what we're reading: 1.2.16 | No Hands But Ours

Happy, happy New Year to all of our No Hands But Ours readers! Your gift from us is this compilation of amazing articles, inspiring blog posts, and traveling families for you to peruse.

As always, our hope is that you enjoy reading through these posts. And that perhaps you would add something to do with China adoption to your New Year’s Resolutions. Maybe praying for the thousands of children who are orphaned, or supporting a family who is in the adoption process, or embracing a mama who is in the thick of attachment work with her newly adopted child, or maybe that you would take a step of faith into pursuing an adoption in 2016. May you be encouraged and inspired in 2016!

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Shay at A Beautiful Symphony shares Adoption: The Faces of Our Children {Match}. Go read more about how they were matched with their beautiful children. And absorb these words, “We didn’t choose our children because we could handle their special need. We chose our children because they WERE our children and looking at their face revealed the need to bring them home.”

Full Plate Mom shares with us her thoughts just One Day before she met her daughter. “I have to believe it’s impossible to leave behind a child and not think of her every once in awhile. Will they think of her tomorrow as she gains a new, forever mother? Maybe that red thread will tie us all together now, the way it brought me to her in the first place. I hope so. If I had one wish in this world, it would be for comfort, for closure, for the brave people who brought my children into this world. I would love for them to know…”

Have you been following little Hope as she received the gift of a liver transplant? Her life is such a miracle. And her mom is such an inspiration. She is a single mama to five girls from Guangxi! Go read all about this amazing family on It’s a Merciful Life. Or go look at this amazing news article, Where there is Hope, there are miracles.

Are you considering embarking upon an adoption journey in 2016? Are you looking for some encouragement as you stare down what looks like a hard road to walk? If so, this post may be a timely post for you to read. Fear. Fantasy. Reality. The CEO of WACAP writes with wisdom and words we would all do good to remember, “Be mindful of your strengths and limitations, but be open to the unexpected.”

The Wisconsin State Journal recently published this great piece titled, Couple, moved by son’s medical care, adopts 3 children from China. Go read about this amazing family who doubled the number of children in their home in a short time and are thriving through the experience.

An Elizabethtown family raising 7 girls adopted from China in the past 5 years, ranging in age from 6 to 18. And even though they have adopted seven, they still think about the thousands more, who just want to feel protected and loved.