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Our Personal China Adoption Story
Like other adoption stories, our personal China adoption story is filled with paperwork, waiting, preparing for the baby, waiting…
Then on August 24, 2001, almost 1 year to the day after our dossier was sent to China, my husband and I received our referral for our daughter.
My husband called me at work and told me to sit down. I knew something was terribly wrong because our family coordinator told me a few weeks before we would not get our referral until April 2002. A major snafu in our paperwork was going to cause our wait time to spiral to 20 months. It looked like we would never have a personal China adoption story to share. After our coordinator told us this, we started the paperwork for our son from Cambodia. We wanted to get both babies within a year of each other. However, we had no idea just how close in age they would be. On August 14, 2001 we received our referral for our son. His adoption story is another miracle. A week and a half later when I was at work I picked up the phone and heard the words, “We got our referral for our daughter!” from my dumbfounded husband. In two weeks we went from DINKs (double income no kids) to full-fledged parents. Now we had a personal China adoption story and a Cambodia adoption story unfolding simultaneously. We were the proud parents of 2 babies only 6 months and 3 weeks a part in age. Just add God and stir—instant family.
I could not sit still. I jumped, screamed and ran around in circles tangling the phone cord around my knees. I asked my husband repeatedly, “When can we go? When can we go?” He restated the timeline of events at least 3 times.
I don’t remember much of those 8 weeks before going to China. The details just spun into place. Fortunately, my husband is the paperwork guru, so I only worried about getting our nest ready at home and our packing done for China, which included our
medicine kit.
The flight to Beijing was mind-numbing. My legs and head ached from 17 hours of near immobility. I couldn’t sleep and was exhausted when we reached Beijing. However, I adjusted to the time change quickly because the guides kept us so busy the first 2 days touring the city.
After lunch we were lead into the “delivery room” where we waited some more. Then the nannies brought in our daughters. Our daughter was first. I couldn’t sit any longer. I stood up and held out my arms. Our life together was about to begin. The next moment in our personal China adoption story is frozen in my mind.
When the nanny placed our daughter in my arms, my new name “Mommy” was born. My heart sent up a prayer of praise that was deafening to me. Our personal China adoption story was now a song.
Then I felt the red thread that we had followed for so long wrap itself around our daughter, my husband and me. We were lifted by the hands of the Master by that thread to the next level of family, and we stood together as parents embracing our crying baby. Our daughter was not so enamored by the whole thing. The closer she came to us the more she cried. Thankfully, that only lasted for 30 minutes. Then my husband said he could hear the air being sucked out from between her and me. “No attachment issues with you two,” he chuckled.
The orphanage gave us beautiful wooden hair combs and a scarf to give our daughter when she grows up. We thought these gifts were wonderful ways to remember our personal China adoption story. They even gave us rice cereal and a baby bottle. Then we were allowed to tour the orphanage. We saw many painted murals on the wall as well as a large play room with toys, a wooden floor, mirrors, and an excercise barre. Babies were in walkers, but some were playing on the floor. Later, I learned Changzhou SWI is one of the first Half the Sky Foundation orphanages. Our daughter had the privilege of being in their Baby Sisters Infant Nurture Program. The director and nannies were visibly proud of the facility and gladly showed us around.
With all the improvements, there were still babies in row after row of cribs. A few smiled when we cooed at them. My heart broke. I wanted to scoop up our daughter along with all the others I could carry and just run for the plane. Forget procedures. Each one needed his or her own personal China adoption story. They needed love.
Then I saw they were loved. This love flowed visibly when the nanny on the night shift came to say goodbye to the other couple’s new baby. This baby was obviously her special charge. Both nanny and new mom cried. I realized then the important role the orphange staff played in our personal China adoption story. We will not forget them.
On October 31, 2001 our daughter officially became our little pumpkin. I took her picture in her pumpkin onesie to mark the occasion.
Later that week we went to Guangzhou to complete her paperwork for her visa to come to the US. We also had an appointment at the US Consulate. We even had the privilege of attending church services on Shaiman Island. I got chills listening to the traditional American hymns sung in Chinese.
We soon left for Hong Kong with very special packages—our daughter and the paperwork we gave to the US Customs when we arrived in San Francisco.
When we arrived home our family was waiting with wide grins. We, however, were exhausted. When I look back at the pictures of our homecoming, I see the fatigue showing in our hollow eyes. However, it was a good kind of tired because we made it home with our precious cargo. Our personal China adoption story was now complete.
Now the story of our forever family begins. Our daughter and her brother are the joy of our lives. I don’t know what life was like before them. The waits for both of them were excruciating. The paper pregnancies were painful. However, the birthing of a new life with them was worth every ounce of prayer sent to heaven before we got them.
We joke and say the stork got lost delivering our babies. That’s why we had to go half way around the world to bring them home. The trips were grueling, but they were only stepping stones on the journey to our forever family. We would gladly do them all over again. Return to china-adoption-threads.
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On October 29, 2001, we flew from Beijing to Nanjing and rode 2 hours to the Changzhou SWI. The staff at our daughter’s orphanage treated us like very special guests. We ate lunch there shortly after we arrived and talked for a long while with the director.
