Adopting from China has been a lifelong dream. My mom tells me that I told people that I was going to have "one homemade baby and one China baby" ever since I was five years old. All I know is that I've wanted this my whole life.

When I was 25, I had a daughter. While in the hospital's ICU (it was a very complicated delivery and I had a seizure on the table as I gave birth) I was told that I could never have any more children. Sad as that was, I wasn't too surprised. Sara was a wonderful child and the apple of my eye. She's almost 14 now and has grown into a beautiful, intelligent, fantastic teenager. AHH!! A TEENAGER!!!! Time goes by much too quickly!!!

Steve and I have always talked about adoption, but we were never able to afford it. The years kept coming and going and something kept gnawing at my heart. My family just wasn't complete. In the summer of 1995, Steve and I started talking about adoption seriously .

Steve's brother met a lady at church who was helping parents adopt from Latvia. He wanted us to call her. She was very nice. She explained about putting together a dossier and the basic adoption procedure. Although she was very helpful, my heart was still in China. Luckily for me, Steve's heart was in China too. We just knew that was where our daughter was. All we had to do was find a way to get her!

In October of '95, we contacted our agency. We had the nicest social worker God ever put on this planet. She told us what papers we needed to collect and what authentications they needed to have. WHAT A LOT OF PAPERWORK!!!!!! Between the holidays, the government shutdown and the "Blizzard of '96", we FINALLY got our papers together and sent to China at the end of April. Then began the loooooooonnnnnnnnggggg wait.

It was a long summer, China reorganized three times, the a-parents list heated up and cooled down. We decorated her room. Bought lots of supplies. At the end of summer, we got her picture. She was beautiful! Funny looking hair, but beautiful! Strong, large forehead and big earlobes. That means intelligence. Small cupid's mouth, gentleness. Big cheeks, joyfulness. My baby!!!!

Getting Ready

Packing, packing, and more packing! We were so excited! It was the night before Christmas Eve and we'd been told that we were traveling on January 15th. Two and a half weeks to get ready.... PANIC!!!!! Did I remember everything? Should I pack now or wait till we got closer to the date? I had packed and unpacked so many times I was afraid I'd forget something. Two million packing lists later, I thought I was ready... until Wednesday, January 8th. I get a phone call from Steve. Guess what? We're not traveling on the 15th after all." GROAN! Oh no! What's wrong? "We're traveling this Sunday, the 12th instead!"

Now the REAL panic sets in! I'm not ready! AHHHH!!!!! I call the bank and tell them I'm coming Friday to withdraw all my money, not Monday. Yes, I still need all those crisp $100 bills. Call my mom. Yes, she can still drive us to the airport. Tell my office, sorry, I won't be here Monday and Tuesday after all. I'll be in China! Oh yeah, I'll need half of Friday off too. AHHH!!!!!

China Trip - Aurora's Story

This was truly the trip of a lifetime, which we enjoyed immensely. From time to time in our story, we may poke fun. No disrespect is intended because we value our Chinese hosts and had the time of our lives. Like any adventure, we looked for the humor in it when we could.

Sunday, January 12th arrives much too quickly and much too slowly. We're packed, got the suitcases in the car. What did we forget? Oh well! Too late now! We're off!

We flew from Dulles Airport to Detroit. We arrived at the gate for our next flight. We knew it was going to be an interesting trip when, after around 40 minutes, waiting for our direct flight to Beijing, we were approached. Well... not exactly "we". Surrounded by Chinese and American adults, some of whom *must* speak both English and Chinese, an elderly Chinese couple suddenly arose from their seats. Wide-eyed and grinning broadly, they hobbled over to... Sara... our 12 year old. "Jiaxinamenashienstachaxianamen?" Poor Sara. All she could muster to squeak out from her throat was, "huh?" So, Daddy to the rescue. "We don't speak Chinese," spoken very slowly and loudly so we were sure they could understand. Uh huh. Yep! We were off and running!

As I disappeared to buy Sara a deck of cards (one of the many things we forgot), Steve went around approaching other Americans, armed with only a vague description, to find our group. And Sara. Poor Sara. She sat, ever praying that no one else would ask her anything else in Chinese.

The flight was long. No, that doesn't do it justice. Have you ever waited in line at the women's rest room during a concert? That was long. Now imagine doing so with a full bladder while guzzling beer, in 100 degree heat, direct-sunlight, standing on one leg and wearing an Alaskan parka. That still doesn't describe it. However, the adrenaline was pumping and so it didn't matter. We were going to China! And, during the 16 hour adventure, we saw 4 movies and got to know the folks in our group very well.