More about Christian

Christian is 13 1/2 years old and lives in Guangzhou in southern China. This is what was said about him on April 20 of last year (which just happens to be Caleb's birthday!):
Hai Hua is currently living at a boarding school where he studies as a third grader. He has grown up healthily under the careful care and concern of his teachers. Currently, he is the top student in the third grade and he easily grasps all the material that his teacher presents. His grades are excellent and he often holds the top rank in his class. He is very intelligent and his memory is outstanding. He likes to read books not assigned in class and the scope of what he likes to read is very wide. Moreover, he is able to recall a lot of content. When he is talking with others, he is able to show off by recalling all sorts of facts. He learns anything quickly and is developing into a well-rounded young man. Hai Hua likes to joke around with acquaintances even though they might not understand his jokes. He also likes to perform magic tricks. He wants to be a computer teacher when he grows up.

As to why he is only in the 4th grade now at 13 1/2 years old, the orphanage said:
He has congenital heart disease and he was not in quite good condition so that he was delayed for schooling.
Christian had surgery to repair his heart defects when he was 8 years old and was able to start school the following year when he was 9 years old. Thus he is pretty far behind by American standards, but since he is very studious we think he will do just fine here. Also, many of the older children from China are advanced beyond American kids the same age in math, so even if we move him up a couple of grades he will probably be just fine in math. English would be challenging regardless of what grade he is in. With his love of reading and high intelligence, once he learns English well enough I'm sure he will do fine in the other subjects such as science and history. With respect to his medical condition, because his VSD appears to have been pretty large and wasn't repaired until he was 8 years old there is a significant risk for long-term complications related to the pulmonary hypertension he has as a result of living with the VSD for so many years. However, here in America he will receive excellent medical care, and we know God is completely in control! We won't know how significant his medical situation will be until he has been evaluated here in America, but regardless of whether it turns out to be very minor or more serious Christian is our son and we love him!