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Our Families The Martin Family June 6, 2002 was just like any other day. It started with some friends coming over for play date at our house. The latest waiting child list had arrived at A Helping Hand and an email had been sent out to clients announcing its arrival. Since all of the parents at this play date had adopted girls from China (thru AHH), we were talking about the list. After play date, the curiosity got the best of me and I went to take a peek. There were many beautiful children. Andy and I had submitted our dossier in January for a healthy infant boy, but there were some boys here just calling to me. I forwarded 3 of the web pages to Andy, hoping that maybe he thought one of these boys was our son. After no discussion other than him saying it might be a possibility, I received an email the next day concerning a boy named Li Biao. It said, "Let's see what it takes to adopt this little boy." What Andy didn't know was that I had felt drawn to the same little boy. He had a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palate. With my training as a dentist, we both felt that we were uniquely qualified to advocate on behalf of Li Biao. That day began a week of prayers and physician appointments, questions about surgeries, speech therapy, language barriers, older child adoption and much more. We came to the conclusion that Li Biao was our son. On June 12, 2002 we sent our letter of intent to adopt to China. The process of adopting Jake went very quickly from that point. We received our pre approval on July 19, then our travel approval on August 20th. We were on a plane on September 5 and we met Samuel Jackson Pan Martin (Jake) for the first time on September 9th at the Civil Affairs office in Guangzhou. Adopting a 3½ year old is not as daunting as it might seem. Jake came to us willingly. It was obvious that he had been prepared for what was to happen. He was frightened. You could see it on his face, but he allowed us to hold him and play with him. He was interested in all of the toys that we brought and very interested in the FOOD! I think that if it weren't for the snacks, we might not have had as easy of a transition. He wanted to go back to his caregivers, but when they left he wasn't distraught. He quietly accepted that we were to care for him now. Our first meal together was a sight. Jake was feeding himself as fast as he could. You could tell that he was only allowed a limited amount of food and now that is was plentiful he was not going to stop until you made him stop. It made us sad to think about this part of his life. These past few months have been a whirlwind of change for Jake and he has taken it all in stride. His English is coming along and even though he has the cleft palate, you can understand him a great deal. He tries very hard to mimic your sounds. He is very eager to please. One of the greatest considerations in adopting Jake was how it would affect our daughter, Regan. Her birthday is 7/2/99 and Jake is 2/15/99. They are 5 months apart and adopting Jake would make them virtual twins. As soon as we got home with Jake, they took to each other. On the ride home from the airport, they were sharing the pretzels from the airplane. It isn't all roses, but they are best buddies and look out for each other most of the time. I would encourage any prospective parents to take a look at their heart and then consider if they could adopt a child that is a waiting child. It is one of the most rewarding things that our family has ever done.

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