A Child Waits Foundation
Adoption Grants & Adoption Loans
International and Domestic Adoption
Family Stories
International Adoption 2017
In 2017 we awarded grants to help 192 children to be adopted from 24 different countries. Some of their wonderful pictures and links to their adoption experiences are below.
Jaden - China 2017
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for helping us to bring our son home to his family. I can’t put into words what it means to help a little boy in a crowded orphanage find his way home to his brother, sister, mom, and dad; who have been so anxiously awaiting his arrival. We are truly blessed beyond words.
Our family is together and our hearts are full – for that, we thank you! We could have never funded this adoption on our own. Thanks to your generous assistance, we didn’t have to wait to bring Jaden home. Thanks to you, there is one less orphan! We’re still amazed at the miracle of it all, and so grateful to you!
Martine & Marquise - Haiti 2017
We are home!
Jamilyn, our son, Joseph and myself left for Haiti on Thursday, June 22nd and picked up our visas from the Embassy early Friday morning and then left for the orphanage. We arrived early in the morning in time to meet the girls' birth father, Marc as they said their goodbyes.
We then spent the requisite next few days in Haiti, enjoying the pool together, eating and playing, and touring some of Haiti's beautiful countryside. It was a great mini-vacation to start this journey together.
We arrived home last Tuesday and reunited with our two other children, Judah and Jubilee. This past week has been one of settling in as a new (larger!) family, making appointments, and enjoying our expanded family. We are excited tonight to celebrate the girls' first 4th of July fireworks display!
We can't thank you enough for helping make this possible for our family. Without your generous support (and accompanying prayers!) this could not have happened!
Liam - China 2017
Hello!! I am so excited to update you all! We have been home for 4 weeks tomorrow! We had the most amazing experience in China and loved every minute of it! Our son Liam is doing amazingly well, he is a happy and healthy little one and we love him so much. It is hard to even remember a time he wasn't a part of our family. We are all bonding and loving being a family of 5. Thank you so much for helping us in this process and for helping us to bring Liam home to his forever family.
Emma - China 2017
Tiffany and I felt God calling us to adopt for several years. We had served as foster parents for 2 ½ years; seeking to adopt domestically, but God chose to close that door for us. Discouraged, and frankly a little jaded by the foster care system, we pushed back from the idea of adoption for several years.
After the birth of our third child, we again began to consider the idea of adoption. For us, it was not the idea that we were going to “rescue a child”, but that there were children out there in the world who deserved to love, and be loved. We began to consider adopting internationally, but knew the costs were significant. We weren’t sure where the money would come from, but after prayer and reflection, we felt that this was the direction we were being drawn in.
Though we were diligently applying for grants and contributing as much of our own funds as possible, we still had a long way to go, and there were no guarantees that we would meet our goals. It was at time that A Child Waits Foundation stepped in and assisted our family with meeting the financial milestones that were required to continue to adopt.
We’ve been back from China with Emma for around 3 months now, and we can see the faithfulness of God’s hand throughout our journey. The team at A Child Waits Foundation played a huge role in being the hands and feet of Jesus to a little girl in an orphanage in China.
Our family is beyond blessed and forever thankful to A Child Waits Foundation!
Q - Vietnam - 2017
As an eternally grateful A Child Waits grant recipient, I wanted to send you a wonderful update from our family that you helped make possible. It was such a relief to know that through your generosity and kindness, the financial burden of adoption legal and travel costs was lightened for us. I am so happy to report that my son is home forever and we are a grateful family. Thank you for your financial assistance.
My son, Q. has been home from Vietnam with our family now for just over one month, living on an American military base in the country of Japan. He is extremely bonded to me, and has been from the very beginning. Q. also showed immediate attachment to my sister and niece (his aunt and cousin), who traveled to Vietnam with me for the adoption process. He absolutely adores them, especially his aunt, perhaps because she was also adopted from Vietnam as an older child and understands the challenges he is facing. Q. clearly feels very confident in knowing that we are his family and that our situation is a permanent one that will last forever. He knows that he can look to me for all his basic needs and never-ending love. He is primarily of a positive mindset and seems to have overcome his initial grief and homesickness, for the care center, that he displayed during the first nine days post-placement. I can confidently say that Q. appears very much at home in our small family of a single parent and our dog, which he adores.
