He stood out in a room among 15 other kids. Not just because his skin was a surprising blueish hue. He stood out because he was who he was.
Yes, we noticed his coloring, but what we noticed more was an easygoing, fun-loving, smart kid who meekly stands to the side but somehow still has a commanding presence. From wrestling on the floor to reading books or working on an art project, he was always happily engaged in whatever it was he was doing. He offered us laughs and smiles readily and seemed equally content to play by himself or within the pack. As one of the oldest boys in the room, he’s clearly become and accepted as a leader. Some may say that he got the job because he’s a bit precocious.
How though? How could all these things be true of a boy whose oxygen levels are dangerously low? a boy whose heart isn’t connected exactly right? a boy who would have had life-saving surgery at only a few days of life if he had been born into different circumstances? It can only be explained in one word—miracle.
He is a miracle, a miracle who has already overcome so much. But, he has some big obstacles still to overcome—getting life-saving surgery and getting a heart-saving family.
His heart may have a “defect,” but it beats ferociously strong. And that strong heart, no doubt, has a lot to offer a mom and a dad, parents who don’t even know it yet but are about to experience a miracle first hand.
Interested in learning more about this little guy whose advocacy name is “Zachary”? He’s currently available for adoption through AWAA. Contact info@sparrowfund.orgto learn more about where he is and our experience with him, and contact our friends at AWAA to hear more.
UPDATE: A family said yes and is working to bring him home!
Olivia Linthavong, MD, MS is a Neonatologist based in North Carolina who has been a friend and resource to The Sparrow Fund for some time. She is a mom to three littles, one of whom joined their family via adoption. She served with The Sparrow Fund on a short-term orphanage trip where she met “Zachary” and has a heart and passion to help each child find their forever home.
Interested in learning more about this little 10-year-old chef? He is a waiting child with congenital heart disease who is currently available for adoption through Madison, a good agency which is offering a $1,000 agency grant to the family who wants to make him their son. Contact 
Kelly Raudenbush founded The Sparrow Fund along with her husband Mark in 2011 and launched 
One of the first steps in the adoption process is filling out a Medical Needs Checklist, which is a daunting task. Typically, when adoptive families are considering whether they would be able to parent a child with particular needs from such a list, hemophilia jumps out as one of the scarier needs. That make sense. Hemophilia is pretty rare – 
So, what is hemophilia, then? Children and adults with hemophilia are missing a protein in their blood that helps the blood to clot. These proteins are called clotting factors. To understand how to care for a child with hemophilia, it helps to know a little about the clotting process. A good analogy for the clotting process is a set of dominoes. Remember how you used to line dominoes up and then tip the first one over to watch them all fall in succession? The clotting process works the same way: there are 13 proteins, called clotting factors, that all work together, in succession, to build a stable clot. But, if one of those proteins (or dominoes) is missing, the clotting process stops prematurely. The most common type of hemophilia, Hemophilia A, occurs when a person is missing Factor VIII (factor 8). This is the kind of hemophilia my son has. Children with hemophilia bleed longer than others, not faster, and they bruise more easily than you and I do. Cuts and scrapes are treated much the same way as for a person with typical clotting. The biggest risks in hemophilia are bleeding internally, such as into joints, muscles, or soft tissues. But, the good news is that hemophilia is very treatable, and these children live happy, healthy, long, joyful lives.
Treatment of hemophilia involves replacing the child’s missing clotting factor. Usually, children receive intravenous (IV) infusions of their missing clotting factor two or three times per week. That may sound daunting, but it takes only a few minutes! We do my son’s infusions before breakfast (his choice) three times per week. Some children receive infusions peripherally (into a vein, like my son), and other children have a port into which their infusions can be given. When my son first came home, we had a wonderful home health nurse who came to do his infusions. After he was home for a couple of years, our Hemophilia Treatment Center trained me to do them myself so that we could treat on our own while traveling or when our nurse wasn’t available. I can’t say enough good things about the supportive care my son receives from the Hemophilia Treatment Center (HTC). They patiently answered my umpteen questions before my son came home, and the whole treatment team (a hemophilia nurse, pediatric hematologist, social worker, physical therapist, and education specialist) continue to be tremendously supportive as he grows. You can check the 
Angi Augsburger was introduced to The Sparrow Fund when her own family received a grant for their adoption. She got further involved with The Sparrow Fund when she was matched with a little boy from one of the orphanages where The Sparrow Fund serves. A year after he was home, she traveled back to China, this time as a volunteer on one of The Sparrow Fund’s teams to serve at her son’s orphanage and then again not long after on a trip to another orphanage where she met “Miller.”
Jennifer lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband John and their three children Maddox, Evangelyn, and Harper. She is a stay-at-home mom who volunteers with Love Without Boundaries. They believed their family was complete after the birth of Evangelyn, but the Lord had much bigger and better plans. After Jennifer traveled to China in 2014 to volunteer in orphanages, and she knew that they had a daughter in China. In May 2017, they brought their youngest daughter Harper home. Jennifer’s heart was broken for children without families and those without a voice; ever since, she has been advocating and sharing their adoption story.