Jim and Roxie of Tennessee have adopted three lovely children from China through the European Adoption Consultants, Inc. Mary Helen is 7, Elizabeth 5, and Sarah will be 3 in November 2008. "We were unable to have children, but we both love children very much, and were encouraged often by family and friends to adopt a needy child. In 1997 Roxie knew her heart's desire was to have children and she knew she would be incomplete without them. So Jim made it a matter of prayer, asking that the Lord would show us His will. So we asked the Lord to open the doors of opportunity to have children by pregnancy or by adoption, if He wanted us to be parents. We told the Lord that if anyone mentioned adoption to us we would check it out. We were made aware of two different domestic adoption opportunities, but the Lord closed the door on both of these. But our faith remained strong and we were not faint-hearted; we saw these as testing times. Then one day in November 1999 Jim was listening to WCRV 640 AM Collierville, Tennessee. In between programs he heard Byron Tyler announce that European Adoption Consultants was having an adoption seminar Saturday, December 2, 1999 in Memphis, Tennessee. He and Roxie attended, not really sure what they would hear, but sure they were supposed to be present. Neither had ever heard of EAC."

"When we walked into the conference room of the hotel, we were met by the friendly staff of EAC. We watched videos of the orphanages of different countries, and saw the beautiful children of those orphanages. We also heard about the price range of adopting from each country, but this did not even phase us. Then we were introduced to two families and their precious children adopted from Russia. We both knew the reason we were to be at that seminar was because we were to adopt through EAC. Roxie said to me, they adopt out of China, Jim, and my heart has always been burdened for the little orphaned children in China." I said to her, then let's apply and go to China. It was that simple. We made the decision right there that we were going to 'sign up' and start the paper work."

"The paper work was truly a challenge, but we knew it was all necessary and we knew we could do it. In April, 2002 we received the picture of our daughter, Mary Helen. Roxie drove to my work site with the envelope containing Mary Helen's picture. As she was opening the envelope, beaming with joy, she asked, Are you ready to see the picture of our daughter? She was beautiful. We traveled in June 2002 to China and got Mary Helen. I knew when we were back home and the jet lag had passed, that we needed to go back because we had another daughter in China. We traveled again in April, 2004. Roxie and I spent our 15th wedding Anniversary in China with Mary Helen and getting our second daughter Elizabeth. That's quite a honeymoon for a couple from West Tennessee. Some months went by, lots of prayer and I remembered that I had written in an article for EAC that Roxie and I are going to keep going back until we have our quiver full of daughters. Well, contrary to the advice of some family members and friends, we were convinced we had another daughter in China to go after. The wait was several months longer than before, we were coming down to the wire on the age limitation, but it all worked out perfectly as Chris had counseled. In November 2006 we got our picture of Sarah and traveled to get her in January, 2007. Mimi kept Mary Helen and Elizabeth at the hotel while we traveled across town to get Sarah. We arrived back at the hotel with Sarah, a little fever and fretting. Mimi didn't have the words to express her joy, and neither did we. The third morning I awoke to the laughter of our three daughters. Mary Helen and Elizabeth had the ends of a blanket, swinging Sarah up and down in the air. She was grinning and cackling. Our family was complete and this dad now has his quiver full. Our lives have truly been blessed beyond measure with our precious daughters from China (really heaven). We thank our Lord for making our adoptions possible and all the wonderful staff at EAC, especially Uncle Zhou and Chris.