The Road to Adoption: “How did you decide to adopt a little girl from China?”

We’ve been asked this a lot and the short answer is, “God hit us over the head with it.”, but I’ll tell the full story. For those who don’t believe God speaks directly to you, you may think these things are all just one big coincidence, that’s OK. But, read this story and know that we believe in our hearts that God spoke directly to us.

Over the 10 years prior to starting our adoption journey, Julie & I had lots of difficulty having a second child. We always felt incredibly blessed to have Alex, but we also had a strong desire to have more children. Many of you have experienced the incredible pain of a miscarriage. Each time we experienced this, we would question whether or not we should stop trying to have children.

The last time we had a miscarriage, we felt like maybe we weren’t supposed to have anymore children. We prayed every time. This last time our prayer was simple, “Do you want us to stop?”. Adoption was not what we were praying about. We were asking God if it was His will that we have no more children and realize the incredible blessing that we have a wonderful son.

On a Friday shortly after this prayer, we were at work and Rebecca and Jocelyn Marr came to visit us at the camp. Brett Forney was in my office at some point during their visit and saw Julie interacting with Jocelyn and said “Julie really needs a little girl. Have you all ever thought of adopting a little girl from China?”. I told her we hadn’t really thought about it.

Later that day my mom & dad stopped by to see us. My mom had been to physical therapy for her new knee. While talking about her PT, my dad said to Julie and me, “You know what your mom’s physical therapist did? They adopted a little girl from China. You all ought to go over there and get you one.” We just kind of said something like “That’s great.” or “How about that.”

That night Julie & I were flipping through the channels, and saw Steven Curtis Chapman on Fox News with his wife. So we stopped to see why he was on a news channel. He and his wife were promoting their new foundation, Shaohannah's Hope, which helps families financially afford international adoption. He and his wife had adopted 3 girls from China and want to help make adoption possible for more families.

At this point, after hearing “little girl from China” 3 times that day, we began to pray about adoption, not specifically about adopting a little girl from China, but simply “Do you want us to adopt?”

Two days later on Sunday, we went to Fuddruckers for lunch with my parents and our minister and his wife. As soon as we walked in the door, we see Rex Garrison, who my brothers went to school with at Milligan. I hadn’t seen him in 2 or 3 years. Rex was with his wife and his two daughters, both of whom they adopted from China.

So Julie and I took this as enough to say, “Looks like we have our answer.” We went home, got on the internet, and looked up Steven Curtis Chapman’s foundation, Shaohannah’s Hope. There was a link on there for those considering adoption, and we followed it and found a list of adoption agencies they recommend. From that list, we looked at America World, a Christian adoption agency.

On America World’s site we saw that they were hosting an informational seminar in Knoxville just a week or so away. We went to the seminar, heard the information, watched the video from the founders of the agency and heard a couple of testimonies, one from a family in Johnson City, who were just starting the process to adopt their second child from China.

We got in the car to leave, and Julie asked me, “What do you think?”. My response, “I think we’re adopting a little girl from China.” She said “Me too.”

It had only been days since we were asking God if He wanted us to give up, and we got four answers of “adopt a little girl from China.” Now I know it’s easy to say things like, well your friends and family knew about your miscarriages and of course they're going to be talking about your future children. OR you may say “What if you had run into a guy you knew who had a new Chihuahua at Fuddruckers? Would you have taken that as God telling you to get a Chihuahua.?” Or maybe even, “Steven Curtis Chapman is a celebrity, what’s the big deal about seeing him on TV?”

Well here are my answers: first, no one but Julie and I knew we had recently had a miscarriage. For that matter no one has known – family or otherwise - the amount of failed pregnancies we’ve had. It’s something that was very private to us. Also, neither my parents or Brett had ever suggested adoption to us before, but they both did on the same day.

As far as Steven Curtis Chapman, he is a celebrity, but I haven’t seen him on Fox News or any other major news outlet before or since until just recently, just that same night that both my parents and Brett said what they said.

As far as, “What if you had run into a guy you knew who had a new Chihuahua at Fuddruckers?”. That answer is easy, we didn’t run into this chihuahua guy.

We heard from God three times in one day, and we prayed and asked Him to tell us if this is what He wanted for our family. He answered in the exact way He did the first three times on that Sunday – He told us, “a little girl from China.”

Still not convinced, that’s OK too. God was out to convince US, and He did. I’ve always said that God knows me so well and he knows that I can be very dense, and sometimes He has to hit me over the head with His will. He did and we are so blessed for it.

We have a wonderful, almost 16-year-old son, and a wonderful 1-year-old little girl that we can’t wait to hop on a plane to China and bring to the home Her Heavenly Father has prepared. We’re thrilled that it is our home that He chose.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13

Where is Audrey Today?

My Dad told me today that several people had asked where Audrey is in China. So I told him I could give him the city and the province (which is Fengcheng City, Jiangxi, by the way), but that I would put a map on here to show where her home currently is.

I also highlighted on the map the two other cities we'll definitely be going to. We'll fly into Beijing and spend a few days sightseeing. Then we'll go to Fengcheng City to get her. After spending a few days there, we'll go to Guangzhou ("Gwong Joe" for those us in East TN). This is where we'll meet with the American Consulate and finalize the adoption. From there we'll either fly straight back to the US or back to Beijing, and then back to the US.

In case you're wondering why we would sight see before getting our daughter, this is the order that the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs has chosen for all international adoptions. They want you to taken in the Chinese culture and history as much as possible.

Aaron