My mother was adopted off of our reservation (Little Shell Tribe of the Chippewa of Montana) and my brother has adopted 2 children of his own (both from China). Thus, adoption has been in our minds ever since we were married. In 2004, we began the long process of adoption. We selected an agency out of Lexington KY called, A Helping Hand Adoption Agency http://www.worldadoptions.org/ ) who really guided us into this vast world of adoption. The paperwork took months to complete and the trips back and forth to the state offices were a pain, but once our files were completed…the waiting game began.
Almost two years after we started the process (not to mention $20,000 later), we received a call from our agent from A Helping Hand who told us that we should pack for China because our little girl was ready to be picked up! We received pictures of her sad little face joyless eyes that broke our hearts. We gathered up all of the materials that we thought we would need and we were ready to travel!
The day before we were to leave from Denver to San Fransisco, a friend of mine told me about some flight closures that might interfere with our trip (thanks Chad Fletcher!!!!) so we checked the schedule and sure enough…our flight was canceled! So, we made some VERY QUICK arrangements to flight out of Denver in 3 hours (a full 24 hours before we were ready). After some initial panic, we were off and sleeping in a hotel in San Fran that was complete with roaches, bullet proof glass, and $200.00 per night. That will bless your socks off!
When we arrived at the SF airport the next day, we found and were introduced to the great families who would also travel to China and adopt from our agency. One family was from CA, another form NY, but the rest were from Kentucky. We made fast friends and began to compare all of the photos of our little girls. 16 hours later, we were in Beijing, China.
Here are some photos of the trip. Enjoy and pray about saving the life of a little girl from China…I cannot tell you the joy of this process.
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- Jodie and I in famous T. square
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- Jodie and I at the Great Wall
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- a picture is worth $20,000!
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- Jodie and Jessica
