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©2010 Wiley, Morgan & Parker Fund | Site by eonBusiness |
While wanting to have children, the Gaithers found it difficult to conceive. Instead of going through the invitro process, they looked into adopting. They went through Chinese Children Adoption International to adopt their first child, Christian. Christian, who is now 7 years old was 1 year old when Ron and Billie adopted her. At that time, Waiting Children adoptions took longer to process. That is why they decided to go with a normal adoption. Unfortunately, the Gaithers had to patiently wait for their daughter for 16 months! Certainly, it was worth all that was involved to have their first child in their lives. Christian is a beautiful and friendly girl that is a ray of sunshine to her parents.
Gaither Family December 2005
Because their daughter has been such a gift of joy to them, Ron and Billie decided to adopt another child. They looked into the Waiting Child Program and fell in love with Ian's picture. Ian was 3 when adopted by the Gaithers. He was born with a cleft lip and a cleft palette that was operated on in China. Up until he was adopted, he lived in foster care. Ron and Billie don't think Ian was given much nurturing during his young life. When they went to China to receive Ian, poor Ian screamed and cried. He favored Ron more which was heartbreaking for Billie. It was difficult for Ron because he was trying to be there for their daughter who was a bit jealous and nurture their new son who wanted absolutely nothing to do with Billie.
With time and lots of love, Ian is now a 6 year old boy who loves his parents and big sister. When given something, he always makes sure that Christian is included. Ian has a beautiful smile and a sweetness about him that shows he comes from a wonderful, nurturing family. He is the most thoughtful and loving child that his parents know.
Ron thought their family was complete with Christian and Ian. After being convinced by his wife, Ron now knows that they definitely have enough love and room for another precious child. Without any hesitation, they wanted to adopt another Waiting Child. Ian was at first concerned whether his mom and dad were getting another baby or a different baby to replace him!! With much love, his parents have reassure him that he is treasured in their family, not to be replaced. So now the question that Ian ask is, "Are we getting our baby today?"
Hailey in China
The child the Gaithers would like to adopt is 14 months old and her Chinese name is ShaoYang Bai. Her American name will be Hailey Mariah Gaither. Hailey has an extra finger on both her hands. Surgery could easily remedy her situation. Ron and Billie can have not decided on anything until Hailey is looked at by a physician here in the States.
When asked about what they would want people to know about adopting a Waiting Child, the Gaithers replied, "Its not that hard or that big of a deal. It would be nothing different than having a child born naturally to them with handicaps." Love out ways hardships. To the Ron and Billie, they are minor hardships.
Jan has raised two sons and adopted her daughter Hannah, who was a Waiting Child, when she was 22 months old. When Jan was ready to adopt a child of her own, she thought about adopting from Russia and Romania. Something inside was telling the fit was not quite right. It wasn't until Jan was in church and saw a couple with their adopted daughter from China that she would look into Chinese Children Adoption International.
At first, Jan wanted to adopt a healthy child. She had known first hand how difficult raising a handicapped child was. Her younger son was severely retarded and passed away when he turned 24. In her heart, Jan knew that God wanted her to take a look the Waiting Child Program at CCAI. Two weeks after telling Deniece Hess, of the Waiting Child Program at CCAI, that she was ready to adopt a Waiting Child, Jan got the call that Deneice had already found a match - FuZhi, her daughter-to-be. FuZhi, now called Hannah,was born with a bilateral cleft lip. Even as a baby, she was always very aware of her handicap because of how people in China would stare at her. Once Jan was able to bring Hannah to the States and settle down with her new daughter, Hannah had corrective surgery to take care of her cleft lip. With the help of a very competent surgeon, Hannah now has a beautiful, glowing smile with hardly a trace of a cleft lip. Jan has said that the surgery has done wonders for Hannah, like a light instantly went on for her daughter.
To see Jan and her daughter together is a beautiful sight. They truly are "mother and daughter". Jan can attest that there is no difference between the love for an adopted child
When I was a senior in high school, one of my teachers wrote in my yearbook, "I expect great things of you." That made me wonder. What did she see in me that I didn't see? What would this shy and quiet country girl accomplish that would be so great? I often thought about what she wrote.
