Samantha’s Story
October 15, 2005 is the day our family was blessed with its fifth member, Samantha Xiao Chen. Chen Chen (her Chinese nickname) was born in Louyang, China in the spring of 2001. Samantha was found abandoned on a busy intersection by the police and brought to the Louyang Welfare Institute. She was given the birthdate of April 16th and it was deemed she was approximately one month old. A physical examination showed that she was born with congenital glaucoma.
Samantha was cared for until the age of three by the orphanage in Louyang. It was at that time that she was sent to a newly started foster home outside of Beijing in the city of Langfang. This foster home was dedicating its work to the blind orphans of China. It was there that Samantha had her first surgery to help relieve the symptoms of her glaucoma. Part of her sight was regained because of her surgery, but she was still considered “blind”, therefore making her a “hard-to-place” orphan. Through the dedication of the Bethel Foster Home staff, Samantha was listed on our agencies special needs or “Children of Promise List.” It was there that we first learned about Samantha.
In her bio it said, “she is too fond of games to sit still in the classroom”. We knew she was the girls for us. We submitted our names and waited what seemed forever (it was really only 10 days). We were matched with Samantha and it turns out we were the only ones to request her. God surely blessed us that day!
Today Samantha is thriving and acts like a normal 6 year old. Even though she has lost her vision permanently in her left eye, between medication and glasses the vision in her right eye has been brought up to the level of 20/50. Samantha participates in normal, everyday activities and no one realizes that this little girl was once considered a hopeless to place orphan.
If you could witness Samantha in her Chinese dance class or swimming in the lake or playing Polly Pockets with her sisters, then you could maybe get a glimpse of not how blessed she is, but how blessed we are to have her with us. Sometimes I think, “what if” we would have let the “what ifs” stop us? My prayer is that you do not let the “what ifs” stop you and allow yourself, your family, and a child have God’s blessings pouring over you.
Doug and Katy Graber
To learn more about congenital glaucoma click here or copy/paste to your web browser:
