Our adoption story began in the late summer of 2007. We had carried the cross of infertility since 2000, the year our daughter, Mary Clare, was born. We had tried natural way to conceive possible. Our little girl wanted a sibling as much as we wanted another child. It was a very painful 7 years of watching families around us grow and grow . Being a parent is more important than being pregnant. What a relief it was the night that my husband said, “Sweetie, I think we should adopt!” There was no delay then to start the process. It took us, though, 4 months to settle on an agency (praise God for EAC!) and 7 months to decide on a country. We had two great recommendations for EAC. They both confirmed how well taken care of we would be when traveling. This we found later to be very true. Chris, Karla and Kim worked with us very closely. Our LID (log in date) was July of 2008. We knew that there was about a 3 year wait in China for a healthy baby. I’m not sure why that didn’t deter us during the process, but that reality hit us after our LID. In the beginning of October 2008 my husband said, “Sweetie, I think we should go special needs.” I instantly and fully agreed! I am a nurse and I had an 8 year old little helper with me at home. Surely we could handle a child with special needs. I called Kim, we reviewed what special needs were available, and we were open to any of them. We were on the special needs wall! If we had a clue how quickly that would speed things up, we might have done it sooner. But, all in God’s perfect timing! We received our referral for Eva the Friday after Thanksgiving of 2008. I’ll never forget getting “the call” at 11 o’clock at night and then sitting there looking at those dark little eyes looking back at me on the computer. Eva was a cleft palate, not the lips, just the palate.
Jamie and I traveled at the end of April 2009 and took our daughter with us. That was very key to the whole trip. Mary Clare’s presence was so important to all of us. Children know children, and Eva was no exception. Uncle Zhou was great and so accommodating to our needs. It was great traveling and seeing the beautiful country of China. Like all the literature says “traveling is the easy part!”
I thought that no experience could top the birth of Mary Clare, but I was so very wrong. Adoption is just as magical and just as emotionally fulfilling as the actual birth of a baby. I wish we would’ve adopted sooner. All that money and all that time wasted trying to get pregnant, when receiving Eva into our arms was what we wanted. Eva was quick to bond with us. I carried her in a sling the whole time. We all fell completely in love in China.
For us, we were very blessed for Eva to have only a cleft palate that was surprisingly repaired already in China. She still has her special needs with speech delay which will require speech therapy. But, I believe that all children raised in an orphanage are special needs. They all have catching up to do.
I find it fascinating how each child that was matched with each family in our group was a perfect fit. If I could encourage any one to adopt I would. And, I would also very much encourage all those waiting to adopt from China to pray about and be open to special needs. As in our case, some of them aren’t so serious. And, to think of all those children waiting for their forever family to bring them home. I hope that more families will take that leap of faith.
We are still honeymooning six months later!

Jamie, Kathy, Mary Clare and Eva Finnegan