Well, many years later and with many miles traveled under may belt I felt unfulfilleduntil I adopted my first daughter, Hong Jun from China. Instantly, I felt an incredible love and sense of accomplishment.
A couple of years later, I felt the urge to adopt again. And so I did and Guo Zhan came to be part of our family. Now, was this what she meant?
A few years passed and one day when I saw a family with three little girls I started to cry. I wanted three but how could I do this? I am single and although I love my children, I struggle with the demands of full-time work and full-time parenthood on my own. What was I thinking? How could I possibly do this? Why upset the apple cart? But I was obsessed with getting another child from China. I could not put it out of my mind.
I was always curious about the Waiting Child Program at CCAI since its inception. But you see, I already felt like I had my special needs children. When my first child came home, I discovered she came with Thallasemia trait and I felt God was testing me. I had to learn all about it since I had never heard about it. I soon discovered that the "trait" was not the same as the "disease". She should live a long and happy live and she does.
Then when I returned home with my second child, I discovered she had TB. I felt God testing me again. I had to learn all over what this meant for me and my family. It was a very trying time. Friends and relatives didn't want to visit or come over to my house. They thought they'd catch it. So many misconceptions are out there even today. My child was infected with TB but not contagious with TB. Babies catch it from adults. They don't give it to anyone. (And this is straight from the experts!)
These two darling children I thought taught me more in three years than I had learned in a lifetime. But I was still to be tested by God again (that day when I cried seeing those three little children). He was asking me, "Do you love me?" And even though I couldn't imagine picking a child out of the Waiting Child Program, I knew that with the grace of God, he would provide). And so it came to be that Xiang Ming with Hepatites B became my third child. Then I knew what that teacher many years ago "expecting great things of me" meant.
I had many sleepless nights and endless questions as to what this all meant for my family. What I have learned is that I am becoming more comfortable with the uncomfortable. I do the best I can with what I know and I try to let the rest of life's worries pass by. I know that God has blessed me again and again with the absolute perfect children for me. Each and every day brings new rewards and graces I didn't have the day before. Each of my children is a pure gift from God and we are here to simply love one another and pass it on.
When I confided to a friend at work that I didn't know how I would be able to afford to adopt another child, she told me about the Wiley, Morgan and Parker Fund. After much time and many communications, we finally met you. My children threw open heir arms to you and you loved them back. I am eternally grateful that you gave us a most generous gift from the fund to support the adoption of Xiang Ming. Every day, I am amazed at the life and love she brings to our family finally complete.
And that is the greatest thing of all I could ever dowith your help and the Grace of God.
In joy,
-Mimi Patrick
We are Eric & Sheila Schultz. We have two biological boys ages 8 (Ethan) and 6 (Rowan) and one girl (Violet) that we adopted through the waiting child program at CCAI. Ethan is an excellent student and has a passion for Pokemon. Rowan can go and go like the Energizer Bunny and is quite the daredevil. Violet loves to sing songs and could have us sing her three favorites all day. We had always said that if we had more than two children then they would be adopted because the world is a crowded place and there are many children in this world that don't have homes. When we first decided to adopt from China, we started the process through the traditional program. However, as we learned more about the waiting child program and the children that were available, we turned in our medical checklist and just waited to see what would happen. Well, we were matched with Violet (11 months old at referral) and she came home at 16 months of age. She has been such a good fit for our family and is just the sweetest girl. People comment how lucky she is to have us for a family, but we feel like we are really the lucky ones.
Violet was said to have an unrepaired cleft lip and palate, but when we got to China, we found out that it was only a cleft lip. What a wonderful surprise! She came home in January 2006 and had her first surgery in July 2006. I think the hardest part for us was the fact that her big, wide smile was gone! She looked like a different girl. As she healed, she was able to eat and drink more easily, and the first time she was able to drink from a straw was a cause for celebration! She will have to have braces put on twice and endure a few more surgeries over the years as well as attend speech therapy. But when we think of how far she has come in just the past year, it is nothing short of miraculous.
