Christina

Christina came into our lives at the beginning of 2002. She is our only niece and the daughter of Morgan's older brother Ben and his wife, Lucy. Ben and Lucy have a biological son named Shawn. Shawn is 13 years old now and continues to amaze us with his intelligence and musical talent. Christina was adopted from an orphanage in the city of Changsha (in the Hunan Province of China). In the winter of 2002, Ben, Lucy, and Shawn traveled to China and brought her home. As a family, we were delighted and overjoyed when she finally arrived. It took some time for her to adjust to her new permanent family and home but soon enough, she was blossoming into a vibrant, happy, and healthy little girl.

Morgan and I were newly married when Ben and Lucy were going through the long adoption process. At that point, we didn't know much about adoption but as we learned more, we were touched by it. We even discussed how we too, might adopt one day. Because it was so early in our marriage, we put it on the back burner but it never left our hearts.

We believe that adoption was planted in our hearts the day that Christina came into our lives. Ever since that day, I have had a great interest in adoption. So much so that I read books on the subject and watched any related story that I could find. Up until we made the decision to adopt ourselves late last year, I wasn't sure why I had been so drawn towards it. After all, early in our marriage, we thought we'd have a biological child first. Surely, I could've done all this "research" if and when we decided to adopt. Little did we know that God was preparing our hearts for this. It all began to make sense. God had planted this in our hearts from the beginning. We just didn't know it at the time.

Today, Christina is almost six years old. She is a beautiful, loving, sweet, witty, and courageous child. She has had her Uncle Morgan wrapped around her little finger from the moment she smiled at him. When they get together, it's very cute to see them play games like school and tea party. The two are inseparable. We cannot imagine our family without her and we thank God that she was meant for us.

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break."
-Chinese Proverb