Micah: Chinese Gangster and Memory Maker

Adoption transforms both the child and the adoptive parents, revealing profound spiritual lessons in seemingly routine moments of care.

• Micah was adopted from Hong Kong at age 9 after never living outside a hospital or orphanage
• The JFK Center where Micah lived had never had a successful adoption in its 47-year history 
• There are approximately 150 million orphans worldwide, not counting homeless or trafficked children
• Micah lives with a brain malformation, epilepsy, and club feet that once confined him to a wheelchair
• After specialized surgery, Micah now walks independently despite his challenges
• Changing Micah's Spider-Man braces transformed from a mundane task to a meaningful ministry
• Finding Jesus in everyday caregiving routines turns ordinary work into worship
• We chose to adopt because God has adopted us into His family

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Here For the Memories

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here for the memories thought-provoking audio memoir
shorts filled with stories,humor, anecdotes and commentary
on social, cultural, businessand religious issues.
Whatever Lyndon remembers andthinks will entertain, challenge
and inform is a possiblesubject.

(00:20):
The collection of memoriesabout one's life allows for the
development and refinement of asense of self, including who one
is, how one has changed andwhat one might be like in the
future.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Greetings and salutations.
This is Lyndon Wolfe and youhave providentially found my
audio memoir here for the thememories.
I remind everyone again that itis not a podcast.
It is about my stories, my life, my experiences, my opinions
and leaving things behind,anecdotes that will remind

(00:57):
people of who I was after Ileave this planet.
I hope they care enough tolisten.
I leave this planet.
I hope they care enough tolisten, but in my case there's a
possibility, maybe even aprobability, that they won't.
But it's out there nonetheless.

(01:18):
Glad you stopped by Visit often.
Micah is our adopted specialneeds son.
I often tell people that helooks just like me.
I wish I could show you apicture, but I also tell people
he was the leader of a Chinesestreet gang.
We adopted Micah when he wasnine he, of course, is Chinese
and we brought him home fromHong Kong.

(01:38):
Up to that point he had neverlived outside either a hospital
or an orphanage.
He received wonderful care inhis special needs focused
orphanage, something we doubtwould have happened if he had
remained in China.
His final home there was theJFK Center and he was dearly
loved.
I'm so thankful for thosepeople when we went to get him

(02:00):
the celebration and send-offthey gave him was overwhelming,
just over the top.
When I asked if every adoptionhad this kind of party, this is
what I heard what other adoption?
The JFK Center has been herefor 47 years and this is the
first adoption we have ever had.
What a tragic response.

(02:22):
Friends, there are an estimated150 million orphans in the
world, and that doesn't eveninclude the homeless,
street-dwelling and traffickedchildren that we have no idea of
that number.
If you don't feel led to adopt,friends, please help someone
who does.
When we discussed and prayedabout adopting a special needs

(02:45):
child, the answer was simple wehave the resources and he needs
a home.
I couldn't give God a goodexplanation of why we would say
no.
After all, we are called inscripture to care for the
orphans and we chose to adoptbecause God has adopted us
graciously into his family.

(03:06):
This is in no way an effort toshame those who don't or can't
adopt, but it is part of my lifestory.
Well, during the time he wasborn, china had the one child
only, law.
Since he was born with severedisabilities, after about a year
of hospitalization, micah'sbiological parents abandoned him

(03:28):
and returned to China proper to, we suspect, try to have
another only child.
Micah has a brain malformationthat keeps him with very limited
mental abilities and anextremely low IQ of 52.
That keeps him in the three orfour year old state with minimal
communication skills.

(03:48):
He has a serious case ofepilepsy, with all two common
seizures, wears a boxer'sheadgear to try to prevent
injury.
By the way, he's very proud ofhis headgear Now that he is 19
years old.
He is still under 100 pounds,although he eats more than the

(04:09):
rest of the family combined andregularly clogs up the toilet
with his massive bowel movements.
Okay, was that inappropriate?
Okay, strike that from therecord.
Micah doesn't do that.
Just, I don't know why I saidthat.
Oh, one other thing Micah hasclub feet.
When we got him he waswheelchair-bound.
Attempts to give him mobilityended with botched surgeries and

(04:31):
no practical improvement Aftera rare procedure with a St
Louis-based specialist and muchphysical therapy.
Micah hasn't been in awheelchair in years, although it
isn't pretty.
He walks everywhere he goes andis proud that he can.
He actually resists assistancesometimes when he actually needs

(04:51):
it.
But he does have to wearspecial braces Massively
expensive by the way but thosebraces have taught me a lesson
In the first couple of years wehad him on nights that I wasn't
traveling for business.
Sometimes I would have the jobof changing Micah's daytime
Spider-Man braces to hisnighttime Spider-Man braces.
It was almost the last parentalchore of a very long day.

(05:14):
But one night, as we were goingthrough the routine, I thought
about this seeminglyinsignificant job.
Was it a task or was it atreasure?
For me, it was too often alaborious, thoughtless task.
For Micah, on the other hand, Ithink it was a thanks-filled

(05:35):
treasure Menial to me butmeaningful to him.
Mundane to me but meaningful tohim.
Mundane to me but ministry tohim.
And it dawned on me that I wasmissing something, something
immeasurably rich.
I was missing that.
Jesus said I was meeting him inthe mundane, menial task.
If I was paying attention, Iwas essentially ministering to

(05:56):
him, if I was doing it in hisname.
If that's the case, this isn'twork, it's worship.
Micah's braces could beinstruments of adoration and
thanksgiving, not just for himbut also my Savior.
I prayed that I remembered thisthe following night when we

(06:17):
again would go through theroutine of changing from one
Spider-Man to another, and thatI might ponder the treasure that
Jesus can be found in thelatching and unlatching of
braces.
I'm Lyndon Wolfe.
This is my audio memoir herefor the memories.
I pray that this somehowencouraged you or educated you

(06:40):
and that you will embracesomehow being involved in the
process of adopting so manyorphans that need good homes.
God bless.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Hello friends, If you appreciate the content and what
it takes to create and deliverit, what it takes to create and
deliver it, please consider asmall contribution.
Just go to buymeacoffeecomslash here for the memories.
That's buymeacoffeecom slashhere for the memories Much

(07:20):
appreciated.