“I was orphaned as a baby in China. I’m not sure why my birth parents gave me away. Maybe they were scared; maybe they had more than two children in the family; or maybe they saw that I had birth defects on my ears. No matter the reason, I lived in an orphanage with other children. The windows and doors had bars, so none of us could get out. It felt like a jail. Every once in a while, they would gather some of us up, put us on a bus, and take us to a foster home in a village nearby. It made me happy because we got to leave the orphanage and go live in a house. I remember at one place, the foster mom stood outside and waved to us as we arrived. When I got off the bus, she hugged me. It felt like a real home. Life was great until we had to return to live at the orphanage. They would have to drag me back to the bus. This happened about five times when I was in China.
I always picked the bed closest to the window wherever I lived. I loved looking outside into the night sky and watching the airplanes. I would imagine that someone adopted me, and I was on one of those airplanes flying to my new home.
Then one day when I was seven years old, a white couple came to the orphanage. They said God told them to go to China to adopt a child. When they saw me, God told them, ‘That’s the boy.’ We had to stay in a hotel for about a month before I could leave the country. I remember being scared and I would bang my head against a wall or beat myself up, and my mom would hold me to keep me safe. When we got to the United States, I received the surgeries I needed for my ears. Now I’m 17 and so grateful for my family. If it wasn’t for them listening to God, I wouldn’t be here today.” Daniel and his family attend the Grand Prairie Campus.