I remember how nervous we both were......of the unknown more than anything. We had both taken care of others people's kids but were really unsure of our own abilities. We both just wondered.......Would this little baby like us? Would she be sick? Would we know what to do for her? Would we be able to make her happy? What happened if we lost all the fee money!!
Now looking back on that day I realize all that worry was for nothing......here is my proof.....
A happy Bella swinging at the park. She loves, loves to swing.
A pretty Bella looking all cute and sweet in this picture possibly saying "cheeseburger" to the camera.
And finally one of my favorite pictures taken of Bella in a long time. I thought about sending this picture on to Burger King. Maybe she could be their next poster child!!!
One look at this picture and you can tell she is now an American through and through....
Finally, last Friday we had our last and final appointment with our case worker at Bethany Christan Services. When we first signed with them we heard such glowing reports about not only their agency but their in country people, but as the time frame increased for the China program. It became apparent that their program was changing. It just seemed to go downhill. Our caseworker told us that at our local office there have not been any other non-special needs adoptions from China since our adoption last year. How sad is that? But, I still don't think that the lack of adoptions gives them a reason to give their waiting parents such bad service.
Our last visit itself went fine. Bella was her cute and adorable self. But let me say again how disappointed I am in this adoption agency. After our complaints about the agency to both a survey and our case worker, we have never received one call to even follow up on our experiences from their corporate offices. And even at our last visit, I still felt like our case worker didn't get it. I guess it is fine for 5 families to fly into China at midnight and no one be there to meet them. I guess it is fine for their agency that their in-China staff and travel agency "can't work together". I guess it is fine for them to rip off their adoptive parents when traveling to get their child by only providing an "estimate" of costs" and some families to receive "refunds" and other discounts that others families were not provided. I guess it is fine that their in country representatives not help their adoptive families get the appropriate paperwork to complete their adoption but are told to "get it on their own". But anyway......
We are finished with them. Bella is ours and no more Bethany Christian Services. YAHOO!!!
1 comment:
And so our international family is off and running. Its a shame Bethany treated your family like they did but luckily you can go to other countries that want their kids to have great parents and treat them with respect. Thank goodness you don't have to go through Bethany again...They should see how all the girls have grown since being adopted, how loved they are by their families,how those girls have changed many of our lives with the love they give us. That's what true families are...not about money at all. love, grandma paula
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