Our Story
We adopted our son Shen in November, 2004.A
Child Waits gave us grant money to adopt Shen,
for which we will be forever grateful. Here is our story:
In August 2003, our family adopted Bao Shi Nong (Bao) from Shenzhen, China.
He was a bright five year old with a contagious smile. He learned English quickly
and adjusted well to our family. However, he grieved openly for the loss of
his best friend in China, Shen Bao Long. He begged us every day to "go
to China and bring Shen Bao Long to Texas". He always pointed out that
he had extra toys, clothes and a bed for him. Finally, after much prayer, we
felt it was God's will that we pursue the adoption of Shen Bao Long.
Our adoption agency was able to secure his file, but we had no funds for the adoption, since we spent all our savings adopting Bao. Thanks to relatives, A Child Waits, and other organizations, we were able to pay for Shen's adoption and finalized in November, 2004.
Shen was seven years old at the time and
very happy to be reunited with his best friend and now brother. Shen had experienced
many transitions in his short life - abandoned at four, then the orphangage,
then a foster home. We faced many challenges with him the first year probably
due to his fear of this being just another stop along the way. Now, after two
years, I can truly say he is happy, adjusted, and he loves his family.
We are so grateful for the role "A Child
Waits" played in our adoption and know
that God has truly blessed us with two beautiful biological daughters and two
beautiful adopted sons.
Todd, Henriann, Melanie, Cina, Shen and Bao Catteau