Our Introduction to Daniel

On September 2, 2006, our oldest daughter, Shannon, who was teaching English at a language school in Beijing, (and volunteering her time at New Day Foster Home), sent us an email with a picture attached, introducing us to a darling little three-year-old orphan named Daniel. Here is a portion of her email to us:

"Mom and Dad, I would like to introduce you to Daniel. I have pics of Daniel from last time I was here. But I don't know if you remember him or not. Daniel is now three years old. He is such a great kid and I love him soooooooo much. Daniel is not even close to being matched with a family yet... Daniel has spina bifida. Basically, he can't walk completely. He can with different things that roll. He totally scoots and moves. It's just that they can't get braces for him here in China. They are trying to get him some made in America, and they think that with braces he will learn to walk fine. He also had some swelling around the brain when he was little, but he has a shunt now so that is all fine. I know I always bring up this adoption thing, but I just felt compelled to tell you about Daniel. He's such a cutie. I will point to a part of my face and he will kiss it and then I do the same to him. He has the cutest smile and everyone loves him to death. Everyone here really wants to see him have a family... Anyways........just a thought. Look at his pic. Think about it. He'd be just about the cutest little bro ever!!!!!"

As you can tell, God had laid a deep burden for Daniel on Shannon’s heart.

Neither of us was surprised by Shannon’s request. Our family had been talking about adoption for 15 years. We agreed that we would do as Shannon asked and pray about adopting Daniel. Within just a couple of days it was clear that we wanted to move forward in the adoption process. Although it is hard to put into words here, the truth is that God moved in our hearts and made us feel a connection to Daniel that is beyond explanation. Neither of us has any medical background, and we had never considered adopting a special needs child. But God made it clear that Daniel was supposed to be part of our family.