Eight years ago, we started our adoption journey. We had heard about the need of orphans in China and knew we could make a difference for one child, so we signed up and got connected by a cute boy we names Samuel.
Six years ago this summer, we traveled to China to meet Samual and bring him home. The day Samuel met us, he gained a family, but he lost one too. He was two and a half at the time, and up until the day he met us, he had lived with his foster family most of his life. That family included a foster brother we call John David.
Like Samuel, John David also lived with the foster family for most of his life. But, recently, when our family traveled to China to meet him, we realized he was no longer able to live with them. His foster parents had gotten too old to care for him. And, as painful and hard as it must have been, they had to put John David back into the orphanage, while they went to live with their son, who could care for them.
John David is Samuel’s foster brother. We call him “China gugu,” gugu meaning brother in mandarin (we think). Every night Samuel prays for China gugu, and talks of him often. He is an integral part of Samuel’s life and an essential part of our family.
When we met John David in the orphanage, he was quiet, shy, and thoughtful. He seemed happy to see Samuel, but also a bit unsure and a little sad. Through the translator, he asked if we would help him find a family. It was touching and crushing at the same time. We agreed, and even our guide offered to help find a family for him because his interactions with John David were touching.
We knew John David couldn’t grow up in an orphanage alone. So, when we got home from China, we started advocating for him. We found the adoption agency that had his file and asked them to share about him, while we also posted on our social accounts.
While advocating for him, we became even more invested. We realized that he is already such an essential part of our family that he needs to join our family permanently. So, we are working to adopt him and bring him home!
We are excited to be adding to our family, but nervous too. First, there is the cost of the adoption itself. Then, there is the new vehicle we will need, and the home improvements required for a child with limited mobility. All in, I expect the cost will be around $100,000, and since we don’t have access to that kind of money, we will be doing some fundraisers.
If you want to keep up with our journey, find out about fundraisers, or anything else related to our adoption, you can go to https://ourredthread.com to stay up to date.
We know that raising six kids will be tough. We know that adopting a second time will be tough. We know that bringing home a child with some medical and mobility issues will be tough. We are ok with tough. We are ready to do this, to make John David’s life better by bringing him home to a loving family. It may be crazy. It may be outside of what most people think is reasonable. It may even be considered irresponsible by some, but we are ok with that. We want to love him for a lifetime, and our kids do as well.