It’s Day 6 of Book Review Week here at Exploring Adoption. Today I’m reviewing a personal experience story, Saving Levi: Left to Die…Destined to Live (Focus on the Family/Tyndale House, 2007), by Lisa Misraje Bentley.
When residents of a northern Chinese village hear a wail that sounds like a wounded animal waiting to be put out of its misery, they follow the sound into a fallow cornfield, where they discover a 6-week-old baby boy, 75 percent of his body covered with third degree burns.
Saving Levi is the inspiring, true account of how the severely-burned boy is nursed back to life through the combined efforts of dozens of people across the globe. Lisa Misraje Bentley, a missionary working in a Chinese orphanage, is one of the first to meet the abandoned, burned baby. And when she does, her heart breaks. Instantly struck with compassion and love, she wonders, “Who will stand in the gap for this baby?”
In an matter-of-fact, reporting style, Bentley explains her personal role in advocating for Levi, mothering him, arranging for him to be flown to Boston for life-saving surgeries, and eventually, adopting him.
At several points in the story, Bentley mentions the way in which she’s torn between caring full time for the baby, who was on the brink of death, and finding time to care for her husband and their four children.
I’m grateful that Bentley admits her familial and marital struggles, because it makes her seem real. At some points, she comes off as Superwoman—homeschooling her four children, taking extended trips back and forth to hospitals the United States with Levi, meeting a constant stream of dignitaries and celebrities, and caring for the 90 orphans who lived at their orphanage.
So, near the end of the book, when Bentley mentions that her marriage was falling apart and explains how their family took a one-year furlough to the United States in an attempt to repair it, I was relieved. In fact, I wanted to hear more about the toll that saving Levi took on her family. The 140-page book seemed almost too understated; I wanted more details of this fascinating story!
Saving Levi is intended to be read in one sitting, and it includes 16 pages of beautiful, black and white photographs. As I reflected on the way in which God moved mountains on behalf of one of His cherished children, I couldn’t help but be touched by the immensity of God’s love for each and every one of us.
This book is available for purchase from Laura’s Exploring Adoption bookstore.
For more news and information about adoption, visit www.laurachristianson.com.
Other Reviews in this Series:
What a beautiful website...
My story is a little different, but then aren't they all....
my daughter was concieved through AI.... I never thought it would be an issue...for me it's a type of adoption....
but now I grieve that she will never meet her biological father.
but I also realize many adopted children do not meet their biological parents either...
question,,, do you have any book recommendations out there for me to read? My daughter is 19 and I shared the truth with her last year. she is just fine with it.
Blessings
Connie
Posted by: Connie Barris | Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 11:09 AM