Carl Family Adoption Story: The Finale
If you’ve been following the America World blog over the past month, you will recognize the Carl family. They have kindly shared their adoption story with us as they journeyed to China to meet their newest daughter, Mia. We love Mia’s story! She waited for several years for her forever family after a lot of advocacy. When God’s timing was just perfect, the Carl family contacted us and knew she was meant to be their daughter. It has been beautiful to see their journey unfold and witness an orphan becoming a precious daughter.
If you missed the earlier posts, you can view them below:
China Arrival & Cultural Experiences
Site Seeing & Heading To Mia’s Province
Today, we are sharing the final segment of their story. They have now reached the point in their trip where they will travel to Guangzhou to complete their child’s medical appointment, Consulate appointment, do some additional site seeing, and obtain their daughter’s visa so that she can return home to the United States. We hope you enjoy reading about these final fun-filled days of their trip in China!
“Today was a down day that was filled with activities as we wait for medical exam reports and our upcoming consulate appointment. In order to make the waiting time go by quickly as well as to enjoy our visit to China, we usually get to go on excursions on our down days.
Today’s visits included some special wholesale & touristy shopping as well as an evening cruise on the Pearl River. We’ve been looking forward to this! We started out on the first floor of the boat and ate our pizza before heading to the roof for some beautiful views. The Pearl River runs through Guangzhou (a city of 20 million!!). Skyscrapers line the banks with amazing color changing LED lighting. The coolest part was the final turnaround point where the tallest TV tower in the world is, with an amazing light show surrounding it!
Our Easter journey to see lights on river was a great reminder of the even greater, more magnificent and captivating Light of the World that we have in Jesus. With Him as our Lord and Savior we get to join Him in radiating His great love to the dark world around us! We also got the best Easter Gift to finish our day! Today, Mia called us “Mommy” and “Daddy” for the first time! She said “I love my family”, too! What a gift it was to hear our daughter verbally love us back.
On Tuesday we headed for our Consulate appointment. Once we passed through security (like an airport except you can’t bring any cellphone, smart watch, computer, bag, etc. in with you) we proceeded directly to the second floor, window 8, where we checked in and received our order of service for our appointment. (Think social security office, but with every window having a security window with microphone and speaker)
A leader from the consulate gave us a few instructions on what we’d receive on Thursday…our child’s Chinese passport w/US visa, a packet of information for their immediate citizenship upon arrival in the US, and a Hague Convention adoption certificate. We then were given an oath about the accuracy of our statements and were seated to await our turn. When it was our turn we paid the final visa fees, signed a final form or two, and gave some more fingerprints. A pretty simple and quick finish to our process! Thankfully all went well and on Thursday we should receive Mia’s Chinese passport back with a US visa that allows her to enter into the US where she’ll immediately become a US citizen!
Each day gets better. Less frowns, more smiles. Less guarded, more relaxed. Spontaneous hand-holds, affectionate glances, and more words. We are thankful for how God is growing us all together with Mia each day. Her sweet smile and laughs are such a blessing to our hearts.
When we reached our final full day in China, we started the day with a walk back over across the street (actually under it through tunnels) to Liuhua Lake Park. It was packed during the cool morning hours with literally thousands of people walking, dancing to Tai Chi, singing songs, and play games (cards, badminton, checkers, and ping pong). After our stroll about the park we returned back to the hotel to get our…VISA!!!
Since Mia is a Chinese citizen until she lands in the U.S., she needed a U.S. visa for entry. We also received our Hague adoption certificate along with all of our finalized immigration paperwork! What a joyful finish to a year full of paperwork!!
We had one last get together with our sweet AWAA (American World Adoption Association) friends with an excursion to McDonalds for grape and chocolate ice cream cones. We capped it off with some exchanging of photos, sweet prayers, and sad goodbyes. What a trip it has been together!!”
We hope that you have enjoyed following the Carl family’s story as much as we have. Please continue to pray for them as they adjust and transition as a family of 6.
America World has been blessed to assist many families to adopt children from all over the world. We would be honored to share your adoption story and photos of your family on our blog. Any family is welcome to share their adoption story, whether you are home with your child or currently in your adoption process. We are continually amazed and encouraged to hear how God has provided a unique and special adoption testimony and experience for each family. Families interested in submitting their story, photos and blog link can email us at China@awaa.org.
Called to Adopt from China?
For 25 years, America World has been working with Chinese adoption authorities to find moms and dads for children who wait. Our China teams, in the U.S. and in China, have a great deal of experience in bringing children and families together through the miracle of adoption.
Get China adoption information from our China Adoption Overview page.
Begin the China adoption process now by submitting a full adoption application where you can determine the specific medical needs that your family could consider when adopting a child from China.
If you have any concerns about qualifying to adopt from China, you can complete a free pre-application to verify your family’s qualification.
Please share this need with families you know who may be considering adoption from China. Our Intake team will follow up with pre-applicants and applicants to work on your family’s next steps. Questions? Contact us at Info@awaa.org or 800-429-3369.
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