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JULY 2002 NEWSLETTER
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Caring for and serving families in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, |
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Florida,Texas, and Louisiana
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 By
Rebecca Dorris, Brentwood, Tennessee
On April
15, 2002, my husband Charles and I adopted a 10-month-old baby in China.
This was the culmination of many months of paperwork and over a year of
waiting to receive the referral. Throughout those months I prayed for our
daughter every day and at some point during the wait started praying that
she would recognize our faces. Mark 11:24 says “...whatever you ask for
in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours....”
For months I prayed that this child would know our faces--know that we were
her parents whether through dreams, visions or whatever way God wanted to
use. I so wanted her to be comfortable and content with us as we were
united as a family. In early April, a few days before we traveled to China,
my husband asked me how I was going to feel if she didn’t recognize us and
didn’t bond easily. Would I be devastated after this very specific
request? I told Charles that we would just wait and see but that I trusted
God to answer that prayer, however He chose to answer it--whenever he chose
to answer it.
On Monday
afternoon, we anxiously waited in our hotel room for the knock at the door
that would announce our daughter’s arrival. About 1:40 p.m., I looked
through the peephole in our door to see several people getting off the
elevator and a caregiver holding a baby. Our baby, Rao Wen Xin to be renamed
Zara Wen Dorris, had arrived! There was a knock at the door and Charles and
I huddled in close as the caregiver brought the baby to us. She reached out
to Charles to touch his face and went into his open arms. She looked at
him, then looked over at me and gently stroked my face and touched my hair.
This baby recognized us! What a big smile and a look of contentment on this
baby’s face. Then she came into my arms, just laughed and continued to
stroke my long hair. Charles leaned over to me and whispered, “Your prayer
was answered!” Our time as a family started off in such a blessed way. The
next 10 days in China and traveling home were filled with special memories
of getting to know each other and even more bonding. We praised God for
answering that prayer in such a precious way.
Days later
as we got back from China, Charles and I wondered what she would think of
her new home. Zara slept on the ride from the airport and when we got her
out of the car, her sleepy eyes focused on the house. Her expression seemed
to be, “I’m home. I’ve been waiting to get here!” Each room we walked
through to show her around seemed familiar to her. She just smiled and
cooed as we gave her the tour. She seemed to be saying, “Is there anything
new you want to show me? I knew about my house too!” My prayer for our
baby to know we were her parents had been answered immeasurably more than I
had expected! Zara not only knew we were her forever family but she knew
her home. She truly thinks it is “home sweet home.”
“Now
to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask...” Ephesians
3:20
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MEET THE CRAWFORD AND JACKSON FAMILIES
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Doris
Crawford and Scott Jackson are work colleagues who share an uncommon bond:
they both adopted children from Russia in the past year.
Crawford read a newspaper article last year about “Operation Hope,” a
program to bring older Russian orphans to the United States for summer
visits with host families. “Yuri came to stay with us four weeks last
summer,” Crawford said. “He got along well with our daughter, Michelle, who
happens to be exactly one day younger than Yuri. I really liked the
opportunity to host an
 older
child before making a decision to adopt. Before the
 end
of Yuri’s visit, a CHI interpreter asked Yuri if he enjoyed staying with
us. Without any discussion with us, Yuri told the interpreter that he had a
good time and that my husband and I were going to Russia to adopt him on his
birthday. That settled it. We missed Yuri’s birthday, but in November,
less than nine months after I saw the article in the newspaper, Yuri came
home to live with us.”
Jackson
and his wife, Helen, and their 15-year old son, Ben hosted 9-year old Kirill
last summer, but Russian family members surfaced after the visit, and he is
now living with them. After getting over the disappointment, the Jacksons
decided to pursue another adoption and brought home their 7-year old
daughter, Tatiana Emily Jackson, “Tanya,” in February. “Tanya gave my wife
and me a big hug when we arrived at the orphanage. She had been living
there about a year, and it is clear the staff loved the children and the
children loved them. We brought gifts for the other children, who are
adorable, and a Barbie doll for Tanya. After the adoption hearing, Tanya
asked my wife and me if she could give the Barbie to one of the little girls
in her group. Of course we agreed. Tanya said that she would get another
in America. She was correct.”
Both
Tanya Jackson and Yuri Crawford are adjusting beautifully to their new
homes. “It’s been just over four months that Yuri has come to be part of
our family. He really has a great sense of humor, he is super athletic,
he’s doing well in school, and he has no doubts about his place in our
family,” Crawford said. “He is a typical nine year old.” “The beauty of
Operation Hope is that it is a chance to make sure it will all work out
before the adoption is finalized.” Jackson says, “By this time next year,
families interested in this program could be as lucky as we are.”
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MANY WONDERFUL CHILDREN STILL WAIT FOR FAMILIES
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Please know that there are many older and medically fragile waiting children
in all of the countries we work in, including sibling groups. Please go to
our Southeastern Web Page and see the children. If you are interested in
our Wonderful Waiting Children, please email
brenda@childrenshopeint.org . I would love to answer any of your
questions.
