Featured Adoption Story of the month  

Our adoption story starts out a little different from most. We had already
been blessed by God with two beautiful children. Kyli was 4 ½ and Dillon was
3 when we began our adoption journey. We always knew that we had wanted a
big family. I was an only child who had grown up longing for a brother or a
sister. My husband Garrell was the oldest of five who enjoyed being a part
of a big family. When the subject of a third child came up, I have to admit
I was much more hesitant than he was. We had already suffered through two
devastating miscarriages and I could not fathom going through that pain
again. Also, when I was pregnant with Dillon I was sick—really sick—for 7
of the 9 months. I became anemic, borderline diabetic, and I was huge! It
didn’t seem to matter that I wasn’t eating but boy did I pack on the pounds!
The delivery was also rough with an anesthesiologists’ mistake giving me
slight, but permanent, back problems. Needless to say, the thought of going
through THAT again was not appealing. After many months of praying and
thought, I came back to the material on international adoption that we had
gathered after one of the miscarriages. I poured over it, remembering that
it was me more than Garrell who had been interested—though I knew he would be
receptive since his mother was adopted in Germany. We had both watched a
television special on the orphans in China and decided then that IF we
adopted someday, that would be the country we would go to. Now how would I
remind him of all this five years later?

One rare night when we were at a restaurant by ourselves, Garrell brought up
the subject himself! As we were eating, he mentioned that maybe God was
trying to tell us something and we should consider adoption. It was all I
could do not to let the fork drop out of my mouth. So the rest of the meal
was spent talking about the possibility. That very night, we went to my
parents’ house to use their Internet to look up any information we could
find. Of course we started with China and I poured over every piece of
information I could find. After calling many agencies and talking to a lot
of people I settled on an agency in Austin, near us. When I finally called,
ready to get started I was told there were no ifs ands or buts about it China
was not going to let us adopt because we were not yet 30. This seemed so
incredibly cruel. I asked her when it had changed (it was 25 the first time
we were interested), could we adopt a special needs child, etc. Every answer
was no. I felt that day that a huge brick on fallen on top of me. I did not
know the next step to take since I had spent weeks researching the paperwork
part of the China process (obviously with outdated requirements). However,
God knew our next step and led us back to the Internet where we found our
beautiful daughter on rainbowkids.com.

My husband and I sat before the computer screen looking at all these gorgeous
little faces. How in the world would we ever choose? Then there she was!
The second I saw her I drew in a little breath. My husband, stoic as he is,
commented on how pretty she was. We continued on looking at the other faces
but I already had my answer. Over several days, we kept going back to the
same picture without telling each other. When we finally figured out that we
were both looking at the “girl in yellow” we knew then that it was time to
take then next step. We contacted the agency representing her, World
Partners Adoption, and were on our way.

My callback came from an angel in disguise named Mary Reilly. I asked all
kinds of questions, which she patiently answered (and would continue to do so
over the next couple of months). Yes, the little girl was still waiting on a
family, she was 12 mo. old, she was in Kazakhstan, etc. Kazakhstan? I knew
I had heard the name but really had no idea geographically where it was. If
I had only known then how important that wonderful country would become! The
next couple of months we busied ourselves with the paperwork aspects of the
adoption process with Mary and Cindy and Jim Harding (the directors of WPA)
patiently guiding us every step of the way. It all seemed to go rather
quickly while we were busy. We hoped to travel that summer while I was off
from teaching and Garrell could take off from work easily. Shortly before we
would have received travel dates, we found out that adoptions were going to
be put off for a while so that the government could make some amendments to
the laws regarding adoptions. That was definitely the longest couple of
months of our lives. Without God (who I still think was trying to teach me a
lesson in patience!) and each other and our kids to keep us busy I don’t know
how we would have made it through without driving Mary, our coordinator nuts.
(Though, actually, I think I did that too!) Then “the call” came!