He is doing extraordinarily well with regards to adjusting to massive amounts of change and a new environment. Living in a foreign country other than the United States is an opportunity that he seems to welcome with open arms and enjoys trying new foods, visiting stores, and meeting new people. We moved into our new home one week after arriving home in Japan, and he adjusted to his new physical environment very well, understanding that the move into the family housing community was to ensure that he lives in a neighborhood full of other children and with close accessibility to his school and resources. Since being home, he has had the opportunity to attend a large-scale air show, an American birthday party, and dinner invitations to the homes of many family friends, many of whom are native Vietnamese refugee Americans.
Q. is learning English through an experienced private in-home tutor for two hours each day, five days each week. He is making much more progress reading and pronouncing words with the tutor than he had been when I was attempting to tutor him on my own, which is positively reassuring. He joined our family with the ability to say only two English phrases, and now one month later is able to respond appropriately to some simple questions in English. He remains home with me for a total of two months post-placement and will begin school on or about November 01, 2017, where he will be enrolled in 9th grade and the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program. I plan to request that he receive speech therapy in addition to the ESL resource. His private in-home English tutoring will continue two weeks into his school attendance, with the option to continue for additional weeks.
Our family has a significant support system here in Japan that allows us access to needed resources, as well as continued interaction with his Vietnamese culture. Both of Q.'s dentists are not only my friends, but are also native Vietnamese refugee Americans and speak Vietnamese to him. One of those dentists, born in the same province as him, actually sacrificed her personal lunch time to schedule appointments with him so that he could begin immediate dental care with her specifically. This same dentist also sacrificed her personal lunch time to accompany him to his oral surgery consult to serve as an interpreter and his other dentist has hosted us at his family’s home for dinner. Q.'s optometrist is also a native Vietnamese American and speaks Vietnamese, personally rearranging her schedule to ensure he was provided an appointment with her in a timely manner. The church we attend every Sunday morning is comprised of about 30% Vietnamese young adults here in Japan on work visas, which provides Q. with more opportunities to speak to others in his native language and make new friends at the same time.
In closing, I am immensely relieved that my son is embracing our new family with openness and acceptance. I love him more than life itself and hope that our time together is one that imprints positive examples of love, education, opportunity, and respect. I am grateful for the chance to be his mother through the miracle of adoption. Thank you again.
Redeat - Ethiopia 2017
Today marks two months after returning from Ethiopia with our newly adopted daughter Redeat. After 3 weeks in Ethiopia we were very grateful to return home. We had a few little bumps on the flights home but we made it safe and sound!
Thanks to A Child Waits Foundation, Redeat will once again feel the love and security of having a family. She is in a safe, loving environment where we will do everything possible for her. The possibilities of her future are limitless!
Redeat is loving having her own room, clothes that are only hers, and being able to have an environment where everything is wheelchair accessible!
Words cannot express the appreciation of your generous gift to our family. We were in the last step of our adoption and worrying about some in-country costs and flights home for our family. Because of the the grant provided by A Child Waits to our family, we were able to bond, create memories, and start learning how to be a family of 4 together in Ethiopia.
There is always stress, worry and unknowns in adoption. But with the help of A Child Waits Foundation we were able to focus on our little girl and our new life together.
Again thank you for helping us complete our journey.
Judah - China 2017
You were SO instrumental in helping us complete our journey to Judah. We could not be more thankful. Our words are falling short to express the gratitude we have for the generous grant you provided for us.
This boy is SO PRECIOUS!!!! He laughs and lets us rock him and hold him. He came home 7/29/17 and he said his first word yesterday. He has been transitioning well considering the time change and jet lag. He is the perfect caboose to our family. We are smitten with a capital S! I hope these pictures, the first being his referral picture to the others with him being home..... help you to see the joy in his face and the sense that he is beginning to understand he is part of our family and loved. I can not believe how much I love this guy and had no idea what I was even missing. Thank you for saying "yes" to us. Thank you for providing when we needed the assistance. Thank you for helping an orphan to have a forever family!!!!!!
