By Rebecca, mom to Maylee Hope from China with spina bifida

We already had 3 biological children when my husband and I began to feel God tugging on our hearts about adoption. After much discussion and prayer, we knew this was what the Lord had in mind for our family. We quickly decided that we would definitely go the special needs route and felt specifically drawn to spina bifida. We still do not fully know why, but we are excited that God chose us to be the family of our little treasure from China.

We were actually with a different agency when our dossier was almost complete and ready to be sent off to China. But, I had a nagging feeling that something was not right. One afternoon while checking up on the world of China Adoption, I stumbled upon an agency that looked very intriguing to me. They had a pilot special needs program that worked specifically with one orphanage in China. I like the idea and thought I would go out on a limb and give them a call. I immediately got the director on the phone and explained our situation. I rattled off the various special needs that we were approved for in our home study. She immediately, without hesitation, said “I have the perfect little doodle bug for you!” And, boy, was she right!

She emailed pictures and medical info and it was love at first sight. We had already decided that we really didn’t care what the “medical professionals” said, but this little girl was ours! Yan Ye Hui was 17 months old at the time and had spina bifida.

My husband, myself and our 3 children left for China the day after Thanksgiving and brought home Maylee Hope just 2 weeks before Christmas. We were very pleased to be able to celebrate Maylee’s birthday in her hometown of Nanjing while we were there.

We know that Maylee will face medical challenges along the way, but I also know God placed her in our family to help her achieve all that she is capable of.

So many people have said, “what a lucky little girl” and I beg to differ…we are the lucky ones! We have truly been blessed beyond measure!