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"Each time we have added one we used to say we were done. Now we know we are not and we love it, the number is out of our control and I guess we will be done when we are done."
outside of horse shows and know what Sophie was com- ing from. When we got back, life settled into a 'normal' horse life routine, Mike had Sophie in a back pack, Eddie set fences and I rode. It was unusual but fun." "Then somewhere along the line in 2005 we decided
"We decided we were definitely DONE now!!" And as she laughs her eyes sparkle and flash. "But as fate would have it, I read a book about Ethiopia
that she could not be the only Asian child in our family so we adopted Holly (20 months old). She had a cleft lip and pallet and was so adorable! We began working with Asian agencies trying to find homes for more children and again in 2005 we added yet another child to our family. Mikes niece, Catherine (11 years old) became our next daugh- ter, our family was certainly growing and we thought we would be done and take a break." "But as things go, we saw Kai Kai (4 years old) in late
2006 and we knew that was our son. Because of disabilities he was just a couple of days away from being 'retired' in the adoption system and would spend the rest of his child- hood in the orphanage. He had the most devilish grin, we fell in love and could not let that happen...!" "During that time I was working with an agency to find a
and the six million aids orphans. I said, 'Mike, we need to go to Ethiopia, I am plagued by the thought of those kids.' And Mike got us all tickets, it was then 2009." A Christian Missionary had called about a new child who
only weighted three pounds with little hope of survival. We immediately knew this child, Mahlia, was our daughter and she would survive and thrive, and in spite of all the odds she is amazing and wonderful now. Eddie Macken is her God Father and loves that child." "Last, but not the least, at the present time, we are cur-
child, Ruby (7 years old), a family. I found one but before the adoption could go through the families own son was killed in the Virginia Tech shootings and they could not go through with the adoption. That left 48 hours before Ruby's file would be 'retired' and we simply could not let that happen so she joined our family, we were again grow- ing and loving every minute of it!"
Because We Don’t Fit in Anymore.......By Stefani Ellison Stefani runs China's Waiting Child program for Children's
House International and is herself an adoptive mother of 9. This is an excerpt from a piece she wrote:
because it is a process and there is actually no end. Yes, the adoption is completed, but its effects last a lifetime. Your mind is changed, your heart is changed, and you are no longer the person you were when you began.
There is a reason that we call this an adoption journey. It’s
rently in the paper chase for Jonah (2 1/2 years old) from Ethiopia. Hopefully by late summer or early fall we will have this one at home with us, his family. That gives us a total of eleven kids and we love each of them. Each time we have added one we used to say we were done. Now we know we are not and we love it, the number is out of our control and I guess we will be done when we are done." And she settles back in her chair laughing. In 2008 they made a decision to relocate to the small
town of Sand Point, Idaho. Jennifer explains the move in her matter of fact way, "We loved this town every time we laid over there on the way to Spruce. They loved our fam- ily, we wanted a different way of life for the children so we moved on to thirty six acres and a seven bedroom house
visit, your own eyes never see the world the same again. Most of the world doesn’t get it. For those who do, we must stick to- gether because otherwise it’s a lonely place. For those of us who continuously hear in the back of our minds the crying of the children left behind, we cannot rest because we cannot forget. There is no silence. Our friends, our spouses, our families may not understand, and we ourselves may not understand why we cannot make the crying stop or make the urgency end. So we do what we can. We give what we can. And often, we join in the crying.
When you look into the eyes of a child in the orphanage you 59
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