Our Adoption Story

Due to the number of pictures on this page, the download time is somewhat long.

Kate's referral picture

Kate's Chinese name was Tong Dian ("Dian" is pronounced approximately like "dyen").

Our dossier went to China on August 12, 1997. We received our referral on April 16, 1998, left for China on June 12 and returned to our home on June 27, 1998.

Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) is our agency whose services we highly recommend to anyone considering adopting a child from China. They were very professional, took very good care of us in China and made every effort to keep travel and associated costs to a minimum.

Kate's name in Chinese characters:

A more recent picture of Kate, taken May 12, 1998 in the orphanage.

A picture of Kate and her new mom, Peggy, taken just a few minutes after she was placed in our arms for the first time on June 15, 1998. Kate was sort of quiet the first day or so and then she started to open up to us and have some fun. A number of the children cried at first, as you would expect. Some cried for two or three days. Most of them seemed to adjust after no more than a few days. By the end of the trip, even the most distressed child of the group started to feel more at home with her new mom.

Being welcomed by friends as we arrived at the airport on our return trip. Thanks for the photo Cary!

The trip back to the U.S. was longer than anticipated. We had some airplane trouble a few hours from Hong Kong which caused us to have to return to Hong Kong adding about 10 hours to an already very long trip.

Kate and Mom playing at home.

Think they're having a good time?

They are.

Kate meeting Grace and her mom Julie for the first time. Grace is demonstrating a giggle ball to Kate. Grace's dad, Kelly is just off camera to the left, enjoying the scene. The giggle ball has been a real hit, by the way.

Our neighbors Savannah and Bethany meeting Kate for the first time on the Fourth of July. Fireworks followed.

More pictures of our trip to China...

Steve and Janice who were members of our travel group and who provided companionship and support throughout the trip (and gave us Pepto-Bismol). They adopted Olivia from the same orphanage as Kate. This photo was taken in the Yu Gardens in Shanghai, before adoption.

A photo of our fellow adoptive parents and relatives thereof taken at the Yu Gardens in Shanghai. Our travel group actually consisted of groups #87 and #88 with CCAI.

Another picture at the Yu Gardens in Shanghai. Here Jim is standing in front a tea room with video camera and adoption documents at hand. Neither of them left Jim's side during the entire trip.

One of the last pictures taken of us before we became parents. This was taken in Shanghai near the Yu gardens. One of the very helpful and dedicated CCAI representatives, Julia, is posing with us. Julia met us at the Shanghai airport after our flight from Los Angeles and escorted our group while we were in Shanghai and Hefei. While in Shanghai, Julia treated us to a tour of the city, a visit to the Yu Gardens, some shopping and authentic Shanghai cuisine which was quite good, by the way.

Another image of Shanghai. Our tour took us through old parts of the city as well as the newest areas. In the evening we traveled to Hefei in Anhui Province where we would be adopting Kate the following day.

This photo was taken from the second floor mezzanine overlooking the main lobby at the Anhui Hotel in Hefei. On the day of the adoption, the children were being cared for by nannies from the orphanage in the lobby. We were not allowed to see the children up close at this point, but we could not resist trying to figure out which one was Kate. Shortly after this photo was taken, the children were brought upstairs where we joined them in the "Honored Guest Room" of the hotel.

This is a close-up image taken from video that we shot while the children were still downstairs. Although we did not realize it at the time, Kate was in the middle of this picture with her nanny. Kate's head is circled in this image; her nanny is in orange.

The view from upstairs on the mezzanine while soon-to-be parents waited for the children to be brought to the meeting room.

This was the view as we entered the "Honored Guest Room" of the hotel after all of the children had been brought upstairs. At this point we still had not been able to pick Kate out of the group, but we were still trying.

The moment when Kate was placed in our arms.

Moments after the handoff.

Think we are happy?

We are.

Dad and Kate checking each other out for the first time.

Kate getting her footprint placed on one of the adoption documents. The orphange director is standing to the left. Kate's nanny (in orange) and Mr. Gu of CCAI are at the right of the picture.

Kate was eating a combination of formula and solid food when we adopted her. This is a shot of the first bottle that we gave her.

The afternoon of the first day with Kate. We had been up until 2:00 AM the night before, double-checking our documents (again) and preparing our fees. We wanted to minimize any chance for error. By afternoon we were exhausted. This picture was taken while Dad napped. Kate was enjoying her favorite toy, which happened to be a Cheerios box.

Kate's crib at the Anhui Hotel. The crib was not the best in the world, but with a little padding around the sides, it did the job quite well. She seemed very pleased with it.

