Jaden's call

It seemed to us that our family was complete. With our marriage strong and with two wonderful children of whom we are so proud, it seemed that we were on the standard path to empty nesting and to enjoying having more free time.

However, in 2011 I began to sense that this was not the case.

A friend of ours had adopted a child from China, and in fact we knew three couples in our small community who had all adopted from China (one couple having adopted twice).

Our friend would occasionally mention a child or post on Facebook a child in need of adoption, and I began to hear the call. My husband was not hearing it yet, though, so I let it rest for the rest of 2011 and into 2012.

By the Spring of 2012, both of our kids were off at college and were doing very well, and my husband and I had settled very happily into the new routine of empty nesting.

The idea of adoption had never been one that my DH had even really considered, so when I had brought it up to him in 2011 he was not very receptive. However, it would appear that God had his own timetable in this matter.

In February 2012 my husband also began to think about adoption, and as we began to discuss it the realization and understanding came to both of us that we were supposed to keep investigating.

Both of our kids were surprised at first, but were very supportive of the idea of having another child in our family. We talked amongst ourselves and discussed the major changes that this would have on our lives for the rest of our days, and about how it would affect all of us in so many ways.

As my husband and I considered adoption, it became more and more clear to us that we had a son already in China who was waiting for us to realize it. This kicked the research into high gear, and on April 28, 2012 we found our child.

This is our story about bringing Jaden home