When I heard writer C.J. Redwine’s, Romance University’s columnist and friend, adoption story unfold, my heart ached for the emotional turmoil she must be enduring. To think a mother must wait nearly four years to be united with her adopted daughter is so heart-breaking. That’s why I’m helping C.J. get the word out. I hope those who are reading this post will consider donating a small sum to help bring little Johanna home, or simply Retweet, Share, or Forward this message.

Here’s C.J.’s story. More information can be found at her blog http://cjredwine.blogspot.com.

Hugs, Tracey

C.J.: We had three biological boys in four years and then I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I had a hysterectomy and while I mourned the fact that I couldn’t have any more biological children, I was certain our family wasn’t finished. My husband wasn’t so sure.  I’d talked about adopting and I always saw us with a little girl from China. He came up with a ton of reasons why now wasn’t the right time to adopt. Then, on Mother’s Day of 2005, he leaned over to me in church and said, “We have a daughter in China. We need to start the adoption proceedings to bring her home.” I adjusted to this unexpected news (we hadn’t discussed adoption for months) in about 15 seconds. 

The next day, we began researching adoption and we picked out her name: Johanna Faith. Johanna means God’s Gracious Gift and Faith is what it is taking to bring her home. We signed up with Chinese Children Adoption International agency based out of Colorado. We completed our stateside paperwork and homestudy within a few months, sent off our dossier to China with the understanding that it would be a 6-8 month wait, and eagerly planned to bring our daughter home. Soon, though, we began to hear rumors that the wait time was extending. Then we heard that the government had cracked down on orphanages who were receiving money from the state but who weren’t keeping all of their beds full and the wait slowed to a crawl. Our dreams of having her home for Christmas were dashed. And then our dreams for having her home in time for summer were dashed as well. Before we knew it, another Christmas had passed and we were still waiting. Meanwhile, the Olympics were coming to Beijing, and the word was most adoption processes would stop altogether because China didn’t want unfavorable international attention on their orphanages.

As the wait stretched from 8 months to three years, I struggled with depression. I could hardly bear Christmas, because she wasn’t yet there. I shut the door of her bedroom and left it closed because I couldn’t bear to walk past it in the hall. It hurt to think about having a child out there whom I couldn’t protect. Couldn’t love. Couldn’t save. Three years became four with no real change. Our homestudy expired. Our immigration petition expired. Three times. Our fingerprints expired. Four times. And China raised the orphanage and court fees by thousands while we waited. Suddenly, the cushion of money we’d fundraised at the start of this process was almost gone and China was picking up speed in their child match program.

In September, it will be five years since we officially started our adoption process to bring Johanna home. We expect to receive her picture, information, and permission to travel sometime by the middle of September.

I opened her bedroom door for the first time in 3 1/2 years.

And we need to raise $8,000 to cover travel and the cash required to pay the orphanage for Johanna’s freedom. The thought behind Skip a Starbucks Day is that if everyone who reads this post and feels a tug on their heart for the plight of a little orphaned Chinese girl would give up a personal indulgence (like a cup of coffee) and donate that money toward Johanna Faith’s journey home instead, we can raise the 8k we need. Thank you so much for be willing to help our daughter come home!

C.J. has gathered some fun donated prizes for a grand prize giveaway on her blog (http://cjredwine.blogspot.com). Those items include: The boxed set of Harry Potter books, signed books from various authors, ARCs, baskets of homemade soap, jewelry, the Twilight Saga, etc. Every person who makes a donation will receive an entry into the grand prize giveaway on her blog.