Our story
Our
adoption story actually starts before we got married. I used to
hear my parents talk about adoption and somehow it grabbed my heart.
Helping widows and orphans, how do I do my part? Before my wife
and I got married, we both talked about adoption being part of our
future.....fast forward 14 years and we had three biological kids.
As we were sharing our faith with our kids (8,5, and 2 years old at the time) one day and talking about others in need, our kids said to us that we could help someone that needed a home. This was our cue...we had been discussing the idea recently 'here and there', but now we knew it was time. We went through the process...took out a 401k loan and had a magical adoption experience.
OK, it wasn't magical, but it was a decision that we made with God at the center and we brought Lily, our youngest supernatural (adopted) daughter home from China the following year. She was 3 and a half years old at the time, she didn't speak English, and we didn't speak Mandarin or Cantonese. It was hard and it was worth it.
As we were sharing our faith with our kids (8,5, and 2 years old at the time) one day and talking about others in need, our kids said to us that we could help someone that needed a home. This was our cue...we had been discussing the idea recently 'here and there', but now we knew it was time. We went through the process...took out a 401k loan and had a magical adoption experience.
OK, it wasn't magical, but it was a decision that we made with God at the center and we brought Lily, our youngest supernatural (adopted) daughter home from China the following year. She was 3 and a half years old at the time, she didn't speak English, and we didn't speak Mandarin or Cantonese. It was hard and it was worth it.
Sister stories
My other daughter, Katie, is watching me write this and says "I helped during that part...to be the translator". She really did. She's two months older than Lily and they share a room together and went to preschool through kindergarten in the same class. When we or the teachers couldn't understand Lily, we would turn to Katie...or she would just jump in and help. She usually knew what Lily meant or needed and would often rise to her defense on occasion. They were almost like twins except Katie was also very mothering in the process to Lily. My wife remembers when Katie once introduced Lily to a preschool mom... "this is my sister Lily, she's from China and we look exactly the same".
Here's Lily talking about her day in preschool.
She actually answers me asking her name in Mandarin here. She answers "Nini" which means pretty little girl. That's part of her middle name now. She was very good at repeating at this time.
Click on on one of these links to help with adoption expenses.
(not tax deductible, but less fees )
PureCharity.com/team-mayfield-adoption
(tax deductible and grants can go straight to our Adoption Agency)
(tax deductible and grants can go straight to our Adoption Agency)
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