Part One:  How The Family Got Started. (Continued)

Chapter Six~

I. Room For One More?

It just didn't make any sense whatsoever. 

We had previously adopted 11 children (most with special needs), but every time Bill or I looked at their sweet little faces, we couldn't help but think that we wanted an even bigger family.

The children kept us hopping, especially Mariko, Johnathon, Ronee' Le-Anne, Barbara, Jae Mee, and Stephanie.  Stephanie had attitude to spare: she was always challenging our authority as her parents; she kept threatening to take her brother (and herself) and move back to Canada.

Jae Mee (who would eventually be called Jodie in a few months) continued to take up a lot of our time: she needed diaper changes up to six times a day, was tube-fed up to five times a day, and needed care in just about every aspect of her life. 

Ronee' and Johnny continued to battle with ongoing  health problems; they became "frequent flyers" at our local hospital's emergency room. 

Anh needed chemotherapy and was often doggedly sick from the treatments; he had those up to three times a week.  In addition, he battled with ongoing "night terrors" and phantom pains in his stump (he had previously lost his leg to a bout of osteosarcoma [bone cancer] when he was only six years old).

You would think such events would discourage us from wanting to add to our family, but you couldn't have been more wrong.  There were so many other children "Out There" in the system, children who were considered "unadoptable" because of age, racial/ethnic background, health concerns, or behavioral issues that warrented constant monitoring/attention.

We knew we wanted to add one more to our growing "International Family", as we called our brood.  From two children, our family had swelled to eleven ... and we wanted desperately to adopt even more children!

II. A Tiny Peanut And Other Oddities

This was about the time when we heard about two girls (one from Iran, the other from Guatemala) who were congenital amputees (plus they both had other health concerns).  Once we saw their pictures that the adoption caseworker had sent to us in the mail, we were smitten.  We knew we had to adopt them.

Little Bapsi was eight years old and was deemed a "tragic case".  In other words, she was "unadoptable".  Bapsi was born with spina bifida that left her lower half paralyzed (she was in a wheelchair and would probably never walk); in additioin, Bapsi had serious lung/breathing issues that required oxygen, and she was born without arms.  She needed complex care; she was virtually helpless, unable to do anything on her own.

Then there was eight month old Enriquesa Maria Elena.  Also born an amputee, but unlike Bapsi, she was born without arms OR legs.  A congential quadruple amputee.  She was a congenital achondroplastic dwarf, meaning that if she did have limbs, her limbs were shortened whereas her trunk was of normal size.  She would probably never be taller than 3 1/2' tall when she got to be an adult.  She would always be tiny in comparison to most children or even most adults.

Bill and I made plans to start the adoption process.  We both wanted desperately to add Bapsi and Enriquesa to our family.

Besides Bapsi and Enriquesa, there were others in the offing.  A little boy, an infant orphan from Vietnam, named Tri, who was healthy but nobody was willing to adopt him.   Another infant, a little girl from Korea who was blind: she was born with congenital cataracts in both eyes.  Another unwanted child: a throwaway.  Her name was Sun Hee.  A brother and sister trio from Vietnam; the two girls were healthy; as for their brother, he was not: he had been born with spina bifida and was a paraplegic (paralyzed from the waist on down).

Once we saw theese children's faces, we couldn't say no.  We started plans on adopting them too: we wanted to add them to the family as well!

If the plans went through, we would end up with seventeen children!

III.  Waiting.  Oh, The Endless Waiting!

We completed the mounds of paperwork.  We had thorough medical checkups from our doctor; we were soon cleared to adopt.  One big hurdle accomplished!  We endured several in-depth "home studies", to make sure that our home and property were "compatable" to accomodate children with special needs.  No problem, since we already had several children with complex medical needs and seemed to be doing well with them (most of the time, anyway).  That was nerve-wracking, but once we got the okay, Bill and I both breathed huge sighs of relief!

The waiting seemed interminable, but the demands of the children we already had put our minds on the task at hand: caring for the kids, loving them, making sure they had all they needed, and praying for them when they were sick and/or ended up in the hospital (for whatever reason). 

By now, Bill and I were becoming fairly comfortable at dealing with life with children.  They proved to be great kids, full of hugs, cuddles, kisses, and surprises.  We adored each and every one of them, even when they tried our patience, but as long as we laid the Family Rules down and let them know that we were in charge, they eventually learned to listen to us and to respect our authority as their parents.

That was how we first became a family.  Little did we know what lay in store for our brood.

End of part one.

~To be continued.~