Our Journey To Adopt

Our journey started when I was pregnant with Spencer. I had a dream in April 1999 of my Dad holding a little girl with tons of black hair. My Dad had passed away August 13, 1998, so to me it was pretty significant. That was the whole dream just him holding a little girl. Then Spencer came, then Drew, then Max; where is the girl with black hair?!

Four years ago in January 2006 a feeling that something significant would happen to our family. Then little feelings that someone was missing. Max was not even a year old and I was pretty overwhelmed. So that thought was quickly dismissed. Then little things would happen that would get my attention. Like reading an article about a family who adopted from Guatemala or standing in line in Disney Land and having a lady out of the blue tell me her story of adopting her little girl from China. My heart was touched. But not enough to do anything about it. Then it just started, I couldn’t get away from it. I would see something on TV about adoption, hear an advertisement on the radio, see a billboard on the freeway. It wasn’t just about adoption either it was China. Everywhere I went I was remined of China. I felt like there was a neon sign blinking "Hello you need to adopt from China!"

Finally I prayed and basically said "Heavenly Father I have my hands full. If this is something you really want us to do. It needs to fall in my lap. I don’t know where to start or what to do." The next day my mother-in-law threw me a LDS Living magazine while I was at her house. It fell open to an advertisement from an adoption agency that specialized in China Adoptions. I showed Brendon. He had that "deer in the head lights" look in his eyes.

We went home; I knew what we needed to do. Brendon looked up China adoptions on the internet. It was then we learned about their one child policy, and I sat there in disbelief. Really!!!

But for me there was no way I could turn back. Brendon needed some time to digest it. Then one night Brendon after he had been praying about it he came into our bedroom and told me, “We have a daughter in China. We have to go get her.”

So there we sat two nobodies who haven’t gone anywhere or done anything out of the ordinary, living in a small town. We were feeling very unqualified. I asked Brendon how? He said call that adoption agency and turn it over to God." And so it began…

From that moment in July to September of 06 I would wake up and feel pushed to get paperwork done. Then one evening I had an experience as I was falling asleep. I could feel her with me. It was very distinct as I could feel when she was there and when she was gone. I felt that maybe she was worried I would forget about her or give up on her. At the time it made no sense. I had spent the last 3 months eating and breathing her adoption. Then the China adoption back log came.

For reasons no one knows the wait to adopt from China went form 12 months to 3, 4, 5 years or longer. About 3 years passed, the urgency faded, and I nearly gave up. I didn’t understand why all of this happened.

So last February during Stake Conference those familiar feelings came again. I still didn’t understand. I now had 5 boys. Ben was born a year earlier in 09. I realized that I didn’t know what overwhelmed was when I had just 4 boys. So again came a mother's prayer..."Okay Heavenly Father, where are these feeling coming from? Help me to understand and come to terms with all of it."

The next day, Ethan came down in the morning and said "Mom I had a crazy dream." "Oh yeah" I say "Tell me." "I dreamed you had another baby." I laughed and said "yeah you're right that is crazy." "But mom" he says "she came out walking." Oh… "But you know Ethan that is not happening. I have my hands full."

Later that day, the adoption agency called asking if we would be interested in a special needs adoption. My mouth was saying things and asking things I hadn’t thought of in years. Then I called Brendon to tell him what happened. I didn’t see the deer in the head lights look in his eyes but I felt it. Needless to say, we were on the path to finding her again by the end of the day.

After a few months I saw her face in May of last year. After almost four years I saw my little girls face she looked like an angle to me. It was amazing!

Then as most of you know on Sept 27 the day after my birthday, we found out that our little girl passed away. I called Brendon heartbroken. I kept saying "it can’t end this way. After all of this.... this is how it ends." Less than an hour later he called me to let me know we could be sealed to her. Brendon's boss felt the same way I did and put a call into the temple and found out that she could still be ours. It made sense now to me. No wonder I could feel her by me that night. No wonder she was worried I would give up.

On Saturday November 6th she was sealed to our family. Wei Zong Oui now had a place to fit. I presume she was greeted, hugged, loved, kissed, and warmly welcomed into our family by those on the other side. My Dad and grandparents, Brendon’s grandparents, and all of our family on the other side would have opened their arms to her as a family member. Now, finally, she had a place to fit in. She now has family, someone who loves, and will care for her. She has someone to be with and learn from until we can also join her and be with her.

Then on Oct. 19 we found our Liddia Xin our second daughter. Brendon happened to check our phone messages that night before going to bed. He said "Rachelle Amy called (Amy is our adoption coordinator) she locked a file for us." "Yeah right" I said, "that's not funny." So he played her message for me. Sure enough it was Amy saying she had locked a file for us. Her message is still on our phone today. It reminds me this is real we have found our daughter. We prayed before we opened Amy's e-mail. Before even opening her file Brendon knew it was her. I saw her sweet face and grabbed his hand. It was her!! We had now found our second daughter. The more we read about her the more we fell in love. God works in mysterious ways.