Well here we are three months since we got home and I have never done the wrap-up of our whole journey so here it is.
For years Catherine has dreamed of adopting a little girl from China. Me myself felt we were too old to take on such a commitment as I never wanted to be an old father. God had a really neat way of changing my mind and I am sure glad he did. When we made the decision to go the paper work started and thanks to my wonderful Wife she took the lead on that. Finally we got the call to go on December 11/06 to see her picture and get our departure date. This was the perfect day to get the call as we were leaving the cemetery from the funeral of Catherine's best friend her Grandmother (Nanna Belle). They had talked many times on the phone about Roshandra it was just too bad she never got to meet her on earth however we know she is smiling over our family from heaven. The packing started and so did the stress.
Finally the day arrived and we would be leaving our two precious angels (Kaio and Luca) behind for 18 days. The departure was tough with many tears however we knew our return would be so special and rewarding. Well the best way to explain our trip as I won't get into too much detail is, 1 dream, 10 different airplanes, app. 44 hrs on planes 18 days and many miles later we got to return to an awaiting crowd at the ch'town airport (thanks to all who came we were just so surprised and excited).
Oh how beautiful and wonderful she is we just thank the Lord daily for such a gift. Roshandra has fit into our family so perfect as the children absolutely love her and she loves them also. The days go by fast for Catherine, she is starting to get sad thinking how fast September will come. Roshandra continues to learn in leaps and bounds. Roshandra loves music, when her brother goes up to practice on his drumset she starts dancing and shaking her head, this is the same reaction she gives when Kaio is in practicing on the piano. When we got her she couldn't sit up because she spent every day on her foster mothers back in the rice fields. Roshandra is now a long way from that as she is now walking everywhere no more crawling for her. Roshandra's vocabulary has come in leaps and bounds also ( mama, ah no no no no, uhoh, mow (cat) moo (cow), ba (sheep) ka (luca) Ssssssssssssss (sissie), dada,side (out side), up, carcar, gogo, bath, hi (there are more) loves giving kisses blowing kisses and is the hit of Kaio's youth group. When she winks at me she will either close both eyes or take her finger and shut one (so cute). It was so sad but yet so exciting on Mother's day as we were excited but so wished we could let her biological mother know how happy she is.
For anyone who ever thought they would love to adopt, go for it as you will be so rewarded for doing so. God has been so good to us through this whole adoption. Thanks too all that followed our trip and signed our guest book it really added to it. Thanks Kevin Catherine Kaio Luca and (are you ready for Roshandra's full name) Roshandra Keyu Angelina Belle Stetson (she should get 30% just for knowing her name on every test she writes).
p.s. a special thanks to our parents through all this and looking after Kaio and Luca so great while we were in China.
