For My Adoption Followers...

Our Girls
My poor husband is the photographer

Jia-Li
excited to open birthday presents
from her Grandparents

Silly faces-thick as thiefs!

As I have said before, this blog was started as a way to share our "goings on" with far away relatives, but when I realized my view counter was huge, I realized that since I was linked to Wonderful Tina's Story of You I thought that a lot of my traffic must be people either thinking about adopting or in the process of adopting. Now, I am far from calling myself an expert in anything, but I do know quite a lot about domestic Special Needs adoptions and older,International Special Needs adoptions and I wanted to tell you not to be afraid.

Our first adoption was domestic. Twin girls. They were adopted through The Children's Home Society who work closely with the Department of Children and Family Services in our state. The description of these girls were scary, at a huge risk for developmental delays, no prenatal care and a birth mother who was less than desirable to put it mildly. They were also considered special needs because they were a family group and biracial. We were scared, but two weeks later we had the twins in our home.

Many years later (and I can't really say why except I felt a calling) I started looking at the listings of the Chinese adoption agencies, a picture of a very sad looking 3 year old came up and I knew immediately I had found my third daughter. My extended family were shocked to say the least, the only ones who weren't shocked were my immediate family, but being the special people they are our extended family rallied around us. By this point I had been diagnosed with Bipolar Disease and Agorophobia, but somehow (and I don't know how) I got on that airplane and flew to China. There were some hard days because of my condition, but I did it, and we are blessed, little Jia-Li (ye Ru Hui)who is now a part of our family. Jia had some medical conditions, but they were fixed and here is something you may not know, insurance companies cover preexisting conditions of adoptive children.

The twins that were at risk for so many delays are now 16 years old, graduating from high school a year early with honors and both have already been accepted into excellent colleges with scholarships. They are a joy, healthy and happy.

Their little sister is 8 years old, because of the culture shock we had her repeat kindergarten, she is now a happy, healthy 2nd grader who has some speech difficulties (nothing major) and is making "B's and "C's in class. One of the most endearing thing she ever said was "Mommy, I was born in China, but I am home now.

After this long story my point is this, yes there are obstacles but the joy you receive well outweighs the negatives. Do not be afraid. Do not go childless if you want them and can't have them biologically. To me all that means is that God has already chosen YOUR children and they are already out there waiting for you.

If you would like to talk to me about the process of adoption, costs, emotional tolls or anything else involved in the process don't hesitate to contact me at :

www.skyroxy@bellsouth.net

Lesa