So, with three kids did we now think our family was complete? Not quite yet! Even while we were in China we were saying "The next time we come." and "Our next baby" The only thing stopping us was figuring out how to pay for it. We felt it would be beneficial for Violet to have a sister from China; one who also had a special need. The support that they would be able to draw from each other would be invaluable for them. So, even though we hadn't been able to come up with all of the money, we decided to take a leap of faith and assume the money would come somehow and turned in our application for another waiting child. Our gamble paid off. When Deniece at CCAI heard of our plight, she got us in touch with Denise at the Wiley, Morgan and Parker Fund and it what just what we needed to feel confident that we could bring another waiting child home. Although we have not yet been matched with a child, we know that Deniece, Pam and the rest of the staff at CCAI will once again find the perfect child for us. We have eagerly begun collecting the items for our dossier and are anxiously waiting to receive "the call". We know our daughter is just waiting for us to find her!
We look forward to offering our newest daughter all of the love, time and energy we give our three children now. Together, we enjoy playing games, working outside and taking trips. This past summer we 'discovered' Georgetown and Idaho Springs and we enjoy taking a picnic and going on mine tours and walking around the towns. We also planted a sunflower house in the backyard and the kids put a table and bookshelf in it and even put games on the bookshelf! They have also just started building a fort and we look forward to making it grow bigger every year. As a family, we also have enjoyed adding some Chinese celebrations to our traditions. Our two sons have elected to take Chinese lessons at JCCC this year, and next year Violet will also attend. We feel it is very important to integrate an appreciation for the girls' heritage into our lives.
We are very grateful to the Wiley, Morgan and Parker fund and to everyone who contributes to this wonderful cause. These waiting children deserve loving, permanent homes and this fund helps bring these kids home. We look forward to keeping everyone updated once we are matched and are finally able to bring our new daughter home!
Xie xie,
(Thank you),
The Schultz Family
In late December 2006, I (Jennifer) left for my second adoption trip to China. This time not as the expectant mother, but as a travel companion to a single mom adopting her 13 year old son. Her son Charlie is deaf, and had spent ten years in the orphanage, but none of this put a damper on his zest for life, or his incredibly loving and compassionate heart.
During our stay, we were able to travel to Charlie's orphanage. The morning of the trip, I awoke with the inexplicable feeling that this day would change my life forever. At the orphanage, we were able to visit Charlie's room, where he handed out candy and greeted his friends. At the front of the room was a little boy sitting quietly by himself. I didn't know why, but I felt drawn to him somehow. I walked over and handed him a lollipop, and said hello. He didn't respond to me with anything other than a sweet smile, and the translator explained that he was deaf. There was something about him that reminded me of my own Joshua. A quiet, sweet spirit - looking as though he'd love to join in the mayhem around him but not quite sure if it was safe to do with strangers present. I was filled with so much sadness for him. Because of his deafness, he was placed in a room with profoundly retarded children. Unable to communicate with anyone around him, he sits in this room day after day, watching his life pass away. As we left, I knew that part of my heart would remain with him.
That night at the hotel, Charlie came and sat on the edge of my bed, holding out a picture of the little deaf boy.
Charlie signed, "Will you adopt this boy"? I didn't know what to say! Misreading my hesitation, he quickly signed, "He is good and smart". It broke my heart that he would try to convince me he was worthy of a family! I told him that I could not adopt him, but I would try to help. I emailed CCAI, asking that they request his file from China. I prayed that God would use me to help him find his forever family.
I shared his story with my husband, and Joel's heart was captured. Once I was home, we began to pray over him, wishing with all of our hearts he could be ours. Logically, the odds were stacked against us - there was no way we could afford to adopt again so soon!
Then we learned about people like Denise Livingstone-Reed, who have dedicated themselves to helping children like this one find their families. We know that this little boy was meant to be ours, and because of Denise and angels like her, we have the resources to make that happen.
The feeling I had on that January morning was right - my life will never be the same, and I could not be happier!
