We are a blended family
with six biological children from our previous marriages.
These children's ages range from 15-to-21-years-old:
three in college and three teenagers. Whew!
Why would we want to add
another mouth to feed, another child to add to the
family payroll? So many people have asked us - ?aren't
you tired?? Sure, some days we are tired, but family and
parenting are what keep us alive. We thrive on our
children and their very different personalities and
characters. But we knew our family wasn't complete yet.
Two years ago we started
researching Children's Hope International as a possible
agency to go through to adopt our daughter. Frankly, I
didn't feel the need to look much further as the staff
and programs they offered seemed to fit our needs.
The next year we
submitted our application and were accepted as a
potential adoptive family. We knew positively we wanted
a daughter, but from China, or Russia? Our hearts kept
calling us to China.
As I was plugging away at
the dossier paperwork, I started researching special
needs. Something kept tugging at my heartstrings to look
into the children with special needs on waiting lists.
Could we handle a "special need" daughter? I "chatted"
online with other moms of waiting children. My husband
Rick was suddenly on board to consider a minor or
correctable need of one of these children.
In
January 2004, I knew that CHI would have a new group of
waiting children listed. I was glued to my computer that
day. It finally came up. I clicked on several faces, but
kept coming back to one child whose eyes seemed to be
calling to me. It was a girl, born in 2002 with a cleft
lip and palate. Her lip was repaired, and she was
gorgeous. I nervously called Brenda Barker in the
Nashville CHI office to inquire about her. She called
Tina in St. Louis for me and then called me back to say,
She's yours!!
What? I had a daughter? I
was so excited-but realized my husband was unaware of my
"acceptance" of this child! I e-mailed him her picture
and asked what he thought of her. He said, "She?s
wonderful!" and we called our entire family that night.
Our hearts were full of anticipation, hope, and wonder.
Never once did we question our decision.
Seven months later, we
left for Kunming, China in the Yunnan Province to get
our 2-year-old daughter. Kate was brought to us at the
Civil Affairs office three hours after our plane landed.
I was a nervous wreck, but once we saw Kate, we knew she
was our daughter.
Kate has attached to both
of us as her new mama and baba despite having been in a
foster family in China. She must have been much loved
for she gives and receives affection quickly. She is
very generous, full of sparkle, and truly a bright
child. She loves to imitate all of us, and has learned
pretty fast how to communicate her needs. There is
always someone around to pick her up, feed her, play
with her, and watch in awe as she conquers her new
world.
It is without a doubt
that this child was meant to be ours, and we are humbled
that God chose us to be her parents. We also give much
appreciation to the staff at Children's Hope both in
Brentwood and St. Louis. We are forever grateful for
their full attention to our family for helping us to be
granted the referral of Katherine Jiao Merritt McAfee,
known as Kate, into our lives.
To find our how you
can adopt from our China adoption program
