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Adopted Yang FuHua (Laurel Caroline FuHua Miller) Feb 27, 2002 The adoption process for China was much easier than we expected it to be. After 4 months of gathering paperwork (most of that time is just waiting on approvals from the state and INS) and breezing through the required home study we sent our completed dossier to China. The real hard part is waiting for the referral, which can fluctuate in duration (usually 8-14 months). The wait was long but definitely worth it. After a year's wait, the day we received our referral was surreal. We rushed right over to the agency and got 6 pictures of our new daughter (Laurel wearing the hat), along with a medical report and an account of how she came to be an orphan. Her mother had abandoned her at 6 days old at the entrance to a busy park where she knew that Laurel would be found quickly. We'll never know exactly why she was abandoned. Perhaps it was the one child policy, perhaps they were hoping for a boy, or maybe they just could not afford to keep her. Luckily she was taken to an orphanage that works with the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) and allows foreign adoptions. The trip to China was fantastic. We flew into Beijing and, after getting a brief night's sleep, spent 1 day sightseeing with our guide, Peter. Travelers are usually allotted 2 days in Beijing, but we had difficulty booking flights for an earlier arrival. Peter is very anxious to show you all that Beijing has to offer, including the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tienamnen Square. We got up early the next morning and flew to Guangzhou in southern China. Flying from Beijing to Guangzhou is like flying from Philadelphia to Cuba, we experienced quite a climate change. Here we met our guide, Rebecca, who took us through the next 10 days. Peter and Rebecca are wonderful guides. They make everything from sightseeing to meals, to paperwork go seamlessly. They really know their stuff. I was told by our good friends the Martins before we left, "When in doubt, always trust your guides, they know what they're doing." We found that to be excellent advice, our guides exceeded our expectations. Once in Guangzhou, we had a quick lunch (at McDonald's) and we headed off to get our new daughter, Laurel. We pulled into the government building's parking lot just as the 6 babies for our group were arriving from Yangjiang, about 4 hours away. We immediately recognized Laurel as her caretakers removed her from the van, but we had to wait for the girls to be taken inside before we could hold her. It was only about 15 minutes, but it seemed like 2 hours. They called our name and then our baby's Chinese name (Yang FuHua). We were warned ahead of time that the babies might be afraid of women with blonde hair, Laurel was petrified of my wife, Becky. She cried off and on for about an hour while we passed her back and forth trying to calm her down. After some paperwork, we got to take the girls back to the hotel for some quiet time. Laurel wasn't quite sure what to make of us that night, or the next day. She was a little withdrawn and didn't eat well the next day. She was still making up her mind about us. We gave her quiet love and attention for those first 2 days and it paid off. She woke up on day 3 as happy as could be, and Shea's been that way ever since. Becky and Laurel really bonded during their first week together. It took a little longer for that bond to develop between Laurel and me, but that's understandable since I may have been the first man to ever hold her. She's definitely past those anxieties now and runs to me with a hug and kiss when I get home from work everyday. At the time of this writing, she's 26 months old and spends her days running around the house, opening all the drawers and doors she can and jabbering like crazy. She's had a few developmental delays with her speech and motor skills, but she's almost caught up with other kids her age. Words can't describe the joy she brings to us everyday. We are so pleased with her, we've started the process to get Laurel a little Chinese sister sometime next year. If God has blessed you with the desire and the means to adopt an orphan, you will find no greater joy in life. I thank God everyday that we made the decision to adopt.
Adopt A Child | Why Us? | Our Families | How to Help 1510 Newtown Pike; Suite 152; Lexington, KY 40511 map © Copyright 2002-2003 A Helping Hand Adoption Agency. All rights reserved. Site design by Loracs Creations, Inc. Disclaimer: This page contains images of children not available for adoption. | ||||||
