Together - Introduction

Introduction to our blog.

Well today I was thinking back to almost 14 months ago. It was the end of 2007 and we had decided to adopt another son through Holt International and had waded through yet another big application, of which we just basically edit and update from previous big applications, this was our fifth one. I don’t include the one we filled out with CHSFS which went absolutely nowhere. Anyway this was the point just before we were going to the Holt WC (Waiting Child) committee to see if we would be allowed to adopt a toddler from the Philippines who had been on the photo listings for quite some time. His name is Chris Ryan Lediros and his special need is dwarfism. I am quite sure with all of the contact we had with the Holt WC program that we were somehow led to believe we were the only family interested in adopting this boy, so the fact that we were going to committee was to determine if we were a good match to be Chris’ adoptive family. We figured it was a good thing there was no competition so-to-speak (no other families also interested in adopting Chris) because we had a few things that we thought would work against us as far as being chosen. The first was we are both Caucasians (White) and the Philippines tend to prefer at least one of the parents to be of Filipino descent. Another possible negative was our family size (4 children) was more than ICAB (Filipino Inter-Country Adoption Board) likes prospective adoptive families to be. Our ages (45 & 43) are a little on the high side but within their requirements. The last factor was we were very early on in this adoption process and we knew from past experience that these WC committees tend to choose families who are further along in the process, rather than just beginning a process as we were then – that is all other things being equal. So it was a good thing we had no competition this time. So imagine our surprise (and disappointment) when we discovered during our conference call interview with Abby Smith (Holt WC Program Director) that there indeed was another family going to committee to adopt Chris. They apparently were a family that had shown interest before, dropped out for some reason, and then came back and said they wanted to go to committee for Chris. When Cheryl and I heard this from Abby we both just went silent, and Abby could tell that something was wrong. Talking afterwards Cheryl and I both came to the realization that we were sunk – we had no chance of being chosen as Chris’ parents. Surely the other family was further along in the process; they might even be Filipino and have a smaller family. We communicated to Abby that we thought our chances had just decreased significantly. Abby told us this wasn’t necessarily true but didn’t elaborate. She asked us if we wanted to continue going to committee and we said “yes”, but we were not convinced we had even a chance this time. We put it in God’s hands – if Chris was meant to be our son we would be chosen to be his family. If we were not chosen it wasn’t meant to be – a rationalization we have used before and accepted the results whatever they were.


Ryan's Photolisting Picture.

Now back to the present day – February 18, 2009. We were chosen to be Chris’s parents and we traveled to the Philippines to receive him almost 3 weeks ago. We address him as “Ryan” because that is what his foster family addressed him so it’s the name he is used to being called. Our family of 7 (5 children) includes Leah (8) who was adopted through Holt International from South Korea in 2001, and currently attends third grade. Our son Alex (6) was also adopted through Holt from South Korea in 2004, and he currently is a kindergartener. Our son Benjamin (5) also was adopted through Holt from South Korea in 2005 – another kindergartener. Our daughter Jenna (4) was adopted through Holt from China (Hunan Province) in 2007. Our youngest is our son Ryan (3) through Holt from the Philippines (Cebu City) in 2009. I am Brett (46) the keeper of the blog, and my wife is Cheryl (44) the keeper of our household. My intended purpose for this blog is to give updates on our family to anyone who may have interest and to also occasionally mention past experiences – an example being all our trip journals of each time we traveled to receive our children from their respective countries (Leah was escorted to us), that can be accessed through links on this website. I hope I can keep it up and not lose interest – and also dare I say so – I believe our family is complete. I (we) need to be off this crazy adoption merry-go-round and to get on with our lives.
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In addition - please check out the links under ADOPTION JOURNEYS directly to the far upper right side of the screen. These are the stories of the journeys when each of our children joined our family, so you could say they are prologues to our story. Thank you for stopping by!

Our precious children (Gifts from GOD) …

Leah
Kim, Jang Mee - kind shine - received when 9 months old.

Alexander
Choi, Jung Wook - right shine - 22 months old.

Benjamin
Huh, Min Jae - strong timber - 22 months old.

Jenna
Xiao, Wen Xin - 3.2 years old.

Ryan
Lediros, Chris Ryan - 3.5 years old.

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