The last day of 2003, New Years Eve we received a long awaited phone call from our Social Worker at CHSFS.  Our referral had arrived and we would finally learn some of our daughter!  There are no words to describe the excitement and exhilaration we felt.  We were given some basic information from our Social Worker, her age (11 months), how she was progressing developmentally (on target) and the name of the orphanage; we would need to come and pick up the referral papers and her picture; she then offered to email us a picture of her!  It took about 2 minutes to receive the email, my body surged with adrenaline and I was on a high like no other.  I “double clicked” on the attachment, there are no words  ......immediate, unconditional complete love....She was beautiful.   I could not wait to share this news with all of our family and friends.

We (my husband and 2 sons, ages 11 and 12) traveled to China about 5 weeks later.  Beijing was first on our agenda, here we were “tourists and not adopting parents” and saw some of China's popular sites.  A few days later we finally traveled to the city where we would meet our daughter.  We arrived on a Sunday night and met up with all the members in our group from CHSFS (group G).  On Monday morning our group boarded a bus for the Chinese Civil Affairs office.  We were excited, nervous, anxious, and just plain giddy.  We waited in an empty room and suddenly we heard crying babies in the hall.  We could barely speak we were so excited.  Soon, the babies were brought in, being carried by orphanage workers.  They were crying and frightened.  One by one they read the Chinese name of the babies and the American names of the parents, we walked up to Min Hu Chun and I held her tight.  I will never forget this moment; I had chills, goose bumps and tears all at the same time.  It was incredible.   The first 24 hours were tough on Ava, she was so frightened.  The next 24 she was more quiet but clearly still afraid.  By the following day she was smiling, laughing, and playing with us.  She has adapted incredibly well to our family, it happened much more quickly than we expected.  It didn't take long and she was calling me “Ma ma.”   Ava stayed with us throughout our remaining time in China. 

Considering all the legalities and the language barriers of adopting a child from another country, the trip was incredibly relaxing.  We had a fabulous time, plenty of time to relax and bond as a family, and also much time to sight-see and learn of China and the Chinese culture.  We also spent a good amount of time with the other families in our group.   Everything went incredibly smooth; we had the utmost confidence in CHSFS and the reps we worked with were outstanding (Peter, Hannah and Shirley).  Everything went just as planned-very smoothly.

Each day we realize how blessed we are to have this little girl in our lives; she has brought us immeasurable joy.    Going through this experience has changed my view on international adoption, in the sense that I am a HUGE advocate for it now.  Not only for the children (because there is such a need), but equally for the parents-the rewards are immeasurable, endless, a very priceless and precious gift. 

Learn more about adoption from China