Joel Hawkins
Joel loves to spend time enjoying Colorado's mountains. He has climbed 22 fourteen thousand foot peaks so far, and hopes to get all 54 in Colorado. He also enjoys running, and is currently training for his fourth marathon.
Jennifer Hawkins
Jennifer has been a stay at home mom until recently, when she became a Promotional Coordinator for CCAI. In her spare time, she volunteers for the Waiting Child Program at CCAI. China's orphans have become her life's passion.
Joshua Hawkins
Joshua is 7 years old and attends first grade at a local charter academy. He loves Math and hiking in the mountains with his Daddy. Joshua has been praying for a brother for almost 2 years, and he is overjoyed to have his prayers answered!
Emma Hawkins
Emma is 5 years old and in kindergarten. Emma has a very tender, loving heart and loves doing "girl stuff" with Mommy, but also loves to hike with Daddy.
Hannah Hawkins
Hannah is 4 years old, and joined our family in 2005 through the Waiting Child Program at CCAI. She is a very active, funny little girl. Her interests include snuggling, laughing, dancing, and singing silly songs!
We had known for many years that we would adopt our second child. Our son, Brennen, is now almost 9 years old, and was the light of our lives when we made the decision in June of 2005 to adopt a sister for him in China. We called CCAI's Waiting Child program, and just a few weeks later were matched with Xuan Ping, the most beautiful child in all of Asia. She has a congenital heart defect, and was 15 months old when we first saw her pictures. We traveled to China to bring her home in March of 2006.
Brennen and Eva are buddies - there's just no other way to describe it. They argue like all siblings do, but both struggle with being apart for very long. Watching their love grow has been the most amazing thingand has been so wonderful for both of them.
Then in May of 2006, we saw the most beautiful 2 year old boy on a list of children waiting to be adopted from China. He caught my heart, and didn't let go.
Yang De is a little boy from the province of Guangxi, in southern China. He was born prematurely, and was abandoned in the hospital by his mother. He was kept by the hospital for a short time, and then was taken to the local orphanage. Yang De is from a poverty stricken area, and the orphanage was in desperate need of more caregivers, more cribs, more food...
He was so tiny, weighing just a few pounds. In the United States, he would be in the pediatric ICU. In China, he was placed in a crib in the back of the room with a bottle propped against his tiny mouth. There were 25 babies for every caregiver...and the women had to choose which babies they could care for. They chose those who they thought would survive. Unfortunately, tiny Yang De was NOT one of those chosen children.
Enter "Felicity," a charity volunteer from Great Britain. She arrived to find Yang De languishing in his crib. He had not been held or cuddled, and was too weak to suck on the bottle tip. Felicity saw the life still left in this little boy, and convinced the orphanage director to allow her to take him to the hospital, with the condition that she had to pay for all his expenses.
Felicity saved Yang De's life. He would not have survived for long. Yang De has Goldenhar Sydrome, a complex set of birth defects that include microtia (missing ear), hemifacial microsomia (one side of face smaller), a skin tag, an eye defect called an epibulbar dermoid, and probably underdevelopment of the trachea and esophagus.
After being in the hospital for a short time, Felicity again gave him the gift of life...she was able to place him in a privately run orphanage in the capital of Guangxi. This orphanage was a model on which many others in China were built. He was one blessed little boy.
Here Yang De was cared for by medical staff, held and loved, and was fed round the clock. He grew stronger, and soon was able to play with the toys and smile.
When Yang De was one, his dossier was prepared, and sent to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA), the governmental agency responsible for all international adoptions. From there it was sent to an agency in the United States. A child's file is allowed to stay for 3-6 months at an agency before it must be returned to the CCAA. It is then sent to another agency, in the hopes that a family will be found. This process is repeated about three times before the child is deemed to be unadoptable.
His file was sent to an agency when he was about 18 months old, although we do not know which one. It was returned to China without a family.