It started as an e-mail that there was a possibility that we could soon have
travel dates. I literally fell off of the chair I was sitting in! I called
Mary and then Cindy and with baited breath we waited. When we got the final
go-ahead it was go-ahead full steam! We had less than 2 weeks to get there!
It was a frenzy of getting this or that and driving all over the state of
Texas the day before we were to leave to meet FedEx planes here and trucks
there for visas and plane tickets.

On September the 11th, we tearfully left our two children and the DFW airport
for Frankfurt, Germany. Met there by another adoptive mother, we all seemed
as if we could not believe this was actually happening. We stayed in
Frankfurt, where we met another couple who would travel with us, for 2 days
enjoying the sites but really anxious for the next step. On September 13th
we left Germany for Samara, Russia. What an experience! Going through
customs was a little intimidating but we survived and on the other side of
the big swinging door was our wonderful team of interpreter, drivers, etc.
We left Samara for the 5 hour drive to Uralsk, Kazakhstan, Ali’s adoptive
city. We arrived about 4 am local time and had to be up early the next
morning for a meeting at the courthouse—but who could sleep?

Bright and early next morning, we were up. Unfortunately, I did not feel
well at all. I tried to push it to the back of my mind but I had this
sinking feeling I was really sick. We pushed on and went for our meeting. I
propped myself up against a wall during the other two families’ meeting (the
cold felt good) and wobbled down when it was our turn. However, halfway
through the meeting I could feel myself passing out and grabbed for a nearby
table. Needless to say, I made quite an impression! For the rest of the
trip, if I ever saw anyone at that meeting they inquired as to how I was
feeling! It must have been nerves because the second they asked me if I
still wanted to go to the Baby House I felt better!

The 5 minute ride to the orphanage seemed like an eternity. Then the wait
for them to go and get her was even longer. Then there she was! In a big
yellow crocheted jacket—our “girl in yellow” was wearing yellow the first
time we met! She was more beautiful than our pictures or video showed. Her
eyes were beautiful, her hair auburn, and then there was the fantastic smile
that we saw in that first picture! It was definitely love at first sight.
She was instantly comfortable with us and even the caretakers could not
believe how well things were going. The next 14 days were spent visiting
twice a day, learning more about our beautiful child every day. On the 15th
day we nervously went to court. The only thing that they were concerned
about was my lack of stockings on such a cold day! It went smoothly and then
she was ours! Tears flowed, and, in his excitement, Garrell even grabbed and
hugged the judge! Later that day we went to pick up Ali and to say our
“good-byes” to all the wonderful people we had become so attached to. There
were her primary caretakers, the massage therapist (whose room we used for
our daily visits and who referred to herself as “Babushka” for the kids),
the doctors, nurses, everyone. The ceremony was truly bittersweet. They
were all grateful that our children would have homes but sad, for themselves,
to lose a child they had raised as their own for their entire lives. I, too,
was sad that Ali would not remember these wonderful women who loved her and
cared for her until we could get there. She was truly blessed to be raised
by them. I still get teary-eyed thinking about these wonderful women and the
pain they endure every time they say good-bye. I could never thank the
people of Kazakhstan enough for the gift that they gave our family.

The next week went quickly. We flew to Almaty for paperwork and to visit the
US Embassy and then on to Moscow! We regretted not getting to see more of
such a beautiful city but we were so anxious to get home. On October 7th,
2000 (2 days before her sister’s 5th birthday) we arrived home, after 2
missed flights, to a crowd of people. I saw the balloons and signs before I
ever saw their faces! My family had turned out to welcome us home. Watching
my children meet their little sister for the first time is something I will
never forget.

Life in the Cotton house has now settled into a routine. Yet every night as
I tuck my children in, I know how blessed we are. God led us right to our
beautiful Kazakh angel and World Partners as well as blessed us every step of
the journey. And for that, I am forever grateful.

Susan is now an adoption coordinator for World Partners Adoption helping
other families realize their dream of building their family through adoption!
To find out how to start your own journey, contact World Partners Adoption
at 1-800-350-7338, email WPAdopt@aol.com, or visit the website at
www.worldpartnersadoption.org