“Love knows no boundaries.” This is a quote I hold near and dear to my heart. It was our family’s verse as we set forth on one of the biggest adventures of our life: the adoption of our second child and our journey to China.
Due to infertility, my husband and I knew we wanted to have a family, and it would be through adoption. About two years into our marriage, we adopted our daughter, Anna. It is open adoption, and we have regular visits with her birth mother and her two teenage stepbrothers. Anna was born at 27 weeks, spent 91 days in the NICU, and we adopted her shortly after she was released from the hospital. She is truly a gift from God.
Being parents was something my husband and I always had on our “hopeful” list, and we always wanted to adopt more than one child. I was an only child, and while it was great, I always wanted a sibling. My husband is one of three children, and he didn’t like to be the third man out.
We thought and prayed long about having two children and adopting again. Anna is Taiwanese, so we were drawn to adopt from an Asian country. China was then placed on our hearts.
We committed to adopt and knew the country and nationality to choose. Now what? The adoption process is not for the faint of heart. It is usually stressful, time-consuming, and expensive. But the love and what you receive far out ways the blood, sweat, and tears of everything else.
We completed all of the necessary steps for the international adoption: the home study, paperwork for the dossier, approval, and fingerprints for USCIS among the many do-to lists. Our adoption agency, like many agencies, has a waiting child list. We would occasionally look at the children listed but felt that God would place in our family who He wanted in our family. One night, my husband and I were looking at the list, and we saw Shi. He had just been posted that day. It talked briefly about his heart concerns, his heart surgery at birth, and the length of time he had to spend in the hospital because of the surgery. With our previous experience with Anna also being in the hospital so long and medical issues, it drew us to want him to be our son.
We inquired more about him and became officially matched with him! We finished all of the paperwork, the steps of the adoption process, and began our preparation to travel to China.
We left on July 19th for Beijing. We were gone for 16 days, traveling to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. We did a few days of sightseeing and became a family of four on July 23rd. Of course, that was a day I will never forget. Seeing Micah, our son, for the first time and being able to hold him for the first time is indescribable.
The whole trip was an experience I will never forget. Our family created memories that will last forever. It was incredible to experience a new culture, meet new people, and visit sights I never thought I would never get to experience. But most importantly, we fell in love with our son and have started a brand new journey together. Our adoption is a sign that countries can work together for the welfare of our children.
Do you feel there is a hole in your heart that can only be filled by a child? We’ve helped complete 32,000+ adoptions. We would love to help you through your adoption journey. Visit Adoption.org or call 1-800-ADOPT-98.
