing the Heart-Cry of the Orphans of the World

Waiting for a Father: Hearing the Heart-Cry of the Orphans of the World

Waiting for a Father: Hearing the Heart-Cry of the Orphans of the World

Waiting for a Father: Hearing the Heart-Cry of the Orphans of the World

Overview

The heart-cry of every child without parents-a cry to be loved and to belong-told through the story of one boy named Jacob. For over two decades, Gary Stephens, his wife Helen, and their four biological children lived in Hong Kong. There they worked with Vietnamese refugees, then founded several homes for orphans and assisted with local and international adoptions. Later, their work spilled into mainland China, when they learned of baby girls being abandoned in alarming numbers, innocent victims of the one-child policy. Gary and Helen acted, helping to found an orphanage in a city in southern China. But the heart of this story is their son Jacob, who was born without eyes and subsequently abandoned. Underweight and sickly, two-year-old Jacob had lived in four different institutions before they found him and brought him to their home for children with special needs. They adopted him in 1998 and have spent the last sixteen years reclaiming what was lost in those first two. Waiting for a Father is a story of hope and reconciliation, of people who did not look away, who instead opened their hearts to a child who needed them. This inspiring message is a call to action: to help empty the orphanages of the world... one child at a time.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781937756789
Publisher: Deep River Books LLC
Publication date: 04/11/2013
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

The father of five, Gary lives with his wife Helen and his son Jacob in Montrose, Colorado, and works for the international medical charity Mercy Ships.Carmen Radley met Gary while working as a writer for Mercy Ships in West Africa. She earned an MA in English and creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin.The father of five, Gary lives with his wife Helen and his son Jacob in Montrose, Colorado, and works for the international medical charity Mercy Ships.Carmen Radley met Gary while working as a writer for Mercy Ships in West Africa. She earned an MA in English and creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin.

Table of Contents

Preface: Hearing Jacob's Heart-Cry 13

1 A Story of Deprivation 17

2 First Movements 31

3 Home 47

4 In the Mid-levels 63

5 A Mother's Choice 71

6 Homes for Children 85

7 Quiet Instar 99

8 Where They Belong 111

9 The Missing Baby Girls 129

10 Jacob and Fuxia 145

11 A Sighdess Child in a City of Sound 165

12 Return to Colorado 175

13 Jacob and Teacher 191

14 From East to West 207

Afterword 225

Endnotes 231

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Gary and Helen Stephens' story of their personal involvement with orphans and their own adoption of a significantly handicapped orphan is a tale of heroic courage, persistence, and astonishing faith. It is a timely reminder that all of us need a special relationship with human parents as well as of the opportunities that exist to fulfill that function for others. Anyone concerned about children anywhere in the world should read it." –David Aikman, best-selling author of Jesus in Beijing, Bill Graham, Qi, The Delusion Disbelief, and A Man of Faith; Beijing Bureau Chief and Chief White House correspondent for Time Magazine.

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