In the Spring of 2006, Yang De's file was sent to FTIA, a wonderful adoption agency who has a strong program for placing children with medical needs in China. This is where we first saw him. We had been home from China with our beautiful new daughter only a short time when we first saw Yang De's photos, and were not allowed to even consider another China adoption for at least six months. Yang De was so sweet - we were sure his family would find him! But they didn't, and FTIA had to return his file to the CCAA.
Thankfully, his file was given another chance, and was sent to an agency called La Vida. We saw him here in the Fall of 2006, and were so grateful that he was on another list. We were convinced that his family would find him now! But they didn'tand we weren't ready to adopt again, for many reasons. With great sadness, we watched his file be sent back to China again - probably for the third time.
In February of 2007, a miracle happened. His file arrived at our adoption agency, CCAI. They were aware that his file "had been around the block a few times," and were ready to do whatever it took to advocate for him. I told them I would help, as we loved this little boy deeply and desperately wanted to find a home for him!
At this point, I wrote a very moving post about him and placed it on 40+ China adoption related Yahoo groups. It was called "When is it MY TURN?" and was the story of a little boy who had watched his friends new families come for them. He had unbounded hope that his family would be coming soonmaybe tomorrow. But unknown to him, his family might never come, as his file was on its last stop before he was considered to be unadoptable. It was the story of the hope of a little boy as he went to bed, dreaming of him mama's armsand the tragedy that was about to befall him as that hope would never be realized.
At this point, I could hardly think about anything but Yang Deand how much I loved a little boy I had not even met.
I sent this post to Christopher, who read it to the end not realizing that I was the author. He was in tears, and then couldn't even speak when he saw my signature. He knew, without a doubt, that the mother of this little boy had written the story.
Our contact at CCAI also knew how I felt, and after reading my post, sent me an email asking why we weren't pursuing his adoption? It was clear that he was meant to be our sonwhy weren't we saying YES?
Tough question. We wanted to, oh yes, we wanted to. But we had a huge problem. We just didn't have the $20,000 that it would take to bring him home, and we had no idea where it would possibly come from. We had just completed paying for Eva's adoption, and although we knew we wanted to adopt again, we were sure it would take us several years to save the necessary funds.
I responded with our reason for not pursuing him, and she emailed right back, asking if a $5,000 grant would help us be able to bring him home. We were flooredand knew that this was a sign that he was meant to be our son, we were meant to be his family.
Through the generosity and love of the Wiley Morgan Parker Fund, and from the heart of Denise Reed-Livingston, Yang De now has a family. We're coming, little man!!
We will share with you a little about ourselves and our journey to adoption. Rusty and I met in our late 20's and married in our early 30's. Neither of us had been married and were living on our own and working. I graduated from Nursing school in 1978. Nursing was always my own personal ministry.
I was called into Hospice nursing in 1988, one year after Rusty and I married. I felt that there was no greater ministry to others than Hospice, but I found out different in 2002 with our first adoption. Rusty has worked with Bellsouth (now AT&T) for 35 years as a cable repairmen. When we first married he was like Wylie, he did not want children and told me that before we married. But because of me, he changed his mind. We tried to conceive a child without success, but we were not going to go through all of testing or procedures. We had peace about not conceiving a child. The Lord began to work in our hearts about all of the children without homes. We heard a radio broadcast from Focus on The Family about international adoption. This particular program was about adoptions from Romania. Our hearts were tugged at that time. To make a long story short, we continued to feel called as the Lord placed scriptures in our hearts regarding caring for orphans and one Sunday morning as we entered church we saw a magazine with a Caucasian mom and dad and an Asian daughter.