Wu - China 2017
We got our daughter, and found her to be very sick and more malnourished than we knew. It is so good we got to her quickly. What a blessing that was. She is home, she is lovely, and she is an absolute treasure. She just turned two. She is learning to walk slowly, and she is learning sign language fast as we try to bridge the gap in her language delay. She is so smart!!! She will have her second open heart surgery in 6-12 months to repair her valves and patch the A.S.D. hole. We pray for her continued growth and health. Thank you for helping us get to her quickly. She is absolutely perfect, and we adore her. We send our love and thanks!
YaYa - China 2017
Our journey to China was unforgettable and filled with many lasting memories and impressions that will be shared for generations to come. The reunion with our YaYa, who we had hosted 10 months prior through Cradle of Hope’s Bridge of Hope Summer Program, officially joined our family on May 15th.
We felt nervous about the reunion and whether he would remember us from the previous summer. The 10 month wait time seemed unimaginably long for us; we couldn’t imagine whether he had been told we were coming to bring him home or what was running through his mind.
Our family day occurred in a dark, somewhat dingy hallway of a governmental building in Taiyuan. We were waiting; together with our guide, for the government officials to come and for the representatives of the orphanage to bring YaYa. Suddenly, he came running down the dark hallway like a crash of thunder, screaming, “baba, baba” and leapt into the arms of my husband. After what felt like forever, my husband set him down so that I could press my tear-filled cheeks on his smiling face.
I brought a photo album with me, in the event he didn’t remember us, so that he might feel more comfortable. I began showing him pictures from the last summer when he visited. He began to answer in Chinese and dug out all three albums that he had kept from our care packages. He not only remembered us, but also his brother, Markus, who was waiting at home.
After proudly showing us his albums he packed them back up and put the suitcase in my hand. He grabbed my husband’s hand and began leading him down the hallway. He told the caretaker from the orphanage, in Chinese, “it’s time to go home now” and started leading Bryan down the hallway. We were all in tears. It was one of the most beautiful moments of our lives.
He not only remembered us but was ready to begin his new life as a part of our family. The following 12 days spent in China were peppered with appointments and questions about when it was time to take the big airplane. YaYa did well being patient and explaining his needs by gesturing. Even in China he began experimenting with his use of English. He picked up several body parts and a few numbers. I am very confident that he’s going to do very well with language acquisition.
He has been home for two weeks today and is doing very well getting adjusted. He is sleeping in his own toddler bed and walking around like he owns our house. We are so happy that he feels at home and getting along very well with our 22 month-old son, Markus.
Our house has never been so full of laughter. The boys chase one another around roaring and laughing. The belly laugh of our almost 2-year old often brings me to tears. Markus is so happy to have a brother and we are just so thrilled to have another son.
The adoption process would not have been possible for our family without A Child Waits Foundation’s financial support. Thanks to your grant we were able to proceed with making YaYa a member of our family. We are so grateful for your support of not only ours, but countless other families’ adoptions. Our son YaYa has found his forever family and has blessed our family with the joy of having a second son, a brother, nephew, cousin, grandchild, a great-grandchild.
Through our adoption, our entire family has a renewed appreciation of the good that this world holds. We feel blessed beyond measure and will never forget the pivotal role A Child Waits Foundation has played in making the dream of bringing our precious YaYa home our reality.
Jenna - China 2017
Xiao Ying (Jenna Christene) and I thank you very much for the adoption grant. It was a huge help with the expenses associated in traveling to China. The above pictures were taken in China. We stayed at the Victory Hotel which was about ½ the cost of the Garden Hotel but I thought it was very nice and in a fantastic area. The Victory Hotel is located in an old historic district which made me feel safe when walking around. Daily we were able to walk to a beautiful park which was next to the river. We were also able to walk to a spice market, a fish market, and a modern mall which had several options for eating. We loved exploring and talking to people.
While I was in China a good friend of mine posted on Nextdoor that she had a friend adopting from China and wondered if anyone had clothes/toys that they wanted to get rid of that would fit a 5 year old. The first night I was home she called me and said she had a surprise for me. She brought over 7 huge bags of clothes and toys. What a blessing! Jenna now not only has clothes for winter but summer too.
