Vocabulary

 

agency	care (2)	orphanage
adopt	province	complete (2)
mimic	match (3)	contemplate
hum	process	boom (2)
chime	heart (2)	chime clock
pitch	obvious	the States
flash	elaborate	friends were over
gather	pound (3)	flash back
huge	audience	overwhelming
literally	in front of	national anthem
swell	field (2)	loudspeaker
spread	interact	calling (2)
orphan	cooperate	obligation
verse	ministry

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

 
MacKenzie: “I was born in Hunan Province in China. And when I was only one month old, I was left by a train station in a box. I was alone and no one was with me, and nobody cared.

Someone found me and took me to an orphanage.

Mrs Walker: “Chuck and I were married in 1982. And then our son Brad was born in 84.

Mr. Walker: “And halfway, we lost a second son, at birth, so we spent the next sixteen years, contemplating the idea of adoption.”

Mrs. Walker: “We just had this feeling that our family wasn’t complete.”

Mr. Walker: “So in 2000, we adopted our first daughter, Kayla. She’s now fifteen. And three years later, we just had in our hearts that God had a plan for another daughter in our lives.

We had heard about all the baby girls in China, who needed homes. God just said that’s where you needed to be.

And so we made plans and God matched us up with MacKenzie Grace Walker.

Mrs. Walker: “We fell in love the moment we saw her picture. We couldn’t get there soon enough.”

Mr. Walker: “We were working through an agency, and we were traveling with a group of thirteen other couples from the States who were going through the same process.

And literally, the second day we were in China, we got our baby girl.”

Mrs. Walker: “When we got home from China, just walked in the door. And we had a chime clock in the kitchen. And she heard it chime, and she walked up and looked at it and mimicked it, exactly on pitch. Wherever we went, she would hum along with music.

It became obvious that it was just part of who she was: she would sing as she was playing. Even when friends were over, she would plan these elaborate programs, and she would give everyone cards, and she would perform for us.

It was a part of her everyday world.

Kenzie: “I honestly don’t remember a time I never sang. I started singing everywhere.

Mrs. Walker: “Really from the time she was about five years old.”

Kenzie: “With this album, having a manager and getting seen in really big places, I just flash back, and I remember when I was five and started voice lessons, and I’m like, ‘Mom, I want to be a famous singer’.”

Mrs. Walker: “The first time she walked on that big field and she was fifty pounds (23 kg), tiny little girl, and my heart was pounding. It was overwhelming, and she just walked out and sang.”

Mr. Walker: “This will actually be her third year to do the National Anthem at a Houston Astros game. But she’s singing such an incredible song, in front of this huge audience, forty to fifty thousand people. To hear that little voice just boom out of the loudspeaker, as a parent, you just can’t help but your heart just swells.”

Kenzie: “It’s really unbelievable. And I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m actually here, and not in a dream. This is for real.”

Mr. Walker: “That’s a little overwhelming to a couple of parents, just a normal family to watch children gather around her, and want her picture made and just their smiling faces, and to watch MacKenzie interacting with them.

That’s so much fun. It can’t get any better than that as a parent.

MacKenzie can go out and help children and spread the love of Jesus throughout the world. It’s not only what she wants to do and what we want for her, it’s our obligation. It’s our calling.”

Kenzie: “I work with a ministry called ICM, International Cooperating Ministries. And what I’m getting to do with them is help building an orphanage.

I was an orphan, and now I have a family. And there are kids out there who are still an orphan, they don’t have a family.

I need to help them because God helped me. And through God, I can help them.”

Mrs. Walker: “This was just God’s plan, that she started off in China for a reason. She was placed with us for a reason.”

Kenzie: “One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29 11: ‘I know the plans I have for you, plan, seek and hope for the future.’

And that verse means so much to me because it has happened to me.

God is with you, and He has a plan for every single one of you.”

Mrs. Walker: “It’s so much bigger when it’s God’s plan.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

Questions

Evangelical, Baptist, Pentecostal. Kenzie was born in the United States. True or false? Was she an orphan?

Roman Catholic Church. How many children do Mrs. and Mr. Walker have? Were their children their biological children, were the adopted or both?

Methodist Church. What had inspired the couple adopt Kenzie?

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Did Kenzie come to their home in the US, or did they travel to China to meet Kenzie and bring her to the US?

Lutheran Church. Does Kenzie always sing? When did she begin singing? How did she start singing?

Assembly of God. What has she accomplished? What has she done so far?

Presbyterian Church. Kenzie has plans for the future. Is this correct or incorrect? What are her goals or plans? What does she plan on doing?

 
 
 
Episcopal Church. I know some people who have been adopted. Yes or no?

Eastern Orthodox Church. Do you know anyone who is from a different country?

Seventh Day Adventists. Can you or your friends sing, dance or play a musical instrument?

Jehovah’s Witnesses. What might happen the future?

Amish and Mennonites. Do orphans need help? How can people help orphans?