Tribute to the Chapman's

Well tonight is the final "at home" First Friday gathering at the Chapman's house. The Chapman's have now expanded this incredible once a month adoption gathering to a bigger facility. It is somewhat bittersweet as tonight is the last one in their home. I wrote a letter to the Chapman's to let them know how much I personally appreciate their generosity to the adoption world and thought I would share it with everyone:

Dear Chapmans,

How do I put in to words the “feeling” that I get when I think about a First Friday? It is truly hard to explain and really impossible to relate to unless you have been there. So I guess that is just it -and probably one of the reasons you all decided to open your hearts and home to so many of us. Unless you have been there, you cannot understand the raw emotions that come along with adoption. This is why First Friday has become so important to me. Everyone there can understand what my family is currently experiencing first hand. First Friday is the place where I am not “strange” or “weird” for loving and constantly thinking about my daughter whom I have never met.

I actually get a little excited on the Monday before First Friday, by just putting it on my calendar. I look forward to the meeting all week. I have only been attending the meeting for about 7 months, so I sometimes feel like a newcomer. I know a lot of other people who have been attending First Friday for many many months. However, I have always felt right at home from the very first meeting. I have learned so much from the meetings. I think back to the very first meeting and how little about the process I knew at that time. Oh what all has transpired over the last 7 months!

I still remember the first time I spoke at a meeting. I simply asked, “Is anyone here in the Waiting Child Program?” Three people raised their hands, and my door was opened. I spent the rest of the evening probing those people for answers to my hundreds of questions. This was truly the start of my daughter’s Red Thread Journey.

I met a couple that night who were adopting a little girl with a cleft lip/palate by the name of Lily. They told me all about how they “found” her on a Waiting Child list and the process they took to adopt her. At the time, they were still waiting to travel to get her. I also met a couple who had just been approved to adopt a little boy who they were naming Sheridan. This couple was with my agency so I was able to ask them how they were matched off the Waiting Child list from our agency. And finally I quizzed another lady about how she was matched with her Waiting Child and her personal thoughts on adopting a toddler. All of these interviews led me on the quest to find my daughter through China’s Waiting Child Program.

Since I was enchanted with pictures of Lily, it was through her that I found my daughter. I was given a website to follow along with Lily’s parents to go to China and pick her up. It was a Tuesday morning and I clicked on their website to see how their trip was going. On her site was a link to their adoption agency. I simply clicked on that link and my life was changed forever. I pulled up their Waiting Child list that had been posted only hours before. It was there that I first laid my eyes on Ning Fu Hong, my daughter -Shelby!

I will never be able to thank you all enough for stepping up and taking on First Friday month after month. I know that it is a lot of hard work and organizing and setting up and cleaning house and planning around and so on and so on. I am sure there have been many times that you guys didn’t really want to keep going or maybe just wanted to cancel for a month or two. I hope you know how much it means to all of us to have you there month after month. You all have put others first and I sincerely thank you for it. How can I ever repay someone who is so clearly part of our Red Thread to Shelby!

If there is anything I can do to help with the new phase of First Friday, please do not hesitate to ask. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for this new chapter of First Fridays.

With Love, Donna, CJ, Caleb, Travis, and Shelby Straight