Jenna is an amazing little girl. A few days after we arrived I noticed that she had unscrewed the lids off two water bottles. I was thinking to myself what is she doing. She poured part of her water into my empty water bottle and handed me my water bottle. Last night I posted on Facebook about Jenna and some of the comments I received made my eyes tear up. Jenna saw tears in my eyes and went upstairs. She came back with some tissues. What a thoughtful little girl. She is a happy, smart, loving little girl with such a big heart for a little girl. I believe she has a very bright future and you are partially responsible for making this happen so thank you.
Angeley - Colombia 2017
We just wanted to take a second to thank you so much for your generous gift that was so critical for our adoption journey, especially when it came to travel and lodging. We began this journey in our hearts over 10 years ago but got real serious about it the last 3 years. We just knew God was calling us to adopt from Colombia, South America. The reason is my wife was born in Colombia and came over with her family to the States when she was 3 years old. So with the blessing she has received in this country and in our faith in Jesus Christ, it compelled us to give back and serve/love others. To make a long story short we just got back a little over a week ago. We adopted a 7 year old girl named Angeley. She already fits right in to our family. We realize its the honeymoon stage but what an incredible stage we are honored to be in. Attached are two pictures. One of just Angeley in our home and the other is us, with our attorney in Colombia as our adoption became final. Thank you again for helping to change a child’s life forever.
Nadia & Magdalena - Poland 2017
When Justin and I decided to start our family through adoption, we had no idea the journey we were embarking on! After months of waiting for a traditional referral, we saw pictures of our beautiful daughters through a waiting child website. We immediately felt that they were our children and began the paperwork necessary to adopt them. As we were hoping to travel to spend Christmas 2016 with our little darlings, we instead received the devastating news the the agency we were using had been disbarred and our adoption could no longer continue being processed. Everything we had invested through that agency was lost, but we longed to continue the adoption anyways. We were able to transfer to a new agency, but our adoption was at a stand-still. Finally, after a year of painful waiting, we were able to travel and complete our adoption. We officially became a family in January of 2018!! A Child Waits helped us with our travel expenses as we had lost thousands of dollars during the process. We truly would not have been able to complete this adoption as smoothly as we did without the generosity of the people at A Child Waits. Thank you for helping bring our family together!
Siphahle - South Africa 2017
For as long as I can remember I've wanted to adopt. I used to say I would adopt at 30 even if I wasn't married. I never dreamed that I might NOT be married at 30. When I hit 30 and single I wasn’t foolish enough to think being a single mom would be easy. So I waited, still fully believing that someday I would get married and then we could adopt. A few years later I realized marriage might not happen for me. I wanted to be a mom but to be honest I didn't want to raise children on my own. I decided to let my dreams of having a family go and embrace the life God gave me. I was truly content and happy. That's when God told me to adopt. I didn't jump on it, in fact I hoped I was hearing God wrong! But after a series of events that are way too unbelievable to call coincidences, I chose to follow God's leading.
On August 23rd, 2017 I adopted my son in East London, South Africa. My theme throughout this entire journey, especially that last few months, has been that God can, and will, take care of my every need, and he'll do so above and beyond what I think is possible.
At the beginning I didn't even have the money for the initial payment, but God told me to get started anyway. He has provided every step of the way, including the A Child Waits Foundation grant. This grant covered a significant portion of my travel costs. What amazes me is that I prayed for a specific amount of grant money, what I thought I needed to cover my costs without going into debt. God answered that prayer but he also gave me more than I asked for. God provided so dramatically for this adoption that on a single teacher's salary, I came home from South Africa with all my costs covered and no debt.
I'm so thankful to everyone who supported me on this journey, especially the A Child Waits Foundation sponsors and donors, who helped make the adoption of my son possible. My heart is full, I can't believe I'm finally a mom, that I have a son whom I love with my whole heart. Thank you for removing the barriers to adoption. In our case, two people's lives have been forever changed for good because of you!
Jamescia - Haiti 2017
My baby is finally home!
