Journey for Julie: Witnessing God’S Glory Through Toddler Adoption in China

By Stephanie Sydes

Journey for Julie is unique in that the reader is able to follow along with the author as she travels through China to adopt her daughter. The reader is invited to witness the miracle of adoption and discover how God uses trials and setbacks to bring spiritual growth, even half way around the world. The author hopes to answer the question many adoptive families have. What happens once you get there? Experience the thrill of finally arriving in China, the heartbreak of being stranded in Beijing, the ecstasy of Gotcha Day and the adventures of coming home to a new family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Mar 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456735753

Stephanie Sydes

Stephanie Sydes graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work. She later completed her Master’s Degree in Counseling. She married Chris and worked in the social work field until the birth of their son in 2003. In 2007 Chris and Stephanie welcomed their daughter home from China. They live in the coastal community of Hampstead, NC.

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Contents

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1

IN THE BEGINNING

2

OUR CHILD OF PROMISE

3

DAYS OF WAITING

4

FINAL PREPARATIONS

5

TAKING FLIGHT

6

FAR FROM HOME

7

WALKING BEIJING

8

HISTORY IN BEIJING

9

THE GREAT WALL OF FOG

10

DIFFERENT WORLDS

11

BAD NEWS

12

SHENYANG BLIZZARD

13

LESSON IN THANKSGIVING

14

SHENYANG, AT LAST

15

GOTCHA, JULIE!

16

RED BOOK DAY

17

DAY AT THE PARK

18

ABANDONMENT, ADOPTION,

AND FOSTER CARE IN CHINA

19

FINDING PLACE

20

SHOPPING AND PACKING

21

RUSHING TO GUANGZHOU

22

MEDICAL EXAM AND

US CONSULATE APPOINTMENT

23

ADOPTION OATH

24

FINAL JOURNEY

25

HOME AT LAST

AFTERWORD

PREFACE

When my husband and I first let go of all that was safe and familiar and began submitting to the will of God, we could not have imagined the works He would perform in our lives.

Our trust in Almighty God brought us to our daughter. This book describes our journey to her—the trials of our faith, the tests of letting go of our will, the bending and the breaking of our hearts—which brought us a blessing beyond our wildest dreams.

An old Chinese proverb says, An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. I say it is not an invisible red thread; it is our ever-present Father, the maker of heaven and Earth. Because of Him, our family is complete.

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you, Chris, for your heart and soul; Jake, for making me smile; Dad and Mom, for teaching me unconditional love; and Mike, for reminding me to go and live life.

1  

IN THE BEGINNING

Soon after Chris and I were married, the subject of children began surfacing rather often. Ever since our childhoods, we had wanted to adopt our children. We both felt that, because there were so many children in need of families, we should provide a home for some of those children. But as we began to look into the adoption process, it all seemed so complicated and overwhelming.

While we were still trying to work up the nerve to call an agency—surprise!—I became pregnant. Oh, how my heart filled with joy. Nine months later, the sweetest little bundle entered our lives. Jake was perfect. He was healthy, beautiful, and full of personality. But pregnancy did not agree with me, or with Chris, for that matter. The adoption process did not look so intimidating after childbirth.

A couple years went speeding by. Jake’s second birthday was fast approaching, and we kept hearing friends and family ask, When are you having another baby? God’s calling was loud and clear. For just as God has adopted us into His heavenly family (He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself … Ephesians 1:5), we were to adopt one of His children into our family.

We researched both domestic and international adoptions. We looked into the United States foster care system. But because foster children often return to their biological parents, we had concerns about bonding with a foster child whom we would perhaps not be able to adopt. We weighed many international programs on the basis of the ages and specific needs of the children available for adoption, wait time, travel times, and cost. After prayerfully considering all of our options, we felt in our hearts that our daughter was waiting for us in China.

As soon as we made up our minds to proceed, the devil began to pull our doubts to the surface. We questioned our decision and ourselves. We really didn’t think we could afford an international adoption, and we did not want social workers and government officials invading our private lives. Besides, adoptions like this take a long time. I wanted my daughter right then.

It was in this time that God first showed us He was in control. Through very generous gifts from our family and friends, we raised enough money to cover two-thirds of the total adoption cost. We also met two families who were adopting from China and who would be there to guide us through the entire process. With such promising providence, we said, Happy second birthday, Jake. You’re getting a sister.

Through more prayer and research, we were able to find a Christian adoption agency that had great references and was close to our home. On February 22, 2005, we contacted this agency, and the great paper chase began. I invested in an expandable folder and, over the next year, filled it to maximum capacity with the paperwork that would become our dossier. There were preliminary and formal applications, notes from an orientation meeting, birth certificates, marriage certificates, physicals, tax returns, letters from accountants, letters from employers, financial statements, power of attorney forms, criminal record checks, citizenship and immigration letters, passports, fingerprints, a home study, letters of intent, and pictures of us and our home.

At some point during all of this, we decided that our daughter needed a name. We could not keep referring to her as the baby, so she became Julie and secured herself a place in our hearts.

As in any legal process, we encountered holdups and complications. We met with an initial setback when our formal application was confused with that of a family with the same occupation as Chris. Then, we were waiting on approval from our agency, and unbeknownst to us, they were waiting on some more information from us. Additionally, we had delays in scheduling our home study, which took five months instead of one. We even experienced further complications when the notary publics we used all had to have commissions that would not expire for at least three years. Who would have known that notaries with such commissions were not easy to find? In addition to the paperwork delays, we had two eight-hour, round-trip drives to have our fingerprints taken for Homeland Security. Through ten months of work and every headache, I constantly reminded myself that everything would happen in God’s time, not mine.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Finally, on a cold and rainy December morning, I pulled up to a FedEx store to send our dossier to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). My heart pounded. In my mind, that paperwork was Julie. It was all we had that tied us to her, and I did not want to let it—or her—go. What if something happened to it? What if it got lost?

Reluctantly, I handed the package to the lady behind the counter.

This is my daughter, I informed her.

She smiled kindly and said, A woman was in a few minutes ago, sending her file to Russia. Where is yours going?

China. All the way to China, I replied with an exhausted sigh.

With those words, I realized I had done all that I could do. I said a silent prayer over the sealed envelope, thanking God for getting us this far and asking Him to deliver the package—our Julie—safe and sound. Then I let it go.

On February 22, 2006, our dossier was logged in at the CCAA. It was exactly one year after we had first contacted our agency. Then, the hard part began: the wait.

With that, we said, "Happy third birthday, Jake. You’re getting a sister someday."

2  

OUR CHILD OF PROMISE

In a packet of information we had completed for our agency, one of the forms was a Medical Needs Questionnaire. It was a list of all the possible medical needs a child could have. We were to complete the form by checking any medical conditions we would be comfortable accepting with our child. We carefully reviewed the list and then decided that we were only interested in a healthy child between birth and twenty-four months of age.

Early in the spring of 2006, God placed it on our hearts to reconsider our decision, which would have kept us from ever being united with our Julie. We met some families with special needs children and were moved by the parents’ unconditional acceptance and the ease of the children’s transitions. We did some research into what the CCAA considered special needs.

After some prayer and heart-to-heart discussions, we realized we could meet many of these needs. We felt we would be shutting doors on God if we did not keep our minds and hearts open to all