Unable to have our own biological children, Dawne and I began to investigate the option of adoption. After an extensive review of adoption programs both domestically and internationally we decided that we would adopt from China.
The China program involves a fairly intensive process including home screenings, social worker interviews, background checks, and of course the domestic paper chase through the INS and related agencies. Then there is the Chinese paper chase as well, and the associated time it takes to process all of this paperwork by the China Center of Adoption Affairs in Beijing.
The process normally takes around eighteen months. However during our first adoption, our process was stalled after 9/11 of 2001. For obvious reasons, the INS shut down the immigration process and ultimately it took us a total of about two years before we could go and pick up our first daughter Elizabeth.
But, the process did ultimately work. In November of 2001 we received a packet from the CCAA in Beijing. Inside was a single small photo of the most beautiful little girl we had ever seen accompanied by a letter telling us that she had been selected for us and that we had 48 hours to reply with our consent to adopt. It was a no-brainer.
So, in January of 2002 Dawne and I traveled to Beijing and then on to Changsha, which is in the Hunan province of China. When we arrived we expected to settle into our hotel room and then receive Elizabeth the next day.
However, our guide Jane told us at the airport that we were getting Elizabeth that very afternoon. After a scurry of activity to get our hotel room ready, we waited in anticipation. Dawne and I went through many emotions and Dawne promised herself that she wouldn’t cry when we got Elizabeth so as to not upset the baby. We waited and waited. And then there was a knock at our door. Dawne opened it and there she was, being held by the assistant director of the orphanage, all bundled up from the cold. Dawne wasted no time and scooped our daughter Elizabeth up into her arms and at that moment we became parents.
We always knew that we were going to have a sister for Elizabeth. So after about six months at home, we began the entire process once again. This time there was no 9/11 and the process went fairly smoothly. In November of 2005, we traveled back to Changsha, China. This time, the process had changed and rather than receive our new daughter Caroline in our hotel room, we had to go to the local Changsha Ministry where about fifty families were waiting for their daughters. One by one the adoptees were brought into the waiting room and introduced to their new parents. It was hectic, nerve racking, chaotic and beautiful all at once. When Caroline was brought into the room Dawne was not allowed to hold her until the Minister signed off on the paperwork. So we waited impatiently while the Minister finished her check of the documents. Finally the Minister gave the ok and Dawne grabbed Caroline as fast as she could. And in the midst of the screaming, crying chaos, we became a complete family.
For both adoptions, after we received our daughters in Changsha, we traveled to Guangzhou to fill out the proper paperwork at the United States Embassy. All in all it’s about a three-week process. With Caroline we stopped in Hong Kong and went to Disneyland Hong Kong. What a great trip.
We then traveled back home and this is the first time that Elizabeth and Caroline met.
We thank the Lord every day for having these wonderful girls in our lives and are so lucky to have had the experience of our journey of adoption.
If you are interested in adopting from China and would like to talk to us about our experience or view two documentaries we have made about our journey, please do not hesitate to contact us.