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We
are so happy to announce that we will be hosting our Russian Staff from
Moscow, on August 4-6! We are so excited to have them come and visit
Nashville. Please plan on attending a reception on Monday, August 5th
from 3:00-5:00 PM at our offices! This is a wonderful opportunity for those
of you in the waiting stage to see who will meet you and who is working on
your behalf in our Moscow office! For those of you who have already
traveled, I know you will want to see our Moscow team again, and show off
your children! And, of course for those of you just beginning to think about
adoption, this is a fabulous opportunity to meet staff, families, and
children! You won’t want to miss it! For more details, please email
ondrea@childrenshopeint.org.
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Our Vietnamese
Coordinators, Thuy from Vietnam, and Nicky from our STL office will also be
visiting us on August 7-8th. We will be hosting a reception for
them on Wednesday, August 7th from 3:00-5:00 PM, at our Brentwood
office. This is Thuy’s first trip to the US and she cannot wait to see all
the children that she has helped find their forever homes! It will be
wonderful for those of you waiting in our Vietnam program as well to meet
Thuy who will take care of you while you are in Vietnam, as well as Nicky,
our St. Louis Vietnam Coordinator. And of course, if you are thinking
about adopting from Vietnam, this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity
to have our Vietnam team here in Nashville to meet and talk to! Please plan
to join us! For more details, please email
ondrea@childrenshopeint.org. |
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Due
to the length of time referrals are now taking from China (up to 13 months),
many families are finding that their INS approval is expiring. (This
actually happened to my husband and me, over 11 years ago, when we adopted
our daughter from China!) We are asking you that if your INS is 3 months
from expiring, that you refile your INS form I-600A. The new fee is $460,
plus $50 per person 18 and over in the home, to be fingerprinted. You will
also need to have your social worker do an update to send with this, as well
as the photocopies of birth, marriage, and divorce decrees. We do not want
your INS approval to expire! You have waited this long, and additional
waits due to INS I-171-H approvals being expired by even one day before your
final appointment in Guangzhou, could delay your travel for many months! We
don’t want this to happen to you. Please check your INS approval, it is
good for 18 months, from the date that is listed on your 171-H. If you have
questions, as always, do not hesitate to contact,
Brenda@childrenshopeint.org or call 615-309-8109.
If
you are upset about having to redo this approval, we would encourage you to
again contact your senators or congressmen and encourage them, as much of
the adoption community is, to increase the length of the approval to 2
years.
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UPCOMING INFORMATION MEETINGS
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Please join us for free
information meetings: |
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July 9 Brentwood Offices
6:30-8:30 PM |
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July 29 Birmingham,
Alabama (The Mountain Brook Inn) 6:30-8:30 PM |
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July 30 Huntsville,
Alabama (Huntsville-Madison County Public Library) 6:30-8:30 PM
August 13 Brentwood
Offices 6:30-8:30 PM |
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July 5-6 Operation Hope kids Arrive |
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July 13 Dossier Class 8:00-10:00
AM Children’s Hope |
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Travel Class
10:00-11:59 AM Children’s Hope |
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Operation Hope Gathering 5:00-7:00 PM
The Wilson’s home |
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July 15 Home Study Group 6:30 –8:30 PM
Children’s Hope |
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July 20 Op Hope Reception 2:00-4:00 PM
Belmont Church |
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July 26 Operation Hope Kids Leave |
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Aug 2-4 CHI 10TH ANNUAL
REUNION Chicago, Illinois |
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Aug. 5 Russian Reception with
Moscow Staff
3:00-5:00 PM Children’s Hope |
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Aug. 7 Vietnamese Reception with
Ho Chi Min & STL Staff 3:00-5:00
PM Children’s Hope |
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Aug. 10 Dossier Class 8:00-10:00
AM Children’s Hope
Travel Class
10:00-11:59 AM Children’s Hope
Pre-Adoption Class #2 12:30-6:00
PM Woodmont Hills Church of Christ |
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Aug. 19 Home Study Group 6:30-8:30
PM Children’s Hope |
A
Message From Brenda Barker
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Happy Fourth of July! At no time in my life, have I seen patriotism from
Americans, as much as I have in the last year. When you have traveled
abroad and/or adopted internationally, you know with heartfelt gratitude,
the joy of being an American….which often others take for granted. Of
course, I love the countries I have visited, particularly my children’s
birth countries, and the rich heritage and culture they have brought into
our lives! I know after our first adoption trip to India 15 years ago, I
literally kissed the ground when we arrived in the USA! Even the sight of
American cities in the Embassy in India had me in tears! We are indeed a
people blessed of God, and as our pledge of allegiance states we are, “One
nation, under God.” There is no better time to begin an adoption than this
July, and add another American to our your family and our country! Let us
know if we can help!
We
don't want to burden you with a lot of information, but we do want to help
you if you are looking for a way to adopt. If not, please let us know and we
will regretfully remove your name from our newsletter. E-mail me at my
address below with any question you have. I would love to hear from you.
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Brenda |
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Southeastern U.S.
Brenda Barker,
Director
7003 Chadwick Dr. Suite 350
Brentwood, TN 37027
615-309-8109 Fax: 615-309-8483
Brenda@ChildrensHope.com
Also serving the following
states: TN, KY, GA, AL, MS, FL, TX and LA |
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