We have never met anyone who had adopted from China so the Lord took care of that too. A former pastor of ours and his wife called and wanted to come stay the weekend with us as they were passing through our area. As we were visiting with them we shared with them what was on our hearts. Lo and Behold, they knew a couple who had been to China to adopt a little girl. They connected us with them and we continued to pray about it. I will never forget on Easter Sunday morning. April,.2000 as we worshiped, the Lord clearly conceived a child from China in my heart. The next week we began the process. The wait was very long. We finally brought Hope home in Jan 2002 at the age of 18 months. What a joy she was and still is to us. As you were talking about you sons sharing and giving, I thought of our Hope. I have seen her do that before with her siblings. Initially Hope did not like us, but after about 24 hours she warmed up to me, but still would not have anything to do with Rusty for over 2 weeksnow she is a daddy's girl. Then we began praying about a second adoption. So we began the process in 2003 to bring home a sister for Hope. Our dossier was submitted and as we were waiting for a referral our agency received a list of children with special needs. As I was having my devotion one evening one of the little girls kept popping into my mind. I went back to the list and saw that she was only 21 months old and had bilateral club feet. I showed her photo and information to Rusty and we told the Lord we were too old for such a young child (we had requested a 6 year old). But the Lord had different plans for us. He clearly gave us the scripture which says, "My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts, trust me in this." So we applied to adopt Zeng Ya Yuan and were approved. We brought Miriam Faith home in July 2004. She could barely walk. We took her to Shriners' Childrens Orthopedic Hospital which is only 70 miles from our home. She wore long leg casts for several weeks, then they did surgery and she wore casts for 6 months. Today she runs and plays like any child her age. She is stubborn and strong will and was much harder to attach than Hope but she is doing great now.
Then in March 2005 Hope, Miriam, and I were looking at the special needs list and praying for these precious children to find their forever families when Hope and Miriam feel in love with this little boyage 3. Well, I didn't really feel drawn towards him, but we showed his photo to Rusty and we prayed for him. Several weeks later we checked the list and all of the children had found families but this little guy. Not only that, but an update had just come out on him describing him to be a loving little boy who wanted to help the children in the wheelchairs. He had cleft lip and palate surgery in China but would require more surgery. He had extra fingers, a hernia, and undecended testicle. Well, here we go again. This time we really took a step of faith because we did not have the funding. So we cashed in some retirement funds and then borrowed the money along with borrowing money to add a bedroom and bath on to our home. Then we knew that with Jay's surgeries we would be making hospital payments as well (which we are). He is scheduled for a bone graft next year when he turns 6.
We traveled to China and brought Joseph Russell Zhao Jun (Jay-Man) home in Jan 2006. Last summer the Lord began to put an older child on my heart. We prayed about several waiting children but the Lord seemed to say no. Then last month we asked about a child on CCAI's list and there was another family looking at her. We prayed about her and the other family adopted her. Deniece asked us if we would like to look at another file on a child who no one had even asked about. So we said yes. Initially we thought that we could not do this especially financially but we prayed for this child. Her personality stole our hearts as we read about her. We realized that she is in a situation that she can not do anything about and that she will have to leave the orphanage in a few years. Our hearts broke for her and the Lord spoke so gently that He had a blessing in this little girl. So we made the decision to step out in faith and mailed our letter of intent and plan of care to China. Our other children are so excited about her. Our lives are so full and blessed. Our children have filled our home with so much joy and we have learned so much about the very heart of our Heavenly Father through these adoptions. Adoption is what Christ did for all of us. We were lost, fatherless, and homeless, and with His love, He brought us into His forever family. So we feel that we want to follow Him in this way. It is not easy. I am 50 and Rusty is 52 but we are blessed with strength which He provides daily. Rusty still works at the phone company and I stay at home with these precious children that the Lord has entrusted to us.
Blessings,
Kim, Rusty, Hope, Miriam, and Jay
I (Mara) am a native of Colorado and Troy was raised in Fargo, North Dakota. Troy was in Colorado for work when we met in 1994 and he later moved here to Colorado in 1995. We married in August of 1997 and had our beautiful daughter, Mackenzie, 2 years later. We loved being parents. The love we had for this little child made us feel our hearts would burst. We were excited to have more!
As most couples do, we had a casual life plan for what and where we'd like to see our life be together. We always thought we'd like to have 2 children through birth and adopt our third child. Well, as life often goes, it has plans of it's own. Adoption has always been something that I wanted to do and after 3 miscarriages we decided that adoption was the direction we were meant to go. Through this process we've found life has a way of working out maybe not how we'd first envisioned but something more meaningful was meant to be. We always wanted to adopt, that just seemed so right for us, God must have known that if we'd have had that second birth child we'd have probably not adopted. Now, we can't imagine not going through this life altering process. We would have missed out on getting our Quincy and Jack and that we cannot even fathom.
