Chayah's Story

If you have not read Sarah's Story yet, you might want to read it first HERE. :)

This is Chayah's Story though, so follow along..
For years, we had wanted to adopt. Finally, in December 2006, we welcomed Sarah Evangeline LuHua home from the Langfang SWI in Hebei, China. We were ecstatic and all of us were so in awe of her. Whenever we would go anywhere, Sarah had five of us (my parents, two older sisters, and i) following her around- all wanting to hold her, help her with anything she needed help with, and of course, to take pictures of her! She was our baby girl. Little did we know that our family was not yet complete.

As soon as Sarah came home, she began telling us about her friends in China. My sister Chrissy and I would be on our computers, looking through pictures from the orphanage, and Sarah would come over, point at the screen and name each of the kids. We learned these kids names and they became a part of our lives too. Their pictures went up around our house and we would continually talk about each of them by name and pray for them.

There were three kids that she always talked about: "Di Di" (meaning little brother), "Tian Ai", and "Duo Duo". We fell in love with these kids and longed to see them be adopted as well. We would be driving in the van and Sarah would say "(insert friend's name) doesn't have a mommy or a daddy or jie jie's (big sisters) or gou gou's (dogs)!! (Insert friend's name) needs a mommy, daddy, jie jie's and gou gou's!" One day in particular, she went up to my dad, grabbed onto his arm, and very seriously said, "Daddy! Didi is crying for you!" We caught on to Sarah's passion and wanted each of these three little ones to have families of their own.

In April 2007, as Chrissy and I were searching through every waiting child list possible for China, we found Di Di's and Duo Duo's files listed on Rainbow Kids. We were so excited! We had only been home with Sarah for 4 months at the time though, and most agencies would not allow you to start another adoption until you had been home at least one year. We were thrilled to contact the agency anyway though and keep in touch with them. We told them how we knew these kids, had extra pictures and videos of them, and how our Sarah had been telling us how they needed to be adopted. They did have several families interested in Di Di and Duo Duo, but after three months on their list, still no one had committed to bringing either of them home.


In July 2007, their files were returned to the CCAA. We were devastated that they still did not have families. But the story doesn't end here because God always has a plan and that plan is always better than anything we ever could have imagined on our own.


Fast forward a few months, during which we continued to pray for these three kids and the families we knew they must have- just not yet. In late November 2007, as we approached our one-year anniversary of having Sarah home, we knew that we needed to adopt again. My mom began to contact a few agencies with waiting children, inquiring about a few little girls who had not yet found their families. The crazy thing is, each time my mom would inquire about a child who hadn't been placed, a family would step up for that child! This happened five times in a row.

The last time, we were looking at the agency CCAI. We noticed on their waiting child listing that they had several referrals from around Hebei province, but none from Langfang (Sarah's orphanage). My mom sent my email to the waiting child coordinator and asked if they ever received referrals from Langfang, specifically a 5 year old little girl named Dang Duo Duo. Immediately, the lady at CCAI wrote back. "Call me ASAP!!!!!!!!!" and her phone number was all the message said. Of course, my mom called right away. The lady at CCAI told my mom that she had Dang Duo Duo from Langfang's file out on her desk and that she had just been getting it ready to send it back to China for the second time as they had not had a family step up for her.

Out of all of the agencies for China adoption, it was the ONE we contacted. Out of all the kids in China, we were were matched with the ONE we knew. "Dang Duo Duo" is my Chayah Elizabeth! If you don't believe God still performs miracles today, I'd tell you to just look at Chayah- and then, you have seen a miracle!

It is amazing how God worked to bring Chayah into our family! Through my dad and sister Chrissy meeting her when she was 2 years old while on a missions trip, to being matched with Sarah and bringing her home from the same orphanage, to Sarah's passion for her friends to be adopted, and to the true miracle of finding Chayah's file- it is all just so amazing!!

I am so incredibly happy and blessed to have Chayah in my life! She is my little sister and she is the silliest little girl. She is now 8 years old and has been home for not quite two years. I love you, Chay Chay!"For this child I have prayed, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." ~1 Samuel 1:27

Here is Chayah's adoption video, which I think is a great video (but again, I may be a bit biased ;) ... Make sure you have your sound on to be able to hear the music and video clips:


*Also, if you were wondering about Sarah and Chayah's two other little friends, Di Di and Tian Ai.. Di Di was adopted, after the then 3 year old Sarah talked to the coordinator at a local adoption agency and that lady in turn was able to place him with a family who lives just less than an hour away from us! Tian Ai is still waiting in China, but not for much longer now! Good friends of ours have been matched with him and are now just waiting to travel! We are SO excited!!