Benji's referral picture
Our number one reason why we have chosen to go to China and work with orphans with special needs is Benji. He has opened up our eyes and hearts to the plight of these beautiful children and through him God has made our path clear. Many of you have asked how we came to adopt Benji so I thought I'd share his story. I remember the 1st time Dennis and I talked about international adoption. We were sitting in a coffe shop in Noblesville, IN before we were married. I can't remember who started the conversation but one of us said "I'd love to adopt internationally someday" and the other said "I've always wanted to do that too". The conversation didn't go much further than that but it always remained on our hearts. Before the subject ever came up again, we were blessed with a beautiful biological baby, Emily. She was a wonderful baby and we enjoyed her so much! Then, when she was 18 months, I was ready to add to the family but I just didn't feel right about another pregnancy. Yes, as some of you know, I had a horrible pregnancy with Emily but it was more than that. I realized I couldn't bear to have another bio. child when there were so many other children out there that needed homes. Please know this is only what felt right for me personally; I think it is wonderful for others to have children biologically or through adoption; any gift of a child is wonderful.
We talked about doing foster care, but that didn't feel right. Then we started talking about adopting from China and adopting a child with special needs. We both had extensive work experience with people with special needs and felt God had been preparing us (although we didn't know it at the time) to parent a child with special needs.
A year and a half passed and we were finally at the place where we were ready to take the plunge! When looking at various countries, we were saddened to find out how expensive adoption was. Then, when we had all but given up, I stumbled upon Hong Kong adoptions. This was the first I'd heard of Hong Kong adoptions and come to find out, they only do special needs adoptions AND the cost was half of what most countries were. I ran outside to tell Dennis and he said to go ahead and request some info. Well, we did and in the mail received 2 profiles of boys with Down syndrome. PERFECT. I had always secretly wanted a baby with Down syndrome although I felt weird telling people that and here they were 2 beautiful boys with just that. We read through both of their profiles and family histories and thought "how in the world can we pick 1 and say no to the other?" We prayed about it and after reading that his birth mother had several previous abortions but chose to carry this baby to term, gave me peace that God had allowed Benjamin to live so that he could be with his chosen family - us! Dennis is very interested in the meaning behind names and he was still a little torn so we looked up both of the boys' name meanings and Darion (Benjamin's name given to him at the orphange) meant "precious present". We both started crying and knew without a doubt he was our son. We contacted the adoption agency that day and asked that he be "put on hold" for us. Emily was very excited too, especially after we explained to her that she didn't have to share all of her toys with her new baby brother.
The other little boy? He was adopted soon after Benji to the perfect family for him and now lives in MA. God is good.
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