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My
husband and I are the proud parents of three adopted children from
China
. When we adopted our
second child we were very moved by an
older child special needs adoption in our travel group.
The joy and
pride this little girl had now that her "Forever Family" had
come,
radiated through her like a beacon.
We knew that if we adopted again
we would adopt through the waiting child program. We found that
chance when our agency called us in 2005 about a little boy with a
urological condition that was waiting for a family.
He
was 8 months old at the time of the referral and his sweet smile
and
sassy pink sweater he was dressed in just yelled "Adopt Me!"
He was
15 months old when we met him for that first time in
China
in the Spring of 2006.
Despite his urological condition he was a healthy, happy, well
adjusted little guy thanks in part to the excellent foster care
he was provided. In
China
he began walking, and
then
almost running. He amazed us with his
fine motor skills and dazzled
the staff at the
hotel with his sweet smile and good nature. When we
returned home Pierce, as we named him, was seen by a pediatric
urologist and had an outpatient day surgery to repair his
condition.
It
was more traumatic for me and my husband, my husband for obvious
male reasons. He has brought much needed balance to a house full of
girls and is unbelievably charming and sweet. He recently helped
provide inspiration and help to his grandmother through her recovery
from a hip replacement as a nonstop source of comic relief, therapy
buddy and distributor of hugs and kisses.
As we begin this process of adopting a fourth waiting special needs
child, it was certainly not
an easy decision. We weighed
all the
options and played devil's advocate with each other.
But at the end of the day,
we looked at this picture, the same way we looked at
our daughter's pictures. All
we saw was our child, our son, and we
knew we would move any mountain to bring him home to complete our
family. We are very
thankful and blessed to have each other, an
amazing supportive family and friends all over the world we have
made through these "Journeys
of the Red Thread."
“An
invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of
time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it
will never break.” - Chinese Proverb
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