Janice and Olivia in Hefei at the Anhui Hotel where they had fresh Gorange juice every morning for breakfast. What a "gorange" is, we haven't a clue, but the juice tastes a lot like the same fruit they make "Tang" with. In this photo Olivia is estimating how far she can throw the bowl of soup if she gets her hands on it. Later in the trip she managed to soak her new Mom with a bowl of soy sauce. Olivia has quite an arm on her.

Steve capturing some action video of a table at the Anhui Hotel - or maybe he was taking some video of Olivia. Steve took lots of video. He was the only one of our group who really knew what he was doing with a video camera.

Kate with her buddy Olivia (Steve and Janice's little one).

While we were in Hefei, there was quite a bit of time spent waiting for our documents to be processed by the local officials and waiting for the children's Chinese passports to be prepared. This turned out to be the perfect opportunity to test the BabyCam which consisted of our video camera duct-taped to Kate's stroller to capture her point of view as we traveled around the hotel. Steve found the BabyCam particularly entertaining. We knew that the duct tape we had packed would come in handy for something.

This photo shows some of the children and new parents from our travel group assembling to receive our processed documents. This set of documents consisted of three copies each of a birth certificate, certificate of abandonment (certifying that the child had been abandoned and that her parents and/or relatives could not be located), certificate of adoption and medical information. One copy of each of these documents (except for the medical information) was presented to the U.S. Consulate as part of Kate's visa application.

More of the children and new parents in our travel group.

A picture of Sarah, Theresa's new little one - maybe looking a little tired in this photo.

Before we left Hefei for Guangzhou, one of the CCAI representatives, Yisha, took us for a short tour of a rural area near Hefei. We walked through a small rice-farming community which might have been similar to the ones where our daughters were born. These young women seemed as fascinated by us as we were by them. Our bus is visible in the background.

After we left Hefei, we flew to Guangzhou to apply for Kate's visa for entry into the U.S. We stayed at the China Hotel in Guangzhou, which was a very comfortable 5-star hotel. Kate seemed to enjoy it as well. The China Hotel has a number of good restaurants, both Chinese and Western, and a Hard Rock Cafe as well. There is a McDonald's and Pizza Hut in the area as well as a nice shopping mall and small grocery store within a couple minutes walk of the hotel.

While in Guangzhou we were able to visit with our friend Connie and her new little one, Cara. Connie lives in our area and adopted her child from China within a few days of our adoption. This photo was taken in the Hard Rock Cafe. Other pictures of Cara can be seen in the section of this web page called "Cara and Valerie's Page."

A photo of the medical examination required for application for an immigrant visa to enter the U.S. The examination was very rudimentary and the clinic in Guangzhou near the American Consulate was small and crowded.

Another part of the medical examination in Guangzhou. This was taken just before the examiner listened to Kate's chest cavity. Kate seemed to enjoy the exam.

The Hard Rock Cafe in Guangzhou. The Hard Rock Cafe is in the China Hotel where we stayed in Guangzhou - very nice hotel. The Cafe has excellent burgers and shakes - tasted just like home. Kate had her first french fries here.

Before leaving Guangzhou we and some friends (Steve, Janice and Julia) had the opportunity to visit a Buddhist temple. While there two of the monks performed a blessing ceremony for our children.

The haze in the picture is from condensation on the lens. That day in Guangzhou was a very humid, drizzly day.

Another part of the temple. Again the humidity was extremely high when this photo was taken. It was so high that our video camera would not operate.

In front of the American Consulate in Guangzhou where we applied for Kate's visa for entry into the U.S. Our application and interview went very smoothly there, but it appears to be extremely important to have all necessary documents in order and well organized. For those reading this and planning such a trip, please note that it was much easier to use U.S. dollars in cash rather than traveler's checks for the visa fees. The consulate would accept traveler's checks, but there was quite a line to get the checks cashed and, as a result, it was much more convenient to use cash.

Packing for the trip home. We left Guangzhou for Hong Kong by plane and then on to Los Angeles for two more flights to our home. We attempted to keep our luggage under the 20 kilogram (44 pound) per person limit of the Chinese airlines, but to no avail. Our luggage was over the limit on all of the three flights we took inside of China. We were charged an additional fee on the flight from Shanghai to Hefei and from Hefei to Guangzhou, but not from Gaungzhou to Hong Kong. The overweight charge on the first flight was only a few dollars; on the second flight the charge was somewhat less than 20 dollars. In both cases it was much easier to pay the fee in Chinese currency. Our bags were each about 5 kilograms over the 20 kilogram limit.

A banner made by our neighbors Savannah and Bethany, welcoming Kate to her new home.

Another of the "Welcome Home" banners that was waiting for us when we arrived back at the homestead.

Kate and her Dad preparing to go for a stroll around her new neighborhood.

Glad to be home.

Now the real adventure begins...

And if you haven't seen enough pictures of Kate, more can be found under Kate's Page.

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