In June of 2013, my life forever changed. I met my beautiful daughter, Jamescia Chéry. She was 3 months old and living at an orphanage north of Port Au Prince, Haiti. After returning home to the states, I began working on the lengthy dossier for the adoption process. As a single mother, I often wondered how I would get through the financial demands of the adoption, but I never questioned if it was something I was supposed to do. The maternal instinct was a constant internal drive to get me through each difficult step of this adoption. I was fortunate in being able to bond with my daughter during the process because I lived and worked in Haiti for over a year.
There were many hurdles with my adoption, due to Haiti becoming part of the Hague Convention after my process had already began. After 3.5 years, my daughter is finally home! I can’t imagine her transition being any better. She is such a happy and healthy child. She is surrounded by so much love from her family and friends and experiencing many new things. Her presence has forever changed our lives and we are better because of her! Her smile is contagious…her personality brightens a room and she fills the air with laughter. We are so grateful for Jamescia, “our miracle baby”.
I do not have the words to express my gratitude for A Child Waits Foundation, from the emotional to financial support that was given to make this adoption complete. The staff were understanding and empathetic of the difficult circumstances I encountered with the process. I often wondered how I would afford the “next step”, as there were unexpected expenses throughout the adoption.
I will forever be thankful for what A Child Waits did for Jamescia and I. May the staff and the work of A Child Waits Foundation be greatly blessed as well as all those who support the foundation.
Lia - China 2017
Dear Members of A Child Waits Foundation:
Thank you for your generous gift toward our Chinese adoption! Sun Li Yuan has been home now for nearly four months. Lia is energetic, curious, the world biggest extravert, and the joy of our family. She is learning and growing by leaps and bounds. It's been so fun seeing her funny and friendly personality emerge! She loves the outdoors, and isn't shy to try to try new things, food, and activities. Our biggest challenge is establishing boundaries, like not touching/ taking things that aren't hers, or being affectionate toward strangers. She is calming down and speaking English well. She is a dream come true and sometimes it's still hard to believe she is finally home! We are thankful for your generosity and being a part of Lia's story.
Ben - China 2017
We wanted to write and thank you for your generous grant that our family received for our recent adoption. We have been blessed by your foundation twice, and our family is grateful for the grants you provided. We landed in the US one week ago, and our family is doing great. Ben (we are still calling him ChenChen, his Chinese nickname) is adjusting well. We had some rough days in China, but now that we are home, and have some structure to our days, it is going better than expected. ChenChen is loving having two brothers to play with and our house is even louder,and more silly, than before! Thank you again for your generosity, the grant came at a perfect time before travel and allowed us travel without putting travel expenses on credit cards, and we were able to focus our energies solely on our family.
Carly Ro - China 2017
Six months ago you awarded me a grant to help with the final expenses for the adoption of my daughter. I was two weeks from travel, plane reservations made and hotel reserved, but still $5000 short. I was holding a garage sale that weekend to try to make up some of those much needed dollars. Your grant added to what I made at the garage sale, was exactly what I needed to get on the plane and bring my daughter home.
My daughter is beautiful. She is everything that I could hope for in a daughter. I am so incredibly grateful for your help and for having the faith in me to assist me in becoming a mom to this wonderful little girl.
Mason - China 2017
It's hard to believe it's been 6 months since Mason has joined our family. In many ways, it's as if he's always been here. He's transitioned beautifully into our family. He is so full of joy, light and optimism. We just know God has special plans for this boy.
Currently, he is very into dinosaurs, the TV show, PJ Masks, and he loves dressing up like super heroes.
In school, he's doing very well with math and art. He is well -loved by his teachers and classmates. He received speech therapy twice a week, and next year, he'll undergo surgery to repair his palate. He has braved many doctors and dentist appointment without complaint.
This past month, he visited his first pumpkin patch where he got to ride a pony and feed goats. He is very excited about all the leaves and pumpkins that come with the fall season.
We want to thank you again, with all of our hearts, for partnering with us to bring our son home. We cannot express the relief it was to come through the other side of this adoption journey without massive amounts of debt. In fact, we actually completed Mason's adoption completely debt-free-a true miracle.
You will forever remain in out hearts, and be a part of our family.
