dear parents..

Today one of our sons gave us an inside look at his thoughts and his heart. He writes a letter to parents and future parents of older adopted children. He has written it in Chinese and English. I have not edited or change any of his wording. He said it is his hope to be able to help parents to be encouraged about adopting older children because so many need families. Here are his words, I pray they will touch your heart as they did ours. Jon and I sat and wept happy tears as we read what he wrote.~ Bethany

Dear Parents and Future Parents,

Hello! My Chinese name is Zhang Pengxu, and my English name is William Thomas Allen. I was thirteen years old, I was adopted by American parents. When I first entered the United States, I was a little nervous, strange. Although the United States and China is so far away, so different, but I'm not afraid.

     I know that some parents do not like the adoption of children, because that is takes a lot of money, and some parents fear older child adoptions, because they think children do not listen, or do not like their parents. But I believe that adoption is good, because adoption can give children a full house, you can give children a lot of love.

    

   In fact, I've made a lot of mistakes, I stubborn, do not listen to their parents, and sometimes, I told them; I want to go back to China, because that is my country. I think a lot. Finally, I told myself. Yes, that is indeed your country, but your country's parents abandoned you, I am very sad, but I held back the pain until the end of the day.

    One day, I asked my American parents, I said: I do not always listen to your words, and has trouble, you regret adopt me? I did not expect is that they say: I do not regret it, if you have the next time I will adopt you, I said, why? They said: Because you brought us a lot of fun, no you do not have so much fun, and Jesus said: I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.

      Parents, I said that was my thing, because I made a mistake, do not listen, but my parents comfort me when I cry, I laugh when my fun, of course! I hope you will like my parents, who have no home to adoption, and no love for the children. Do not be afraid, if you have a really tough day, just pray, because God is not dead! 

I really hope you can adopt those children, because children who need your help. They need a perfect family, they need to be happy, and love. I do not know you will not oppose me, but I know that no one is perfect.

Thank you for reading!

             William Thomas Allen

   你好!我的中文名字叫张鹏旭，和我的英文名字叫William Thomas Allen。我十三岁，我也是被美国父母收养的。当我第一次进入美国，我有一点紧张、陌生。虽然美国和中国是那么的遥远，那么的不同，但我一点也不害怕。

     我知道有些父母不喜欢收养儿童，因为那是需要很多的钱，和有些父母害怕收养年龄大的儿童，因为他们认为儿童不听话，或者不喜欢他们的父母。但我认为收养是好的，因为收养可以给儿童一个完整的家，可以给儿童很多爱。

      其实我曾经犯过很多的错误，我倔强、不听父母的话，和有些时候，我告诉他们说；我想回中国，因为那是我的国家。我想了很多很多。最后我自己告诉我自己。对，那的确是你的国家，但是你国家的父母却抛弃了你，我非常伤心，但是我忍住了痛，直到这一天结束了。

    一天，我问我的美国父母，我说：我总是不听你们的话，和一直捣乱，你们后悔收养我吗？我没想到的是，他们说：我一点都不后悔，如果有下一次我还会收养你，我说，为什么？他们说：因为你给我们带来了许多乐趣，没有你就没有那么多的乐趣，和耶稣说过：我不撇下你们为孤儿、我必到你们这里来。

      父母们，我所说的那是我的事情，因为我犯错，不听话，但是我的父母在我哭的时候安慰我，在我笑的时候给我乐

趣，当然！我希望你们也会像我的父母一样，去收养那些没有家、和没有爱的的儿童。不要害怕，如果真的有一天很艰难，只是祷告，因为上帝没有死！我真的希望你们可以收养那些儿童，因为那些儿童需要你们的帮助。他们需要一个完美的家庭，他们需要快乐、和爱。我不知道你们会不会反对我，但是我知道没有人是完美的。

谢谢阅读。

                       张鹏旭