China Hearts - Adoption Journey

Today was our turn to post at 28 Days of Hearts , a blog dedicated to telling the stories of 28 adoptive families, all with children from China who have some form of congenital heart disease. Many hearts have been repaired, some are in the hospital, and others, like Joshua and Joy, are still waiting. 

Joshua FanKang and Joy MeiNi

Adopting a child with life-threatening special needs is like volunteering to have your heart broken.” Dana

I cannot tell you how the seed was planted. This thing called adoption.

Our life was finally settling down after 10 years of foster care, ministering to many children and families, eventually saying yes to five children needing a place to call home.

Yet God kept calling. That small little persistent voice whispering, “You can do more because I AM asking you to. Open your heart!”

On paper the whole idea of adoption, never mind international adoption, was pretty ridiculous. We had eight kids. Our income was not enough by most measuring sticks.  Medication that was against the rules. Several adoption agencies turned us down. Only one agency stated we might adopt a child from Ethiopia above the age of seven. Oddly, instead of being discouraged, we waited and hoped.

One fine day in November of 2010, I came across his picture on the side of a blog. Heart jumped. Everyone agreed he was incredibly cute. Husband completely on board? Yes.

Head over to 28 Days of Hearts and read the rest of the story. We hope that others will be inspired by the stories told there. 

Adopting a child with heart disease is scary? Yes. 

Rewarding? More.