Read the blog name and brace yourself.

In 2006 when I created this blog I never knew how true the name 8 is enough would be. For awhile there we thought there would be 7 but it was not to be. The story is long and sad but if I don't tell I don't know if I will ever fully deal with it.

After being in China and seeing so many orphaned children our hearts were again opened. We knew that the need was there but to experience it first hand is completely another story. You realize that absolutely everything you have is taken for granted. Health, family, a home, food to eat, people to eat with, cars, shoes, water...the list goes on and on but the point is it makes you realize what you can do. And what we can do is adopt another child and let one more child experience the life that we live with the opportunity that we have and the family that we love. After looking into several different programs and ruling out programs for various reasons we knew that we wanted to adopt a boy. Baby girls seem to be the first choice for many families, we wanted to give a child a life that they otherwise might not have and the right choice for us seemed to be a boy.

In September we accepted a referral for a baby boy we were going to name him Cade Gentry, he was 3 months old. Papers were gathered files were sent and we were on our way. In early December we received a call that our baby passed away, how could that be we were supposed to be bringing him home in late January. He may have had a heart condition, we will never know. What we do know is that in his life he was loved both by the family that he had at the care center and by our family that was waiting here. We know that his birth mother loved him or she never would have been able to make such a selfless decision putting his needs above her love for him. I don't know that I could do the same. In the end he ended up with her in his country where he belonged. We don't know how but his mother also passed and they are buried next to each other. It was a horrible loss for us, one that we are still dealing with and will likely always deal with. Our conviction is stronger, our belief unscathed. We will adopt again.

Christmas Eve we received referrals for 2 babies one boy and one girl, not twins. After much consideration we accepted both of them, we will be bringing them home mid April. We are beyond excited, I know that what we went thru brought us to a point that we could accept the babies when they were referred, it could be no different. We mourn the loss of Cade and I am sure we will for quite some time but he brought us to these children and will never be forgotten. He lives in them and the opportunity that they are now given because of him.

These babies have brought so much happiness our adoption coordinator is amazing and seems to really understand that I can have all these emotions at the same time. While I am sad for the loss I am happy for the opportunity we are now given. Had we been given a referral back in September for a baby girl (and she was there then) we never would have accepted it knowing that there was another family that would accept her. She was meant to be with us, why she was not referred to another family is not my story to tell, she was waiting. There was no way to choose between them because he was ours no question we were waiting for a baby boy. And so there it is, 8 is enough!