The story really starts way before Sarah was ever born. Back in the mid-1990's actually. It was then that my mom first read an article about orphaned baby girls in China. From then on, she wanted to bring home her own baby girl(s) from China.
Rachael, me, and Chrissy about the time my mom first wanted to adopt from ChinaFast forward several years to about 1998. It was then that my older sister, Chrissy, caught on to this need in China. She drew pictures with the face of a Chinese baby girl with Bible verses about adoption and put them up around the house. I quickly decided that Chrissy was a genius in her efforts and I would then support every word she said. Still, nothing happened. The "campaigning" continued. For years. And years.
Fast forward again, this time to 2002. My sister, Chrissy, had been diagnosed with scoliosis. The curvature of her back was getting so severe that she needed to have a major spinal fusion and to have her back rodded. We went to Shriner's Hospitals for Children and there she had her operation completed. Before she went into the 9 hour surgery though, my dad asked her what she would like as a present to look forward to. He says he was thinking "a bike or something".. But Chrissy had something else in mind. She said she wanted our family to adopt a baby girl from China.
When she got out of surgery, a few days later while Chrissy was still in intensive care, the craziest thing happened. A tiny little girl in a wheelchair wheeled right into Chrissy's room and said, "Hi!". The crazy part? She was Chinese. And adopted! Her dad came in after her and as Chrissy talked to little four-year-old R., my mom talked to R's daddy. As it turns out, R. and her twin sister were adopted, as were the family's two older daughters. The family was also planning on moving to China just a short while after this! Needless to say, we were blown away!
We kept in touch with this family and got together every now and then before they left for China. On one meeting, they introduced us to other friend's of theirs. This family had twin little girls from China and were soon to be getting their third. We became very close to these two families and still are very close to them! We now had two families that we were close to who had adopted from China. All from one connection made in Chrissy's hospital room at Shriners. None of that was an accident, it was all part of God's amazing plan for our lives!!
Fast forward a few more years to 2005.. The first family we had met was now living in China and the second family was planning a trip to China to visit them. Chrissy desperately wanted to go along. So we all started fund raising to help Chrissy be able to go. My dad decided he needed to go along too "to keep Chrissy safe"- so in January 2005, we sent them both off to two weeks in China.
Now, Chrissy and I, who were still very much campaigning for a little sister from China, thought this was all just turning out perfectly. Now, Dad was going to China too! "Perfect", we thought, "if anything is going to change his mind to move forward for adoption, this is it!!" So for the next two weeks, the rest of us waited at home and prayed, while Chrissy and my Dad traveled around to several orphanages throughout Beijing and Langfang in Hebei province. Then it happened.
On February 8, 2005, they visited the Langfang City Social Welfare Institute. There they saw the kids that would change all of our lives. There was a tiny baby girl, just a few weeks old. She was bundled in blankets and laying in a crib. She had been abandoned the night before. She was beautiful, and that baby changed all of our lives. When my dad saw that baby, his heart was totally broken for the orphans and he knew needed to act. Chrissy and my dad also saw other kids there- a row of little toddlers, being fed a chopstick-full of food down the line, and a seven-month-old baby girl who had a prettiest eyes and definitely captured Chrissy's heart within the short time they were there. After their visit there, my dad told Chrissy he knew we needed to adopt. A few days later, the rest of us got to find out the news too!
Upon their arrival home, we looked into starting the process. Finally, we were adopting! Well, that is until a car accident, in which we were hit in the side by the driver's door by someone who ran a red light and our van was totaled.. I am convinced that the accident was something that tried to stop us from adopting. But, it didn't stop us. It just delayed us, which wasn't really a delay when you think about it.. we were perfectly on time for what God had planned for us!
After we got all that cleared up with our vehicle and we fully trusted God for the funds we needed, we started the process with American World. In January 2006, our home study was underway and we were starting to gather all the necessary documents and such. In June, we completed our dossier and sent it off to China. We were logged in on July 14, 2006 and then the wait began. We also filled out a form to be added to the "waiting child" program. On August 10, 2006, we received a call from our family coordinator. It wasn't just any call either-- It was THE CALL!!!! Through friends, we had learned that the little seven-month-old baby girl's paperwork had been completed and was waiting for a match. She had been born with a cleft lip and cleft gum line, so she would be placed on a waiting child list. Amazingly, our agency was able to get the file of the same little seven-month-old baby with the most beautiful eyes that Chrissy had fallen so desperately in love with, and we all followed her in that love for this little girl!
"Dang Lu Hua" was then 26 months old and just as gorgeous as can be. We were amazed! We were in awe! And we were completely overjoyed that she was ours! And would soon be our "Sarah"!
The next few months while we waited, Sarah did too. Our friends, the ones we met at Shriner's hospital back when little R. rolled into Chrissy's room on her wheelchair and had then moved to China, worked with Sarah's orphanage. And since the orphanage now knew that Sarah LuHua was soon to be adopted, they wanted to place her in a foster home. The family that was given permission to foster her? Our good friends!! So from August until December, Sarah was able to live at their home, being fostered, until we got our travel approval to come get her!
On December 5th, 2006, my parents and I finally boarded a plane for China. All the paperwork had gone through and we were clear to bring Sarah home at last. On December 11, 2006 we went to Langfang orphanage and finally had Sarah in our arms!
Now, almost four years to that day, I am still completely in awe of how she was able to be placed in our arms. I am so amazed that we were able to bring home the same 7-month old baby that my sister had held in China. I am convinced that Sarah was meant to be our little girl and through amazing miracles, God placed her in our hearts and then in our arms.
I love you Sarah Bear! *And yet another miracle is this: the story is not over. Next week, I'll post Chayah's Story!! Believe me, the miracles just kept coming! You don't want to miss reading about Chayah's journey home next week and Sarah's part in that!
..check out Sarah's video below too!I have just re-uploaded Sarah's adoption video, if you'd like to watch it. It's a little less than half an hour long (23.5 minutes to be exact), but I think it's definitely worth the time..I may be a bit biased though. Make sure you have your sound turned up and no other music playing. Here is "Sarah's Story":
Snapped this picture quick before the girls went off the school. I mean, just look at them! How could I resist taking at least one picture of them? :) Don't you just love how "twin-ish" they are? The other evening they were talking to each other, first Sarah was saying how "wouldn't it have been fun if we were born as twins?" then the Chayah said back "yeah! wouldn't it be fun if we were connected twins?!" (like conjoined twins) and Sarah replied, "yeah! or we just like hold hands all the time.. like when we're awake and when we're sleeping!".. Silly girls!
