Posted July 19, 2001
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27 NIV)
For the past ten years one of the single women
in the Cincinnati Church of Christ
In April, 2000 that woman, Patti Kellett, began
the process of adopting a child. The process is a rigorous background check
that can be likened to a top security clearance for a U.S. government position.
However, a government security clearance is paid for by the employer; individuals
must pay for their own background check to able to adopt. In fact, including
the agency fees and travel, it is quite costly to adopt - approximately 20,000
US dollars. Of course, the total price varies according to the agency one
chooses to use. Ms. Kellett had chosen to work with
HOPE for
Children, the HOPE worldwide adoption agency. It is this author's
understanding that the HOPE worldwide
After that, Patti waited! For eleven months she felt she had just fallen into a black hole. She didn't hear anything from the Chinese agency handling the adoption. She second-guessed herself. She second-guessed God. At times she felt depressed. At times she felt happy and excited. Sometimes she felt butterflies. She sometimes wondered if she was doing the right thing. She started collecting things for the baby. She would put the things out, then box them up and put them away, then get them out again. She dreamt about the child. She got scared and began to think of all of the "what if" questions. She sometimes became confident (after an awesome quiet time, reading inspiring stories in the Bible and praying to God) and then she would get scared again. She prayed a lot during that time of waiting. Then the delivery day arrived. Patti's delivery day was the day a photograph and medical report was delivered to her via her fax machine.
In March of 2001, a picture of Patti's baby and the baby's medical report were mailed to HOPE. HOPE then faxed the information to Patti and she loved that picture with all her heart! She cried. She screamed for joy. She called everyone then called everyone back looking for someone who could read Chinese! Then the realization hit; Patti had a beautiful, healthy, baby girl waiting for her love! The anticipation and excitement were so overwhelming she could just barely stay in control of her senses. How was she going to be able to wait until she could go to meet her daughter? But the time passed quickly for Patti.
For more information on HOPE for Children Adoption Programs, visit them at http://hopeforchildren.org or cal 1-800-522-2913
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thought about adoption. But they were just
passing thoughts. They were the kind of dreams that quickly pass through
one's mind. Then, the singles were challenged to write down three dreams
and really go after them. That spurred one dreamer to face the challenges
of making her dream a reality.
adoption
agency is like no other; the staff did everything possible to make the experience
good from beginning to end. Once the background check was completed, the
paperwork was sent off to Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) for
approval. Then INS sent the papers to China.
On May 11, 2001, Patti's plane departed
from the Cincinnati airport. Patti met up with other adopting parents in
Los Angeles. From Los Angeles they flew to Guangzhou and then on to Changsha.
There they all completed the remaining paperwork and applied for passports
for their babies. What an ordeal! The passport-producing machine broke; the
Chinese staff couldn't prepare the documents. Patti began to pray! With God's
help the adoption assistant and the individual in charge of the paperwork
worked all night to get the job done. On May 13, 2001 - Mother's Day in the
U.S. - the new mothers received their beautiful gifts from God, their babies!
Patti's daughter is named Laurel. Laurel meets all Patti's expectations!
Patti has been rewarded daily with smiles of unconditional love. Patti has
learned to trust God more and has learned the grueling lesson of patience
as God has blessed her with Laurel.
