I am a mother to 3 children. One by birth(now 23) and 2 by adoption from China(ages 6 and 3). We were blessed with our beautiful daughter Grace when we adopted her in 2003. I knew when we were in China that we would be back again to adopt. The trip to China, experiencing it's culture, visiting her SWI and adoption has changed both my husband and my lives forever and we can't imagine it any other way.

In May of 2006 we felt called again to adopt and started the process with our agency. At the time I didn't know much at all about the special need's program. I was a former Registered Nurse and worked for many years in children's hospitals in NICU's(Neonatal ICUs) and PICUs(Pediatric ICUs). As a nurse I cared for critically ill infants and children and supported their families. It was incredibly rewarding, but I saw much loss and some very sad stories. It was overwhelming at times and I felt like I knew too much about what can go wrong in some cases. We were honest with our ourselves and were unsure about adopting a special need's child. At that time we decided to go the non-special needs route and our dossier was logged in with CCAA in November of 2006. We were so excited in our letter to CCAA and asked to adopt an as young as possible little girl.

At the same time some dear friends from Grace's travel group also started the process to adopt their second child from China. From their agency's waiting child list they found a 3 year old little girl with a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired palate. They asked to adopt her and were approved. While we waited for our child, we saw their daughter come home, transition to their family and have her palate repaired. We also saw the miracle of a little girl who lived in a SWI for 3 years come to her forever family and blossom like a flower with the love and care of a family. My husband and I fell in love with "Emily." It was Emily that showed us what it was like to adopt a child with a medical special need.

After being logged in with CCAA for about a year I felt God was leading us to the special need's program but I didn't know how to proceed. After much prayer over several months, I felt that God was showing me that my nursing and medical background would be an asset to the child we would adopt and I strongly felt we were being lead to a son. In February of 2008 we spoke to our agency and changed our request from a little girl to a special need's boy OR girl specifically with a cleft lip and palate. A couple of shared lists came though and in April of 2008, 4 days before a family trip to Disney World, I received an email from our social worker with a shared list. There were many boys on the list. She also attached a list of 4 boys that only CCAA made available through our agency. I called our social worker immediately because there were 2 boys with a cleft lip and palate. She read me the description of William, where he was born, his age and his birthday and I knew right then he was our son and I hadn't seen his picture yet. He had a Grade 3 bilateral(both sides) repaired lip and unrepaired palate. The next day I received his referral and brought it to our pediatrician to look at. From then on the process really went at lightning speed. We were approved very quickly because our dossier had already been reviewed by CCAA. Later we found out that William didn't reside in a SWI but in the Hidden Treasures Foster Home in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Will had lived there since he was 3 mos. old and we also found out that his palate had been repaired too! We are eternally grateful to Deena and Mike and all the people who loved him and cared for him as if he was their own. William was placed in our arms on July 20, 2008. This little boy has blessed us with his presence from that day on.

As I write this 6 months later, William is now 3 years old and is a happy, energetic, funny, smart and loving little boy. He is all boy! He adores his Jie Jie and she loves her little brother dearly. William brings so much love and joy to our family. He is being followed by the cleft team here in Madison, Wisconsin where we live. His surgeon has determined that his cleft palate repair that was done in China "looked outstanding" and she couldn't have done a better job herself. He will not need a cleft revision presently. He had ear tubes put in recently which is typical of cleft affected children. Around age 6-7 he will have a palate revision to widen his palate to allow his adult teeth to come into place. He will be starting Speech services soon, though his articulation is pretty good because his palate was repaired early.

Sometimes the path you start out on isn't the one God had planned for you all along. I encourage anyone who is thinking about adoption to consider a child with a special need. If you have any questions I'd be most happy to answer them. I'm not an expert on medical special needs but can help you research them and guide you to resources that can help. You can contact me though our blog, which is http://agingwithgracetoo.blogspot.com

Gail, Dan, Nick, Grace and William Michael

Our first exposure to the plight of orphans was a few years ago when our church hosted the African Children’s Choir. The choir is made up of young boys and girls primarily from the countries of Uganda and Kenya who have lost one or both parents to poverty, AIDS or war. We opened our home for a few of the children to stay in for a few days, and our hearts were opened to a whole new world - the world of adoption. We fell in love with those little girls who stayed with us, and I now only know that our Father’s plan was for us to get to know Him better by being with His hidden treasures.

Our journey to our daughter began in the late spring of 2007. We investigated a few agencies and ended up with All God’s Children International. Soon afterwards we were blessed with a child in their China program that today I know could have only been anointed. We were only sure that this was God’s plan for us, but in no way did we know how the finances would come together to complete our adoption. We were literally stepping out in faith! I guess the hardest part about this journey was the fact that we felt so out of control. We knew we were on the path to some incredible place in our lives, but it was a process. We had to learn to deal with our own broken expectations coupled with learning patience in waiting for His timing and promised provision.

We shared our journey with our church each and every step of the way. It was like a village going through this process together. One of the greatest things about this journey has been in the sharing with others the joy, hope and even the difficulties that come with adoption. There were moments when we got weak and even depressed over expectations about time frames and about getting over hurdles. There was one day that I have to say is most vivid, however, where God revealed Himself to us in an awesome way. In one of the more lonely and difficult periods of waiting and struggling over adoption finances, I heard His voice say to me…”my grace is sufficient for you!” That day we were broken of our trying to control things and humbled ourselves before God’s throne and gave Him the reins more completely.

From that point on, He showed up in ways too numerous and awesome for us to recount! For one, we were given an incredible gift in finding out that our daughter Isabella was in fact being fostered by an awesome Christian American couple. We established contact with them shortly thereafter, and our relationship has grown into something that has been life changing and one of the biggest blessings of our walk with our heavenly father. We also were given a grant through the generosity of an individual who was touched by adoption and wanted to give a family struggling with the finances of adoption a blessing that would help. This gift given through Shaohannah’s Hope ( a foundation started by Stephen Curtis Chapman named after his Chinese adopted daughter) took care of a large portion of the remainder of our adoption expenses.

We have also started a ministry called Izzy’s Dream (our daughter’s name) to help raise awareness of the plight of orphans and to raise funds for our family at Hidden Treasures Home. We came home with our daughter in late May after having an incredible trip to Fuzhou, Fujian, China, where we got to visit Hidden Treasures Home. It was an awesome experience that is very difficult to explain, but the feeling that we have about this very special place and these very special people is that we were led there to let us in on some of the amazing things He is capable of. We don’t know where God will lead us next, but we hope that it is to be back at Hidden Treasures someday. We have already told our heavenly Father that we are willing to go back to labor in the fields of the fatherless and would also love to have another daughter (or two) if He wants us to!

All that has been given to us we continue to share with our beautiful daughter Izzy, who shares blessings with us daily as well. Those who have been touched by coming home with an adopted son or daughter know what I am talking about when I say that we know the heart of the Father more intimately than we ever have through the emotions and life of our precious Izzy. We know that she has been set apart to bring back something to our God who has given so graciously to her! We know the same is true for all of these “hidden treasures”. We marvel as we watch them grow and become all that they are intended to be!


In His Endless Love and Mercy, Rob and Lisa Braniff