China
Russia
Vietnam
Dear FTIA,
We have been home for just over 2 months now and we cannot begin to thank you all enough for uniting us with the most precious daughter a family could ask for. Nicole is a perfect fit. She was the missing link to the completion of our family. Her 3 big brothers adore her and play with her as if she is one of them. It is like she has always been here. If they are wrestling on the floor she will throw herself right into the match. She is so friendly and loving, she now gives us kisses and says hi. She's the best!
A lot of people have asked us "why China?" Well, John and I have been together since we were 18. In the mid eighties I had seen a news program about the plight of the baby girls and the overcrowding in the Chinese orphanages. Before we were even married I had said to John, "if we have 2 sons I'm going to China to get my daughter."
Getting pregnant was never easy for us, and the pregnancies were a challenge at times. Our first son was born 6 weeks premature with sleep apnea and spent 3 weeks in the hospital. Four years of trying to get pregnant again, I had some procedures performed and they found a tumor and endometriosis. During my second pregnancy there were complications due to an abnormal umbilical cord; thankfully the baby was fine and born right on time. Then four years later we lost one. Another year later we had our 3rd son, but I had to have a C-section which was very tough on me.
Three beautiful sons! We truly felt blessed, but we still wanted a daughter to complete us as a family. It was time to go get her. She was waiting for us, in China.
In 2001, I contacted a big adoption agency in NYC and was told that they only dealt with childless couples. I kind of understood, but was still crushed and really felt like we lost her. I even called another agency here on Long Island, but they never returned my call.
We figured it wasn't going to happen so we tried on our own to have another baby, trying for that girl. During this time a coworker of mine told me about the agency he and his wife were using to complete their family, FTIA, and he gave me your website address. I asked him how he was able to adopt, he had 2 sons, when I was told you had to be childless. He assured me that it was allowed. I was skeptical and did not want to get my hopes up. By December 2002 I had the address for a few weeks. That month we went to my oldest son's holiday concert and sat right in the front row. The chorus came out to sing and lined up right in front of us. A little girl on the end could not fit up on the platform. She was the cutest little thing singing right in front of us, an "Asian Angel." We could have taken her home right there.
That was it, right after Christmas I started checking out FTIA's website. I read every page, it took hours. Then I started looking at the family stories and at the end came upon Tori's Story. A picture tells a thousand words. There was 3 boys and their baby sister. I was sold on FTIA.
We sent in our application in early January 2003 and finished our dossier at the end of April. Our DTC date was May 8th. Now we just had to wait. At the time it was an 11-13-month wait. So the summer went by and we figured we would be in China the following summer (2004). China then sped up the process and started doubling up months. We were happy, but also needed to get better prepared since it was all happening so much faster than expected. We had to switch bedrooms around get the 2.5 year old out of his room and crib and save money.
On January 22nd we received our call from Kate. I was at school and my morning class was just leaving, perfect timing so I could maybe hear the information above my heartbeat. It was Lin Chun Yun a beautiful baby girl from DianBai. The next day we received her picture and it was instant love and desire to get her now.
In the following weeks we decided to bring our 2 older boys with us to receive our daughter and their sister. We wanted them to be a part of the experience, so they can someday tell her the story of her adoption and their feelings. We are so glad we brought them. We came home as a well bonded family with many stories of the trip and of Nicole.
On March 15, 2004, we met our beautiful baby girl at the Gaungdong Center of Chinese Adoption Affairs. There were 7 babies from the same orphanage. We were the first to receive our baby being that our first name starts with "A." I could hardly breathe. Then there she was, she was handed to me. I didn't even notice her Auntie. She never cried, but I did. She just looked at me the boys and her new Dad. Other babies came in the room crying, she just looked around like she was trying to assess the situation, really processing it.
Then we headed back to the White Swan Hotel. The bus made her a little nervous so I sang to her and she calmed right down. When we got off the bus her new big brother Chris made some silly faces at her and she laughed. What a great site. All our worries were over. We went up to the room, gave her a bath, which she loved, and just stared at her while she laughed and ran around the room.
It was almost unbelievable that we were half way around the world and had her with us as a family now. Bonding was instant for us. We loved her instantly and she loved us. What a happy girl!
The trip was long and hard at times, but so worth every minute. We learned so much about China. We met wonderful people fram our group that we hope to keep in touch with indefinitely. Of course the best part was being united with our Nicole. If we didn't now have 4 kids we would do it all over again, with FTIA, of course. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Doris, John, James, Christopher, Robert, and Nicole our "Asian Angel"