Santvana - India 2017
Thank you so much for helping our family with a grant to bring Santvana home from India! This was our second international adoption, and the second time to be blessed by the generosity of your organization.
Our trip to India was a beautiful and unforgettable experience. We think back often and cherish those precious memories. Santvana loves her new life in the United States. She bonded to our family right away, she is very smart and affectionate, and has the most wonderful sense of humor. She can roll her eyes in many funny ways and, of course, immediately taught this “skill” to her new sister when they met in India. She fits into our family perfectly, and we are happy that she is here. She joined her three siblings who are at a similar age, and our house is filled with four lively preteens.
Thank you again for helping us to bring Santvana home.
Lucy - China 2017
We were awarded a grant in September of 2017. We were and are so grateful for the grant we received from A Child Waits Foundation. We received this grant with perfect timing to help with our travel costs just weeks before we left to meet our daughter. She is learning English so quickly and using 7-8 word sentences after being home for only a couple months. It was such a special thing to have her home with us for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our girl was made to be in a family. She just started preschool and loves it. She loves the snow. She loves her dance class. She is a joy.
Words cannot express our deep gratitude for the part the A Child Waits Foundation played in our adoption of Lucy.
Merrijo- China 2017
Hello, we are the "T" family. John and I have been married 24 years and have two precious daughters, Lucy and Merrijo. We have been blessed twice through God's gift of adoption. Recently we traveled to China to welcome Merrijo into our arms and family! She is 2 years old and is a precious bundle of joy and energy! She is compassionate, silly and loves to play, especially jump! Her name which is a different spelling of Mary Jo, means "desired child" and God is gracious". 'We chose the spelling of her name because we were filled with merriment and joy when we heard the wonderful news of our daughter!
Early on in our marriage, we knew we would like to have children and openly discussed the possibility of adoption. We had been in the adoption process 7 years, patiently waiting for God's plan to unfold for our family when we were matched with our first daughter, Lucy. She was adopted from China in 2013 at the age of two, and is currently 6 years old. Being parents has brought an abundance of joy in to our lives. We've experienced a depth of love and happiness in our hearts we never knew possible. As older parents, when we decided to pursue adopting a second child, we knew realistically after the challenges (changes in China's adoption regulations) and length of time it took during our first adoption that we may age out before being matched with a child. We followed God's calling, began the process, and were blessed with our daughter, Merrijo, in less than a year and a half! God's timing was perfect in placing both of our precious children into our family. We are in constant awe of God's amazing love, and so thankful we followed His call, and had the patience for His plan to unfold for our family.
We are so thankful to the donors of A Child Waits Foundation who make it possible for adoptive families to welcome their precious children home. Homes of love, and one in Christ. Our family is continuously blessed with laughter and love, tickles and kisses!
Mia - Tanzania 2017
On December 24, 2017, Mia became the best Christmas gift we will ever receive. After a four year adoption journey we became a family of three. From day one Mia was all in, we were Mom and Dad and she was our daughter. She was six years old, brave, confident, curious and clever. God equipped Mia for the grand adventure He had planned in advance for her.
Over the past year we have been able to experience so many “firsts” together. There is something magical about seeing a six year old full of awe and wonder swimming, flying on an airplane, eating ice cream, seeing an elderly person, riding a bike, playing in snow, meeting family, riding an escalator, speaking German, and seeing her new home for the first time. And the fantastic thing is, these moments just keep coming. One of Mia’s most spoken lines is, “I did not expect that.”
Munich, Germany is home for us where Mia attends German school in grade one. She is a crazy combination of Tanzanian, American, and German with a sassy twist. She speaks German, English and is holding on to her Swahili. We work for Young Life, an interdenominational Christian organization. As a family we share our lives and faith with teenagers from all over the world. The kids love Mia and she loves them. We’ve gone on lots of Young Life adventures here in Germany, Austria, Scotland and even in Mia’s home country of Tanzania. Life is good. Serving together as a family is an enormous blessing. Thank you for being part of our adoption story. Thank you for your encouragement and support while we waited in anticipation to bring our daughter home and start living life together. Thank you for a lifetime of laughter, joy, love and crazy. You have made an everlasting difference in the lives of three. Thankful, Grateful, Blessed!