Adoption Associates, Inc: Domestic Infant and International Adoption Agency

Charlie and Kim

Our adoption story started when I (Kim) was a very small girl. I prayed my parents would adopt. I begged them, but to my frustration, they would not. I know now that God was preparing me to adopt. The desire never left me and I can see now the trials I had to face in my life were part of God’s adoption plan for me. The timing had to be right and in 1997 it was. (I met Charlie!) We talked of adoption even before we were married. Charlie said, “We will see.” My desire kept growing—and growing. Charlie saw this was something strong in me so…he called AAI. We started the paperwork for our first adoption. We waited for 14 months for our miracle from China. On July 19, 1999 they placed Goa Anrong in our arms. She was seven months old and weighed only ten pounds. We named her Soijer Glory. She was perfect! What a gift. Words fall far short to explain that day. I had waited 30 years for this, and it was here.

Now Charlie wanted to adopt again and we weren’t even home from China yet! Our whole trip was great. There were no problems. The country was amazing. AAI took care of everything.

We were home about nine months and knew the time was right to adopt again. We got our paperwork together and waited 18 months for our referral. On December 13, 2001, the gracious people of China handed us Hei Dong Zhen. (We named her Journie Joi Zhen.) She was 13 months old and looked at us as if to say “Hi Mom and Dad. What took you so long to get here?” Later that day the orphanage director giggled to Ming Hua He, AAI’s international adoption coordinator, and said, “I remember that child—naughtiest one in all orphanage.” That might have been an understatement! This baby sparkled. Every day with Journie became an adventure. She is so full of life.

We were home five months and we left for Ulan Ude, Russia, to get Mackoi Vadim. He was 26 months old and about 18 pounds. He was undernourished, could not walk alone and had various other problems, but his smile was HUGE. His caretakers were stunned because they had never seen him smile before. Mackoi knew. We knew. He quickly became Daddy’s boy. Now we had a three year old, a two and one-half year old, and a two year old. We thought we were done, but God had other plans.

On December 19, 2003 we took home Judson Jericho. He was three weeks old, seven pounds, and African-American. His birth mom was HIV positive and Hepatitis B positive, but it didn’t matter. He was ours. He was tested at 18 months and he is totally healthy. This child is amazing. Wow! More miracles.

Then we saw his face on the waiting child list. Zion Renat. A beautiful African Russian child. His future in Russia was bleak because of his African heritage. We placed his picture in our home and prayed a family would come forward and adopt him. Well, it turned out we were praying for ourselves! We were the family. So on October 28, 2004, we took Zion home from St. Petersburg, Russia. He was 21 months old.

It has been two years since our last adoption. Soijer is now eight, Mackoi is six and one-half, Journie is six, Zion is three and one-half, and Judson is three. Now when we are asked if we believe in miracles we smile and say, “Yes, we have five.”