|
| My trip to Changsha, Hunan Province was a wonderful experience! My daughter Emilee is almost 10 months old in this picture and we'd been together for only one week. I love to look at this picture because it shows how happy she was right away. She is such a little cutie. Smart and sweet too! She made such a happy addition to my family. When I hear of others about to travel to China, warm feelings come over me because I know that they are in for a trip full of love and excitement. |
 Hester Family. TX |
 Toly’s adoption was done in August 2005 from the Vladivostok region |
|
|
I feel Pretty... Oh so Pretty... Here's Our Siberian princess, Kyra. She was adopted from Tomsk, Russia on April 28, 2006 at age 18 months. She is now 29 months and thriving! |
 Our kids were adopted from Smolensk thru CHI in 2001. Our daughter was 26 mo. at adoption, our son 9 mo. They are 7 1/2 and 6 now. |
 Lillie, adopted from China in August 2006. She is doing GREAT! |
|
|
We adopted Jordon on 12-12-05 from
Guiping SWI, Guangxi province, China. |
 |
Kate ThuNgaThi Waterstreet Shoemaker Nguyen Thi Thu Nga - HCMC, Vietnam G&R date - 12/8/06 Kate is amazing! Kate and I arrived home in Alpine on 12/23/06. She has only been home for 2 months, but it feels like she has always been a part of our family. She is a very sweet, loving, and active little girl! She spends her days playing with her brother, Zane, chasing the dog, or eating!!! She loves to color, sing, and dance. Her favorite place to be is outside at the park, sliding, swinging, and running through the grass. She gives the best kisses and loves to be cuddled. She is absolutely perfect in every way! I have been blessed with the most wonderful daughter in the world! |
Does it Feel like She’s Really Your Daughter Yet?
When I was first asked the question, I had to stop and think. I hadn’t really thought about it like that. It’s kind of hard to explain what it feels like to be mildly jet lagged, experiencing a little bit of culture shock and still hungry for some familiar food (any kind of familiar food) when a complete stranger who doesn’t speak a word of English places your daughter in your arms for the first time. The whole process of meeting Savannah (we were in a room with 12 other couples) was rather chaotic and surreal. Honestly, the thought that was going through my mind was more along the lines of, “Do I feel like a dad to you?”
As we held her for the first time, Sarah and I told her that we loved her and that we’d been waiting a long time to see her. I said she was my sweet girl and that I loved her and even in those first moments I really did. At the same time, I knew all the words coming out of my mouth had to sound as odd to her as the words of the orphanage directors sounded to me. And I could tell by her smile when they touched her hand that whatever they were saying was more comforting that my words.
Last January, after our paperwork was logged in Beijing, we knew that the little girl we would be adopting was probably already in an orphanage and we prayed that she had nannies who really loved and cared for her. Two months before we traveled, we got our referral from CHI. We found out where our daughter was living and saw her Chinese name, Xing Fu Lin, for the first time. When we got the referral, a friend of ours who was also adopting from China said "I wonder if anyone would notice if some white people just showed up to lend a hand at a Chinese orphanage." We were wondering the same thing but, to be honest, we were more preoccupied at the time with preparing our home and our three-year-old son for Savannah's arrival. We tried to explain to Noah that he had a little sister who lived in China in a way that it would make sense to him. We'd talk about how when the sun went down for us to go to sleep, it was going to China so Savannah could play. Sometimes he showed some interest in our attempts to explain things and other times he just wanted to play with his trains. But at bedtime he would pray his thank you prayers that almost always ended the same way. “God, thank you for me and for mommy and for daddy and thank you for my little sister. Keep her safe until mom and dad can go get her. In Jesus name, amen.”
It was really only in the last few weeks before we traveled to China that I started letting myself think about what she might be doing each day. As soon as I’d start down that road, all the details and paperwork and deadlines and expense would get lost in the emotion and the realization that even though I already knew that I had a little girl, she didn’t have any idea that she had a dad yet.
I vividly remember when our son, Noah, was born. I was eagerly waiting for “the moment” of epiphany or emotion or elation as I saw my son for the first time. All I remember from seeing him for the first time was feeling a little puzzled and slightly overwhelmed. That was all I got in the way of a big revelation. But I also remember the slower realization that he was really my son, and I was his dad. I didn’t feel like a dad. I felt more like a kid (and honestly I still do most of the time). But I knew he was my son, and I wouldn’t give him up for anything in this whole world.
When Sarah first told me were going to have Noah, it was a bit of shock in and of itself. At that point Sarah and I had assumed that we would probably adopt. We knew that the doctors didn’t hold much hope that Sarah and I would be able to conceive. But about the time we started to think it might be a good time to try … ta da. Sarah’s doctor looked over her chart when she went in to see him and just shook his head, “You know you’re not supposed to be able to have children.” Noah is truly a gift from God.
For the next year and a half we didn’t think much about adoption. We had our hands full with a very active little boy, and we just assumed that having Noah had answered the question about adoption. But as we got settled into the rhythm of being a family with a kid, we started talking about it again. Over the next months, the realization slowly started to grow in my heart that God didn’t plan for us to adopt as a way to have children, but that the desire was in our heart because there was already a little girl half way across the world who was our daughter. It was a different way of becoming a parent, but just as miraculous as having Noah.
