From now on, no one is allowed to ask me the question, “Are you done yet??”  I believe I started saying “Yes, this is the last child we will add to our family” about five children ago.  And yet again, I am forced to eat my words.  I have now probably lived through enough ridicule that I will forever answer “I don’t know” and save myself the grief…

For those of you who know me relatively well, you probably realized a long time ago that we were going to go get Riley (Fulei Huai) sooner or later, even if I was denying it.  We met her at Ali’s orphanage and the picture that I took of her, the picture that is below, haunted me from the day we left.

How could someone not want to love a little girl as cute as this?  It bothered me so much that I told Kelly that we would not leave her there … that we would find someone to adopt her.  I then proceeded to put her picture as the screen saver on my phone and have looked at her face every day, multiple times a day, until now.  Not long after we returned to the U.S., we were told that Riley was available to be adopted and would we be willing to be her permanent family?  (These adoption agencies have us on some sort of special list for people who cannot say “no”)  However, it was too soon after getting Ali home and we told them that we could not adopt her.  However, we offered to advocate for her and see if there was a family we could find who would be interested.  We went to several people that we knew and presented Riley to them and while each family fell in love with her, when they prayed and thought about it, the timing just wasn’t right.  We were thrilled, then, to find out that a lovely family with other adopted children had chosen Riley and were going to bring her home. 

We spent the next several months checking on her adoption progress periodically and things seemed to be progressing, albeit slowly.  Then summer hit and life just got busy and months went by without much additional information.  As summer neared to a close, I asked Kelly to check on the progress of this adoption and the news came back that things were continuing to plod along.

Thanksgiving week Kelly and I were working at a collection center for Operation Christmas Child and Kelly got a phone call from the adoption agency.  I have seen that look on her face before.  The look that has me speed dialing the accountant and the travel agent all at the same time.  But I had a tremendous peace about it.  Maybe we can get Kelly to post her side of the story, but for me, I had made a promise, to Kelly, to myself, and to several close friends, that this was a little girl I would not leave behind.

As Kelly got off the phone, she approached me with the news.  A tragic situation had developed with the family that was going to adopt Riley and they could no longer fulfill their commitment.  That family was crushed and the agency was reaching out to Kelly and I to see if we would be willing to step in and pick up this adoption.  Even though it was inevitable that we would say yes, Kelly and I spent a long week thinking and praying about our answer making sure that this is what God wanted us to do.  I don’t think either of of us relished the idea of heading back to China, although the last trip was much more enjoyable than the first.  In the end we both agreed that this was, in fact, what we should do and we told the adoption agency that Riley would be a permanent part of our home.

There are just so many things that happened that I can not write them all down here, but we started down the arduous path of homestudies and paperwork that are an integral part of adoption. We began this process in late November and by late December we had made it through the bulk of the requirements and visits for the homestudy and were waiting for the final copy in order to file the paperwork with the U.S. Government.  It was during this time that something started to change within me.  I started to reflect upon all the adoptions that we have completed in the last several years … some of these children were called “special needs.”  Caleb only had one arm, but in retrospect was that REALLY a special needs child?  When I really thought about it, I could not remember the last time I had even stopped to think that he was missing something.  He goes about his day without ever letting this “need” slow him down.  Then there was Ali.  She had a port wine stain on her face along with some other medical issues.  But, seriously … have you seen her?  She was beautiful the first day that we met her and if we had never done anything about her birthmark she would still be beautiful.  But God blessed us by having us live close to one of only two pediatric vascular malformation clinics in the county.  We met a wonderful ENT who has put up with our brow beating and pushing and has done several laser treatments on Ali’s face that have significantly lightened her birth mark.  So, was that really a “special need”?  Nope.

I then found myself reflecting upon other people who had REALLY adopted special needs children … children who really need parents to take care of them … children with real issues.  When I thought about these families, I realized that our family has not been stretched much and, quite honestly, I felt a little convicted.  No matter how much you have done, you can always do more, and was I willing to do a little bit more?  I wasn’t sure.

Come January Kelly was looking around our adoption agency’s web site (I know … why don’t I block those sites?  Will I never learn?) and she came across an amazingly talented young girl.  She was struck with the thought that she looked like a Bernadsky (I think that is weak as they ALL could look like Bernadsky’s!)  As she scrolled down she realized that this little girl was in a wheelchair.  One night as we sat on the couch, she showed me the web page and the pictures.  I’m not really sure what she was thinking at that point, but internally I was a little irritated.  Not at Kelly, but probably a little at God.  Were we not doing enough?  Wasn’t it pleasing enough that I was going to go get one more little girl and was trusting Him with the finances?  Was I not being faithful enough in pushing down all the other thoughts that were stressing me like food, clothing, and college for now ten children?

I wrestled with these thoughts for several days, but in the end realized that the thoughts that I had been having, the thoughts around our family not being stretched enough, were there for a reason.  They were God’s gentle way of preparing me for the next chapter in our families life, a chapter that included Leah (Litong Wu) also being a part of our family. 

Leah had polio as a baby and that has caused her legs to be of little use.  She can move around at home without a wheelchair, but outside of the home she needs that chair to be mobile.  In addition, she has kidney and bladder issues that we are still trying to get a handle on.  While these needs are probably more significant than the needs we have had to deal with to date, I am sure that in the end our family will adapt and rise to the occasion.  As you can see, Leah is a very talented artist and has won some awards for her paintings.  I am looking forward to seeing what this beautiful little girl can do with a paint brush!

So, there … it is out.  Not only are we going to China to get one little girl, we are going to get TWO!  Our families have been, as always, so supportive of this decision.  Our children, also, have jumped in with both feet and are ready to head forward.  There are many questions that still need to be answered, many changes to the girls room that needs to be made, many walks of faith we will have to make, and many challenges we will have to face, not the least of which is keeping the Chinese doctors from doing anything else to Leah before we get there!  But, hey … life is an adventure, right?  Anyone can sit around and do nothing.  Luckily for me, I have found a wife and kids that are willing to actually jump in and DO something!

We will keep you updated.  The girls live in totally separate parts of China, so pray that we can find a way to keep this trip as close to two weeks as possible.  That is probably our biggest concern at this point, as we don’t like to be away from our home longer than that.  As things happen and as the journey progresses, I will strive to keep this blog as updated as possible.  If you have any questions, please let us know!

Here we go again …

Cameron