A Bittersweet Journey

After bringing Abigail home from China, we set goals to attain our second daughter, Sarah. Having experienced the adoptive journey, we felt comfortable with most of the pitfalls. But we were to learn another lesson turning our faith, expectation, and experience into an amateurish nightmare. From the beginning, we encountered unexpected time delays, a second home study, and another trip to the INS, furthering frustration, and expense.

It seemed out of the blue Christian World Adoption (CWA) called with news of Sarah’s referral. This news came with an unexpected immediacy; be ready to travel in two or three weeks. The goal: travel to China and return before Chinese New Year. Travel plans went smoothly but unknown to us we were traveling into the jaws of largest snowstorm to visit central China in fifty years.

The long flight to Beijing with its normal initiation and misconnected luggage was par for the course. Vanessa, our guide, shared news that Changsha airport (our next destination) in central China was closed. The next few days our group lived between hotel, bus, and airport hoping for news Changsha would open. We toured the Great Wall and Forbidden City wondering how Chinese soldiers had survived such extreme weather.

When Jane arrived on the scene we began to realize our situation had become dire. What would it mean if we could not get to Changsha? Will we have to remain through Chinese New Year? Where would we stay; hotels were overbooked? How much would it cost? Travel by land was impossible. Most frightening, attendants from neighboring orphanages waiting in Changsha hotels threatened to return to orphanages for lack of resources.

We were relieved boarding China Air, but the flight was cancelled and returned to the gate. Air China supplied a hotel to overnight in as we tired of luggage fatigue -- a daily routine of loading and unloading vans and transports. Our hotel was not the Ritz, but resembled quarters of ill repute; bed linen was dingy, lavatory’s unsightly, and mattresses resembled concrete slabs.

We arrived in Changsha before the airport again closed. David, our guide, rushed our group immediately to meet our children and process paper work. We found our hotel cool, conserving energy due to failing power grids, and restaurants burned wood in barrels to keep guests warm in hazy surroundings. This time, we felt imprisoned in a frozen city having one snowplow with no one knowing how to run it, volunteers removing snow with stick brooms as time remained critical. Our group remained on standby with bags packed ready to move at a second’s notice.

News of people trampled at train stations and mobbed at airports became common. Arriving at the airport, David and crew organized our group and waded through crowds while lifting and pulling luggage. We carried our children with fear of them being lost or trampled and finally boarded our flight for the next destination Guangzhou. We were relaxed there; better weather, completion of necessary tasks, and knowledge that we would arrive on time in Hong Kong destined for home.

Chicago welcomed us to another snowstorm, flight cancellations, crowds, and waiting lists, but being safe on American soil with family made it worthwhile.

We thank Christian World Adoption for excellent service, prayers, and dedication to us and thousands of children. We especially thank Jane, Vanessa, David, and the CWA staff for keeping us safe. We appreciate the maturity of character and expert experience knowing when and how to respond in difficult situations. We are indebted to you for we would not have achieved our goals without you.

Yours for the harvest,

Louis, Deborah, Abigail, and Sarah Emmons