Jeremy

Meet Jeremy. An 8 year old friend who grew up in the city orphanage, he now lives with a Chinese woman and 3 other kids ages 4-9 who are in the process of being adopted. I think Jeremy's papers have already gone through the system, so he'll be heading somewhat soon to the States to live with his new family. I found out about these kids through friends of friends, and started going over once a week to play with them. Deprived of consistent/regular as well as deep love, all of them, and especially Jeremy, have been so much fun for me to spend time with. One weekend this winter, I was going swimming with some friends, and decided to call the ayi, or auntie, and ask if I could bring Jeremy along. She was so excited that I called, because each of the other 3 kids had been taken by their "foster families" for the weekend, except Jeremy. He could hardly wait! When I got to the apartment, he kept looking up at me and saying, "We're going swimming! We're going swimming." He had never been swimming before.

We went and visited some friends, then headed to the pool. He loved it! My friends took him under their wing, too, playing with him and including him in what they were doing, which was fun to see. It's so refreshing to me to be doing something I feel like I'm gifted at doing - making kids feel loved and special. I'm learning that I really have a heart and desire to love on kids that don't receive that love at home. Even though I'm just now identifying it, looking back, I can see that desire in my college internships in elementary schools, summer jobs, and when I was student teaching, too - all in poverty level schools. As I think about my next stage in life, I'm excited to see what kind of role that desire will play. Until then, I get to keep hanging out with Jeremy and the other kiddos from the orphanage.