Since I was a little girl I had the desire in my heart for adoption and I knew that I wanted to grow my family through adoption one day, and when I met my husband, I told him I wanted lots of children, including my adopted daughter from Asia!
God knew the desires of my heart, which is why he sent me the husband he did! We have 3 beautiful boys, and we have moved to the other side of the world (we are from South Africa, but we are now currently living in Taiwan). A little while after moving to Taiwan, I started researching the possibilities of adopting from Taiwan, however I could not find an agency to work with us as no South African had adopted from Taiwan before (this is what I have been told numerous times), and so they are unfamiliar with the South African law. This did not stop me. I then found out it was possible to do a private adoption (without an agency) - the only snag is to find an adoptable child yourself, and not speaking Chinese that well, it was no easy task. I then met online through a homeschooling blog a wonderful lady, Deana, who also has a childrens home here on the island and told her about my situation.
Deana then heard about a little girl that was available and asked if we would be interested. Well, of course we said yes, and then were told she could be home by Chinese New Year! We prayed very hard about this, and everyone involved were concerned as to how we would get train tickets to Taitung on Chinese New Year??? Never fear when God is near!!!
On Thursday morning we went to the station to book our tickets - guess what? Only 2 tickets left (now we were a family of 5 at the time!) - no problem - we will take them and take turns sitting!!! Guess what else??? The carriages are seperate - one was carriage 3 and one was carriage 8 (so we would be separated for the 2hr train ride - no problem!). Turns out we have a wonderful friend, Jack, who accompanied us to the station, and managed to get someone to swop a ticket with us so that we were at least in the same carriage, and then someone else swopped tickets again so we could have 2 seats next to each other - how awesome is that? God is good!
So we arrived in Taitung, and Deana and Luke picked us up, and Deana, being a mom of 3 boys too, knew our boys would need to run off some energy after being cooped up on a train for 2 hours! It was only just after 10am and our meeting was only for around noon. At around noon we headed to the Family Center and waited, and waited and I started getting a bit nervous that maybe they were not going to make it (it is Chinese New Year after all and a Saturday, so the government offices are actually closed), then Deana said not to worry, if they don't arrive, we will take a drive to meet our little girl anyway - I was so worried, I did not want to have to leave Taitung without her, but I knew God would not have brought us this far, to have us go home and wait a little longer!
Well Luke made a few calls, and were told not to worry, but to meet them at 2pm. We took the boys to lunch (we all ate too, by the way!), and then headed to go and meet our daughter!
It was such an unreal moment when we walked into the room - as we walk in the birthmom is holding our little girl, and she looked so small. She had just been woken from a nap. The birthmom's sister was there and then the Grandmother arrived too. For me this was such a difficult moment because I just wanted to reach out and pick up this little girl, but at the same time, I knew this was probably the last time the birthmom and family had with her, so I just left her (altough it was really hard!) and let her sit with her birthmom.
After lots of discussion with the social worker and Deana and Luke, it was time to leave. Jason picked up Asia-Faith, and I went over to the birthmom and hugged her, and of course those that know me know how hard it is for me not to cry, but of course as I hugged her, I just said "XieXie Ni" (Thank You), and started crying - it was such a bittersweet moment. Thankfully we got lots of photos of her with Asia-Faith and with the grandmother, so for this I am so thankful.
Well, Asia-Faith was fine walking out with us, no problem, until she got into the car and probably realised that all the faces she was seeing were strangers - so she started crying a little, so we gave her a little pink cat (or dog - it is a bit of a debate at the moment), and her bottle and after a few minutes she was fine. We went back to Deana and Lukes house for a while and she played upstairs with toys and her new brothers. I was a little worried about the train ride home (I thought she might really be stressed), however she laughed and played the whole way home! We basically had the whole train carriage to ourselves on the way home - so it was great!
So she has been with us for 2 days now, and she really is just fitting in. Her first few baths she cried, but tonight was the first time she didn't cry in the bath. And what's more she started calling "mama" today. Whether this is just the only word she knows, I am not sure, but everytime she said it and I came back into the room, her face would light up and she would have this huge grin on her face! It makes my heart melt.... Only God could have chosen such a perfect child for our family. A lot of the Chinese people here have even said she has the same shape face as us! A lady even pointed out to me today that Asia-Faith and I have the same colour hair! It always puzzled her that my boys have blonde hair and mine is dark! LOL
Well, sorry this is so long, but it is what it is! If you want to read more about Deana and Luke's Morninglight Children's Home, please go to this address: www.mlchome.org
~* Peace and Love *~
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