Kai-Lan.  Kai-Lan Michelle.  Our new daughter.  Born in China, but now our own, through the miracle of adoption.

Our adoption journey started over a year ago.  We applied to adopt a child:  any child, boy, girl, baby, toddler, older, teen; disabled or healthy--didn't matter.  As long as there was a child in need, we'd be happy to take him (or her) as our own.

When the adoption agency called to tell us that we'd been approved, we cried with joy.  We immediately started getting the necessary paperwork together, had our home study, filled out the necessary medical information:  anything to bring us closer to our potential child, we were more than happy to do, no matter how much stress it brought to us.

We soon heard from an adoption agency, Little Bundles, who had a child-in-waiting for us, a little two year old girl in China who had some special needs.  She was in desperate need of a family who could take her as their own, love her, raise her.

The child's name was Kai-Lan.  Kai-Lan was a beautiful peanut of a girl, with straight, jet-black hair, huge, obsidian eyes, and a round face that held a scared expression.  From the nose up, she appeared normal:  from her mouth down, she was a mess.  She was born with severe cleft lip and palate; she was in need of surgery if she ever was to have any chance of a normal life.

The sight of her broken face upset us.  It was too much to take in all at once.  She couldn't eat because of her messed-up palate and mouth; she was fed by a stomach tube, where liquid nutrition could be poured down it, heading directly to her stomach.  She was at risk of respiratory illnesses; she'd already been hospitalized over six times before she was even a year old.

As we looked at our potential daughter's face, we learned to look past the abnormalities, see her as a child with a disability that could be fixed if it was of our choosing.  She would have a sense of hope once she would have the surgery.  We tried to picture her after the surgery:  we could see in our mind's eye, a giggling, happy, smiling little girl who would charm all who came into contact with her.

The thought of her looking like any other child brought joy to our hearts, gave us a sense of hope.

About five months later, we got the call that she was on her way to America.  We'd spent the past several months, getting the house ready for Kai-Lan's arrival; we'd even added on a child's bedroom that would be the envy of any little girl; her roon was now ready and waiting for her.

We immediately left for the airport to meet our new daughter. 

~End of part One.~