As John Ward said: “If we left the room for a minute, she’d change the color of the paint.”
But John and Jeanne Ward weren’t caring for their granddaughter, but their daughter.
They just happen to have four grandchildren older than Faith.
The Ward family has his children, their children, and one all the way from China.
Five years ago, when Jeanne decided she wanted to be a mother again, they began the international adoption process. They completed all the forms, solicited church members, family and friends for donations, and waited.
The adoption cost the Wards $27,000, and all but $2,500 of that they raised through donations from church members, family and friends.
After unsuccessfully trying to get a baby through the international adoption process, they told China officials they’d take a baby with “special needs.” Those were the special words.
They soon were notified that a young girl, 6 months old at the time, was found abandoned and placed on a sidewalk in Qingdao. Since she wasn’t claimed, Faith was placed in an orphanage for three months, then in foster care with older parents for 15 months.
Without the Wards, Faith may have been headed for a life on the streets, a beggar.
“She wasn’t even a number in China,” Jeanne Ward said, shaking her head of the thought as Faith beat on the drum set, a fifth birthday present.
The Wards were notified a baby was available, and they were told she had “ear problems,” Jeanne Ward said.
What they weren’t told — and maybe no one knew — was that Faith Anne Qian Yu Ward, who was born on Jan. 31, 2007, had numerous birth defects that range from an undeveloped left ear, a condition called microtia; misplaced facial bones, kidney stones, cleft palate, no knee caps, and misaligned joints.
She’s a walking medical dictionary.
Most of these defects have led to her being delayed physically. She didn’t start walking until she was 3 1/2, and because of her palate, she can’t speak but only a few words her parents understand.
“She has it up here,” her mother said, pointing to be Faith’s head, covered with long black hair. “She can’t get it out.”
Faith sometimes gets frustrated when she unsuccessfully tries to communicate.
Their 2012 goal: To get Faith to speak.
Their 2013 goal: Look for her volume button.
In her three years with the Wards, it’s hard to imagine any kid has spent more time traveling to area hospitals.
Raising a child is hard enough, but one with “special needs” is even more difficult.
Or at least you’d think so.
“We are giving her a life,” her mother said. “She’s worth all the sacrifice. She has blessed us as parents. She has yet to see her best days.”
John Ward admits Faith “get in his pocket,” which is a father’s way of saying she’s good at handing back empty wallets.
But he added: “She’s priceless. She’s the new head of the house.”
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