It was March 8, 2018. I stood in the airport thinking. For the first time since I turned 13, I didn’t have access to the Internet at my fingertips. My phone didn’t work in the airport and I would spend the next week without cell service. I was surrounded by foreign sounds, foreign smells and people who spoke a foreign language. We stood in silence, as my family waited in the Beijing International Airport to go through customs and officially enter the foreign country. I stepped up to the counter and the woman asked me, without looking up from my passport, “What is the reason for your visit?” I told her, “Adoption.” She looked up abruptly, as if she did not understand. I said, “My family and I are bringing home my new brother.” She stamped my passport and waved me along, motioning for my sister to step up to the counter.
I had never been out of the country before, but here I was in China with my whole family. We were there to add a seventh member to the Green Team.
We got my brother, Howie, the second day we were in Shanghai. We drove close to an hour, across a huge bridge into the commercial district of Shanghai, where all the businesses are located. My family and I sat in a conference room waiting to meet my fourth sibling. My parents signed papers while we waited. Every time someone would walk in, my heart would skip a beat. I thought the suspense would kill me. Finally, two caretakers from the orphanage stepped through the door. One was carrying a little boy. The other had a gift bag and a box. My dad was the first to greet Howie, maybe that’s why my dad is his favorite. Soon after the caretaker set him on the ground, my siblings surrounded him. He was overwhelmed. I’m sure he had no idea what was going on, but he had to know his life was about to change. After that day, March 12, “Gotcha Day,” he was officially part of the family.
I had never been out of the country before, but here I was in China with my whole family. We were there to add a seventh member to the Green Team.
We got my brother, Howie, the second day we were in Shanghai. We drove close to an hour, across a huge bridge into the commercial district of Shanghai, where all the businesses are located. My family and I sat in a conference room waiting to meet my fourth sibling. My parents signed papers while we waited. Every time someone would walk in, my heart would skip a beat. I thought the suspense would kill me. Finally, two caretakers from the orphanage stepped through the door. One was carrying a little boy. The other had a gift bag and a box. My dad was the first to greet Howie, maybe that’s why my dad is his favorite. Soon after the caretaker set him on the ground, my siblings surrounded him. He was overwhelmed. I’m sure he had no idea what was going on, but he had to know his life was about to change. After that day, March 12, “Gotcha Day,” he was officially part of the family.
My spring break wasn’t much of a break, but I would not have traded my experience for the world. While we were in China, I created a website, so that our family and friends back in the United States could follow our travels. One thing I included on the website was a video from the day that we met Howie. I put the video on YouTube, and I shared it here in my portfolio, as well. I hope that it will inspire families and give people the courage they need to adopt children of their own, so that the number of children in orphanages across the world will be reduced. |
|
While we were in China, I used another website to keep our family and friends updated in America. I've linked the website here, for reference.