Our Story of God's Blessings Through Adoption
Alaina Brooke JiaCen, our sweet baby girl, joined our family on "Gotcha Day" May 23, 2004. Since we have been home with Alaina, nearly 20 families have decided to adopt. Alaina has this charm about her that encourages families to buy plane tickets to China. This is the story of Alaina's journey to our family and how she charmed us into adopting a baby brother whom we named Hudson.
Alaina's journey began many years ago with a short passing thought. As a young child, Trina occasionally thought about adopting some day. The thought crossed my mind while in college. This was no coincidence as God planted the love in our hearts to love another child that did not come from us.
We were married on June 2, 1990. After being married three years, we lost our first baby to a miscarriage. One year later, in 1994, Alexis was born. Zachary followed shortly thereafter in 1995. Skipping a few years, Joel Bron was born in 1998. God blessed Trina with wonderful, healthy pregnancies while she continued to teach aerobic classes and serve as a personal trainer. After an easy labor of two hours and Joel B's easy birth, Trina began to bleed which required 12 units of blood over a 24-hour period. I wasn't sure if I would have to care for our children alone. God spared Trina's life and she left the hospital knowing that we would adopt a baby girl.
Busy with our children (ages 4, 3 and a newborn), I would laugh at Trina when she would talk of adding another child to our home. After two years of researching adoption, Trina didn't think I was funny any more. She prayed, researched and talked about adopting all the time. The children just assumed we were going to adopt a baby sister for them. Finally, when the children got older and easier, I sensed it was time. Though our hearts were in China from the start, God took us on a detour.
While our intentions were initially to adopt from China, we were "detoured" to Florida as God was leading us to a wonderful domestic agency. Race didn't matter. We wanted a baby girl to love and we knew a baby girl somewhere, needed us. One day, we finally received the call from Florida. One week later, we found ourselves on an airplane going to care for "our" baby in Florida. We had her for one day--before the mother changed her mind. The mother took her home with her as we left empty-hearted. Again, we had lost a baby. We had her in our hearts for one week and had already planned the rest of her life. We were heartbroken.
Six more months had passed before we received another call from the domestic agency in Florida. This time the baby was only 12 hours old. Yet within 24 hours, the mother had changed her mind to keep her baby. Again, we had lost another baby and our hearts continued to be on an emotional roller coaster.
After waiting a year, God began again to impress on our hearts that our baby was in China. Little did we know she was soon to be born on the other side of the world. We began the China adoption paper-chasing process in the spring of 2003. We felt totally at peace with our decision. We knew our baby was in China.
One of the first things we did was schedule to be fingerprinted by our government. Our fingerprint date was April 1, 2003. Little did we know that Alaina was born that very same day. She was found on April 1, 2003, at the gate of the hospital, all bundled up, with a note that told the Chinese authorities about her birthday. While in China, we were able to visit the outside of the hospital and took many pictures of the area around it. While standing there in the streets of FengCheng City, we could only imagine what it must have been like for this mother to release her child. We knew she must have stood at a distance, as she took one last glance at her beautiful baby girl. We pray that Alaina's birth parents know that she is happy, healthy and loved.
Within a few short months, our paperwork (called a dossier) was in China. Seven months later, we received the phone call with the news of Alaina, who was awaiting us in China. After the phone call, we rushed to our computer for our first sight of our sweet baby girl. She was beautiful! We were in love. All of the waiting would soon materialize into the person of Alaina. A few short weeks of packing and we found ourselves on a plane going to China. We met our travel group of eleven other families in San Francisco, California. From there, we traveled together the entire trip. Our agency, Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI), has wonderful representatives in China. The representatives are in each province and speak the local dialect. The dialects in China are so different that the local dialects become a different language even though China only claims to have two spoken languages. This makes it very difficult for the people to communicate with others in different provinces. Having CCAI representatives who spoke the local dialects and lived in the town helped make the trip feel like a vacation. We stayed in five-star hotels, ate at the most elegant Chinese restaurants (for about $6 a meal), and Trina had time for some great shopping.
Our flight from San Francisco landed in Beijing. While there, we climbed the Great Wall and visited tributes to the many Chinese dynasties. From Beijing, we traveled to Nanchang, which is the capital of Jiangxi province. As soon as we arrived, our CCAI representative met us at the airport with the news that we would receive our babies in a few short hours. Incredible excitement and nervousness filled the airport as we hurried to the bus. After carrying our luggage into the hotel, we had a group meeting. Soon, we were off to get the babies. It's impossible to describe the emotions at this point! After having experienced the miracle of birth three times, the experience of meeting Alaina for the first time was incredible!
From the time we got off the bus, the adrenaline was pumping. Half of us had biological children and half of us were experiencing the "birth" of their first child. We had waited so many years for this moment, and within minutes, our babies would be in our arms. It's extremely difficult to explain the miracle that took place that day.
At the same time, it was so simple. We all stood around in a small room waiting and watching as each family's name was called. It wasn't long before they called our names. We simply walked up to our baby and the sweet Chinese nanny released her as Trina reached for her. We walked back to the back of the room, holding tight to our precious Alaina. She was ours. Almost all of the other babies were screaming. These precious little ones had never seen people that looked like these Americans. The babies in our group had been loved and cared for by loving foster families all their lives. Alaina was strong and tried not to cry. She was scared, with tears in her eyes and her little chest was pounding. What a precious little face, and little hair that stood straight up on top. She was beautiful! Holding her close, we decided that maybe Cheerios could help the moment.
Within 24 hours, she wouldn't let go of Trina. She cried instantly when Trina would leave the room. The Snuggly was a blessing. Within 24 hours, she said "Mama" and looked for "Da da" but didn't want me to hold her. Within 48 hours, she could blow a kiss. We learned quickly, her most favorite time of the day is after dinner. She entertained in China with all our friends and she continues to entertain her brothers and sister at the dinner table every night. She has an amazing smile that melts our hearts. It didn't take long for her to sound out, "Daddy, Daddy" when I would enter the door at the end of the day. Within a month, she had an amazing comprehension of everything that was said. It wasn't long that she was saying everything she heard. Her vocabulary was the same as an American born child and actually, she could talk at a very early age. Now, at age 4, she never stops talking and singing. Alaina is incredibly smart and continually amazes us.
After returning home, it just felt like she had always been with us. God created her inside her biological mother for our family. He knew before the creation of the world that Alaina would be in our family forever. He knew it and planned it just as clearly as He planned Alexis, Zachary and Joel B. She was made for our family and we were made for her.
As a result of Alaina's amazing journey, we have dedicated ourselves to helping other families experience the joy of adoption. We began speaking as volunteers at CCAI seminars shortly after we returned home. During this time, Trina felt those desires to buy plane tickets to China for another little one. Our story repeated itself again. I was happy with four. Our very first seminar, God spoke to me very clearly that it was time.
We started the process to adopt Hudson from China in June 2005 and had him in our arms on “Gotcha Day”, March 19, 2007. Again, God had planned this little guy for our family. Hudson loves the kids so much, laughing with them all day long and the kids adore him. It feels like he has always been in our family. We cannot imagine life without him.
Within 6 months of returning home with Hudson, God brought another sweet baby boy into our lives. We saw his picture on October 10, 2007 and had him in our arms on July 20, 2008, 9 months later. Read more about Benjamin's Story.
Looks like the girls are out-numbered in our house. We are so excited and feel so blessed by God, the one who created each for our family.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. Proverbs 3:5-6