Published on Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Family’s ‘blessing’ the result of a lot of paperwork, prayer, perseverance and plenty of love.
Krisan Murphy
When I drove into the H**** family’s driveway, A’s face burst into smiles and giggles. She wriggled from her mother’s arms and ran on tiny feet to greet me with open arms. That was my first encounter with the precious child, who, at 2 weeks old, was bundled up and left by the side of the road in Guangxi, China. Her new mother, Regina, calls her a “blessing.”
How does a child get from a province halfway around the world to our cozy American community? Perseverance, paperwork and prayer are what A’s adoptive family would say. Kurt and Regina H**** and their children, C, 13, J, 11, and K, 8, began dreaming of and planning for another member of their family in June 2005.
The H****s were challenged to action by Steven Curtis Chapman, the Grammy Award-winning artist, who, during concert tours, shares his own family stories of adoption.
Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, founded Shaohannah’s Hope, a financial assistance foundation to promote adopting orphans. One of the obstacles families often face is the overwhelming expense of adoption. The H****s were able to raise $3,000 through their home interior parties to cover the Chinese government’s home-rearing fee, a small portion of the total adoption expenses.
I remember the day two years ago when Regina shared with me their guarded excitement of adopting a child from China.
Months later, she knocked on our door to show us the Polaroid photograph of a smiling toddler on a playground in China.
Now the fruit of their perseverance is a bright 3 year old, squealing and romping with the other children, and with Jake, their miniature daschund, and Garfield, an orange tabby cat, as though she were always here.
With tears of joy, Regina expresses wonder at how A is such “a perfect fit for our family.”
To the delight of the H****s, who traveled to China to bring home their dark-haired daughter, A’s orphanage presented them with a priceless gift through a program called Half the Sky. Loving caretakers had recorded detailed information and pictures of her days and weeks in China in 72 pages of memory books.
Before I leave their home, Regina shows me a memory book of her own making. Pictures of families and cards with good wishes fill this keepsake. It’s a companion to the “100 Good Wishes” quilt being assembled for Amilynn. Friends and family gave squares of fabric to be used for her own special quilt, representing their good wishes. I point out the two pieces of fabric my daughters and I clipped out for the quilt last summer. The “100 Good Wishes’’ quilt is a Chinese tradition commonly found among the U.S. adoption community.
In F****, Kurt, Regina, and their children meet regularly with more than 15 other families, who have stories to tell about international adoptions. They all gather at a local church to revel in the joys and challenges before them. Some families have chosen to adopt children with disabilities.
A Qiu H****, sworn in as an American citizen in the consulate in the city of Guanghou, China, is now part of our community. If you meet her in the store or at the park you will see why her family calls her a blessing.
Krisan Murphy can be reached at kmurphy_sandspur@earthlink.net. If you would like to hear more about adopting in China, you may contact the H**** family through this e-mail as well.
Copyright 2008 - The Sandspur
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