I can’t really explain it, and it doesn’t really matter to me if people think I’m just being sentimental. Savannah isn’t ours because we filled out the paper work and paid the fees. She’s our daughter for the same reason Noah is our son, because of the goodness of God.
During the trip, one of our translators was talking to an older Chinese woman who wanted to know why were adopting girls from China. She told us later that the woman had said, “those are blessed little girls.” With a confident grin she told us that she had quickly corrected her, “No. These parents are blessed to be getting these girls.”
~ Sarah
I'm Going To Be A Star!!
As I write this, I wonder about a little girl in China. We don’t yet know her name or where she is in China, but here in Texas, she is certainly in our hearts and in our thoughts.
She is the treasure who will become our second daughter and our first daughter’s Mei Mei. Our dossier is in China now being translated. I wonder what she is doing, who looks after her, dries her tears, changes her diaper cloth, and feeds her. The adoption experience is the best thing I have ever done. (that’s why we are doing it again.) We grew as humans, I became a first time parent and we became a family. Our first daughter Mei Li is now almost 2 years, 8 mos old, adopted at age 13 mos. on March 14, 2004. She is so funny, caring and loving. If I am mad about something like traffic, she pipes up with “Mommy, are you happy now?” And the world is a better place!
And so am I. Yes, dear Mei Li, I AM happy now!
Thank you CHI for making this possible.
Cheryl, Jann and Mei Li Bonfils-Rasmussen
waiting for her Mei Mei.
It was all part of the plan...
|
.jpg)
|
When my husband and I were dating, he told me that he was adopted. He also said that someday he wanted to adopt to give a child a life like he had.
So, fast forward to marriage and two biological children, 21 months apart. Busy was the word at our house and adoption was pushed far from our minds. Most of the time. Every once in a while, I found myself surfing the web, looking at adoption sites. About the time I realized I was no longer over-whelmed by the constant care of infants and toddlers, the adoption bug came to me through a friend. She a had a little boy from China. Now, life was pretty comfortable for us and another year went by before I had the courage to mention to my husband and boys that my brain was consumed by the thoughts of little children without parents. Nevertheless, as soon as I plucked up the courage, they were all for it! For my husband, it was (and still is) a dream come true. We immediately called our friend and asked her which agency to use. Children’s Hope International came so highly recommended that we never looked back. We have been impressed ever since!
We researched the different countries CHI worked in, ruled a few out for various reasons, and then asked our boys to pick a country. They both immediately picked China, so the paperwork began!
Through the paperwork stage, CHI was always ready with an answer. I never had to wait more than a day! Once our paperwork was complete, CHI checked on us regularly during the 13-month wait we endured to receive our referral from China. (Wait times have since become shorter) Once we had our referral, CHI was again there for every part of the trip preparations and the trip itself. Not only have they brought joy to us, they have touched everyone who has come in contact with them.
On August 21 of 2002, we received a referral for the most beautiful baby girl we had ever seen. She was waiting for us in the Hunan Province of China. Yong ZhiYu, now Clara Grace Jones, has been a joyful addition to our family since we first held her! Watching her blossom and grow has been the one of the most rewarding experiences of our lives.
So rewarding in fact, that we decided to adopt again! On January 31 of 2005, we received our second referral from China. Another beautiful girl! This time, Gao ChunZhu, Caroline Joye Jones, was waiting in the Guangdong Province. Once again, we felt so richly blessed.
Had I known how much joy and love these girls would bring to our world, I would have spoken what was in my heart so much sooner. Not only have they brought joy to us, they have touched everyone who has come in contact with them. Their warm, loving and sometimes fiery spirits have had a profound impact on their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and so many friends.
These girls truly belong to us and us, to them. Every time one of them says, “That’s MY Mommy.”, my heart rejoices, as does my husband’s when it’s “that’s MY Daddy.” Their brothers could not love them any more or differently than if they had been born biologically into our family. And that, in short, is the whole idea. We are a family.
Stella,
We had a great experience with our adoption. It was almost as if we went through a pregnancy, though a long one. CHI was so helpful along the way and all of our questions were answered very quickly. Our trip went so smooth though I would have to say the plane ride served as the delivery. Its the plane ride we will have to forget in order to start our next adoption. I'm sure it is much like natural child birth, you soon forget the pain you go through because of the blessing it brought.
The most fascinating part of this journey for us, being parents of two children already, is that from the second we held Lottie there was no doubt that this was OUR baby. There is absolutely no thought what so ever about her being anything but our baby. We are so grateful for the courageous act her mother demonstrated in carrying her against all odds, but Lottie is our baby and nothing will ever change that. In fact it was amazing to us in China after just a few days how perfectly the babies seemed to match their new families. As I look at my precious child I wonder about the thousands we left behind in China. I pray that soon many will have their heart touched and that soon the little ones we left behind will also be held!
God Bless,
Greg Byrd
Blessed father of Lottie & Emma Byrd
