How This All Got Started

We are starting this blog today because we believe that we will soon hear news from China that it is time to travel. If you haven't been around from the beginning, or need a refresher, here's our story:

After having two daughters the "old-fashioned way" we decided that one more child was probably in the cards for us. Neither of us was set on having another biological child and somewhere along the way I came up with the idea of adopting from China. Obviously it's an idea that has gained huge popularity in this country over the past 5-10 years and it had just sort of seeped into my conciousness. If I had to trace it back to its roots, I would say it came to me one night while visiting friends in Denver (Hi Brian and Karen!) Sophie was sick and had thrown up several times before falling asleep in her sleeping bag on the floor by the couch where I was to sleep, but couldn't. I just kept picturing us going through the process and going to China to get a baby. I saw the whole thing in my head, wide awake, and it kept me up for several hours.

It was a few months later that I even brought it up to Dave and he was up for it, that crazy, trusting guy that he is. We mulled it over for a while and then decided to go ahead with the paperwork. That was 16 months ago and now it looks like we might be entering the home stretch. Along the way we have veered onto several different courses, but here is where we have ended up: Yuan HuaXue was born Dec. 1st, 2004 in Guangxi Province, China. She was abandoned at the doorstep of the Nanning Rehabilitation Center on her second day of life with her umbilical cord still attached. She was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate but was otherwise full term and healthy. The orphanage in Nanning took care of her for the first three months and then she was placed with a foster family where we believe she has been living since.

The only information we have about her comes from a medical report written when she was about 8 months old. In the pictures we have, which we used to pick her as ours from the list of special needs children, she has virtually no hair, an unrepaired cleft lip and is staring seriously into the camera. In addition there are two photos of her standing outside and holding onto an umbrella stroller. She is wearing cotton shorts, a tank top with a cartoon character on it and no shoes. A friend of ours who has already adopted told us that was a sure sign she was with a foster family; no child in an orphanage would be taken outside so casually dressed and certainly not pushed in a stroller.

While we had originally asked for a healthy infant when this process began, we slowly began to consider a child with a special need after hearing what correctable issues many of them had. It took some contemplating, but we both came around to the idea rather quickly and decided that we didn't want to wait the extra time it was going to take to get a "non-special-needs" child. We wanted a little girl and felt we had the means to care for one who needed a little extra medical attention. There were three girls and two boys on our agency's waiting list. We thought briefly about a boy, but their medical issues seemed over our heads. That left us with the girls and we both picked Grace. She just looked like a kid who needed a chance and we called the next day to put her "on hold." We sent our Letter of Intent on May 5th and are currently waiting for travel approval. It should be coming any day.

Along the way we received some updated pictures which, through a long and complicated story, we are about 85% sure is her. I will post them here with the disclaimer that it could just be another really cute Chinese girl living with a foster family in Nanning who has had a cleft lip repaired. If it turns out not to be her, we figure she's going to look a lot like that anyway, so it gives us all a good idea.

We will try to post as many pictures and updates along the way as possible. Thanks for tuning in. We're glad you're going to be able to join us!

S&D