We decided to adopt from Kazakhstan in October of 2002 and Quincy became our child on November 21, 2003. She was what we were waiting for. She is so special and such an amazing part of our family that we wanted to do it again! Our two girls have given us so much joy that we knew we wanted another child and that we wanted to adopt from China. Now instead of my old life plan of birthing two children and adopting one, life switched it on me and I couldn't have been happier.
We began the process to adopt from China in June of 2005. We were expecting to adopt a baby girl, but the whole time we kept looking at CCAI's Waiting Child web site and we saw this 14-year-old girl who captured our hearts. She found a family soon after but it changed our thinking and we decided that adopting a child from the waiting child program was the direction we wanted to take. We turned in our Waiting Child Medical Check List on February 21, 2006 and on the 22nd we were sent the file of our baby boy Jack! We were overwhelmed with this little guy and couldn't believe we were having a boy! We traveled to China in mid May and brought him home June 2, 2006. He fit in with our family so perfectly, it couldn't have worked out better. Our older daughters are like his second moms, and he milks it for all it's worth. He was diagnosed with VSD and he has had two check ups with the cardiologist and the hole in his heart has gone down by half. He is so happy, healthy and very loved. We've only been home with Jack a bit over a year and honestly we thought we were done adding to our family. But something kept me looking at CCAI's Waiting Child List. That is when we saw this amazing little 8 year-old boy on the list named Tong Zhi Jie who was from Urumqi, XinJiang. I couldn't stop thinking about him. I was constantly looking to see if he had found his forever family and never did. Troy and I talked about it, but it seemed it would be impossible financially after having adopted two kids, one just a little over a year ago. He also has a special need of club feet. He has had surgery, but by the pictures it looks like more is needed. We didn't know the first thing about club feet or what would be involved. We talked more about it and we did some research on club feet and luckily we have a wonderful Children's Hospital in Denver that has many resources. We talked even more and realized that we were a very strong family and we have so much support from friends and family that we could be strong for Tong Zhi Jie and get him whatever help he needed if we were able to bring him home.
So all that was left was the financial impossibility, we thought it was so unfair that it was money that was going to stand in our way of making this boy a part of our family. Then we saw under his photo that his file would be returned soon. My heart sank, this couldn't be. I called CCAI and it was going to be returned that day. I called Troy and he said, OK, we will do whatever it takes to bring him home, we just have to trust it will work out. Right then we felt this was so right to go get this little boy and bring him home. We told Mackenzie and Quincy that they would have another brother and they were ecstatic. They were jumping up and down and they couldn't stop smiling. We know that this little boy has some medical problems, but we are up to helping him get better and to show him he is loved and very much wanted. We have decided as a family to call him Luke.
After we decided to move ahead with adopting Luke, Deniece Hess at CCAI, an angel here on earth, got us in contact with two more true angels on earth (they must all be drawn to each other=-), Denise and Steve. They graciously came to our home and listened to us go on and on about Luke and how strongly we felt for him. They talked with our children and our kids took to them right away. I think kids can sense adults who truly respect and love children. After an amazing night, Denise and Steve told us we'd be the 8th family to receive a grant from their Foundation, The Wiley, Morgan & Parker Fund. We were overwhelmed by their generosity and words can't express how thankful we are for their gift.
We honestly feel so blessed that we were able to create our family through birth and through adoption. Both are truly amazing. Both have enriched our lives and given us such depth and life experience that we would never want to trade. The people we have met along the adoption path have also added so much richness to our lives. So many people comment on how lucky our children are. I can't even express how lucky we are, that we were allowed this chance to parent these amazing kids, we cannot believe that they are ours!
I now feel that this is exactly what we are suppose to be doing and I feel so blessed that we get to have this amazing opportunity to add to our family once more in the most amazing way
