Another quote......What does the one child policy mean to real people?

This quote is from the same family. I would also direct you to the June 19 issue of "World" magazine which discusses the effects of this policy on individuals and the country as a whole.

"While shopping, we met a Chinese man, who speaks excellent English and runs a little shop here in China. He pretty quickly identified himself as a Christian and had a couple of Bibles on his desk in his shop. We had a great time talking to him, and he was very interested in our family and the work of our ministry. He shared with us that he and his wife, who have one eleven-year-old son, long to have another child. He approached the government a few years ago to try to get permission to get around China's one-child policy. He was told that if he and his wife had a second child, they would have to pay a penalty of 80,000 Yuan. This is equivalent to about $12,000-U.S. He decided that he would find a way to get the money to pay this penalty, but then he was told that he would also be required to give up his shop—his sole source of income. He and his wife were forced to let go of their dream of having another child because they knew that they couldn't lose their shop. Such a sad story. It's so easy for us to slip into criticizing our own government and taking all of our many freedoms for granted. Stories like this remind us of all we have to be thankful for in the United States—and how important it is to protect those freedoms we enjoy."

Touching Excerpts from one family's adoption journey

This is an excerpt from a family who are in China now to add a beautiful son to their family. They run the ministry that connected us with our first adopted daughter in 2002. This will be their 14th adoption and third child with spina bifida. They describe a flight they are taking with this precious 6 year old. It is a glimpse into the heart of international and special needs adoption.

"After a while, Owen lay down with his head in my lap and started to doze off. Every so often, he would start to fall asleep but would open his eyes and turn to look up at me, then sleepily reach up his hand to softly stroke my face as if he were trying to make sure I was still there. It brought tears to my eyes more than once. We learned yesterday morning that Owen was not abandoned until he was at least around three years of age, when he was left sitting in a bus station by himself—paralyzed and scared. He apparently has some memories of his life before the abandonment, and he reportedly shared some of these with the nannies at the special center in Siping. We were given only a few of these details—and hopefully they will share more with us later—but we got enough information to have a clear picture now of his little life up to this point. It has been a life punctuated by pain and fear and neglect and multiple abandonments during his six or so years on this earth. So heartbreaking to know even some of what he has gone through and that he actually remembers some of it. It's absolutely amazing to us that he is still so happy and open to trusting us after the betrayals in his life, but we have definitely seen signs of this pain in his sensitive little spirit and his fear of doing something wrong. It is our desire and our prayer now that he will be freed and able to learn how to just be a peaceful little boy who can rest assured that he has a family devoted to taking care of him for the rest of his life. We are continually struck by how blessed we are that God has brought this child to us. It is all very emotional and touches our hearts so deeply that we can't even find words to describe it. He isn't always a little "saint," and we have been glad to see him actually challenge us just a bit a few times already. But he is a really charming, resilient, brave, and genuinely likable little boy."

Travel Authority!!

We have received travel authority but it is so far away!!! We travel August 19th through September 3. Gotcha Day will not be until August 23.

A lady is visiting ChangDe SWI right now and she saw Cori at a ceremony celebrating the anniversary of the orphanage. She said she sat quietly on her Ayi's lap and was shy. Argghhh. It is soooooooo hard now to wait!!