Power and love flow from the adoption community

by Amy Ostertag

I remember clicking on the Holt International website at the beginning of our adoption journey, and finding the Holt forum. They were a huge comfort and guided us as we navigated the piles of paperwork and felt the anticipation and worry.

This group of adoption community friends rejoiced with us as we shared the joy of finding Joo-sung on the list of children in the Waiting Child program. His face and story seemed to call to us—telling us that we were meant to be together. We had a sense of quiet reassurance that he was the fourth son who was meant to complete our family…and he has!

On the flight to Korea to receive Ben, we met another family who was also on the message boards, and we bonded immediately. We traveled together, met our children on the same day, and flew them home together. We have had play dates in the years that have followed and feel a love and bond that will last a lifetime.

Then, our world changed forever. We stood in the ER hallway and heard the words “large brain mass,” “tumor,” and “emergency ventriculostomy“. In the days that followed the news worsened. Our son had a very aggressive form of brain cancer. Life moved at warp speed as he was rushed to the ICU and embarked on many months of in-patient care and a brutal protocol of chemotherapies.

We received so many messages on Ben’s care page from all the friends we had made through the years on Holt’s website. We received notes, gifts and cards that buoyed our spirit. Our close friends, who had traveled with us to Korea, now traveled up to UCLA hospital to sit with us and reassure us that we were not alone. But nothing could prepare us for the most amazing gift of all. Read the rest of this entry »

by Susan soon-keum Cox—Vice President of Public Policy

We at Holt International want to inform our constituents about a movie entitled “Orphan” scheduled to be released in July by Warner Brothers. We are concerned about media depictions that demean or degrade children. We are especially alarmed about the movie’s negative portrayal of adoption and children in need of families.

As adults we have a responsibility to speak out and advocate on behalf of our children. Many people have already contacted Warner Brothers with their concerns, and at least two groups have developed petitions to respectfully protest the messaging of this movie. One group, Orphans Deserve Better, has developed a website to mobilize efforts against the film. Please review their petition’s information and include your voice among those who are making it clear you do not support the movie “Orphan.”

Warner Brothers has already responded to initial protests about the movie and made efforts to remove some the offensive language from the movie’s original trailer. In response to pressure from adoptive parents and other concerned individuals, Warner Brothers has removed the line: “It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own,” from recently released trailers. However, it remains unclear whether or not the line was removed from the movie.

An adoptive dad reflects on having two beautiful children

by: Terry R. Cassreino

With Father’s Day fast approaching, my children are on my mind more than usual. Our family is in the process of moving to southeast Louisiana after I accepted a job and began work there in May. Our children stayed home with my wife, helping prepare our house for sale and packing for the move.

Being a father came late for me, just like my marriage. Both have been a huge blessing. Pam and I met in 1997 when I was 36; we married in 1999. When it became obvious we weren’t going to have a child naturally, we chose to adopt, hooked up with Holt International and the rest, to use a trite phrase, is history. We brought our daughter, Camryn, home from China in 2006.

A few years later Camryn sat in my lap and begged me to talk about the upcoming China trip my wife and I were taking to bring home our second child, Matthew. Her excitement had been building for months, ever since Pam and I learned that we were matched with a little boy through Holt’s China Child of Promise program.

“Tell me about my baby brother,” Camryn said as she smiled and laughed. “Talk to me about Matthew. Is he going to be big? Is he still a baby? Can I play with him?”

Hearing Camryn’s excitement didn’t surprise me at all. We had been talking to her about Matthew for weeks to help her prepare for his arrival and ease the transition to having a second child as a member of our family.

Matthew has been home since December. For me, nothing is more touching than watching Camryn sit on the floor of her bedroom, open a book, point to the pictures and create a story for her brother as if she’s reading the words on the pages. Matthew usually sits quiet and attentive, listening to every word.

Our lives have seen the typical challenges of most parents: making sure our children eat right, trying to choose the right day care and treating the typical childhood illnesses and colds. We also do other things, such as ensuring Camryn and Matthew know and learn about their Chinese culture. And we are helping Matthew correct his clubfoot, which hasn’t been that much of a problem at all. Read the rest of this entry »

Inspiring stories about sponsoring children in Holt’s care

From Loving Sponsor, to Loving Home
by: Jenn Hand, Nepal

I was at a Newsong concert when the Lord completely captured my heart as the band shared about the ministry of Holt International.  I honestly thought I should ignore the fast beating of my heart as I heard the stories of the children in need of sponsorship, because I myself was a graduate school student, which of course equals little to no money.  But I knew God was calling me to the sponsorship table, where I picked out my little girl, Manna. I fell more in love with her every month as I sent that check and loved getting the very detailed updates about how she was doing.  Little did I know during this time God was calling me to come serve him in another bordering country to where she lived in south Asia.   I was amazed how God provided for me as I raised support to come serve Him in south Asia, and even without a steady paycheck, there was always enough money to send to little Manna.  I proudly displayed her picture on my refrigerator.  In 2007 I left for south Asia where I received the blessing of getting to work with an orphanage here.  Every time I hugged one of our orphans I thought of Manna and prayed for her to find a great home.  I almost got to meet her in October 2007 as I traveled to Bangalore, India, to lead a women’s conference, however the conference session went too long, and I was unable to meet up with her foster family before I had to leave.  Every time I see a beggar child in the streets of south Asia (and there are hundreds) I praised God for the ministry of Holt and for the foster home Manna was in.  When I heard she was adopted into a loving Christian family, I just could not stop praising the Lord.  Now I have a new little girl’s photo on my refrigerator

Inspired to Give
by: Joann Westerman, Fair Oaks, CA

My daughter and her husband adopted a beautiful baby girl from Korea through Holt in October of 1999.   Tristen was 5 months old when she came into our lives.  Because of this amazing life-changing experience, I have dedicated my life to helping children.  I feel sponsoring is just a small way of helping.   I also do volunteer work with children in crisis.   Being able to financially and physically help children fulfills my life.

Joi’s Prayers Answered
by: Richard Buckley

As part of a ministry event called The Advent Conspiracy, my family and I chose to do four things to focus on Jesus this past Christmas: We worshipped more fully, spent less on ourselves, gave more to others, and loved the people God has placed in our path more fully. One exciting thing we did was to allow each of our daughters to sponsor a girl from their native country (2 from China and 1 from Korea).

Joi sponsored a child through Holt International, and she fervently prayed for her.  Every mealtime and bedtime prayer included a special mention of her name asking God to watch over her. If I forgot to pray for her, Joi made me “do it over,” or she added her own “P.S.” to God after the prayer. The amazing thing is that her sponsored child has the very same foster parents as Joi did! It’s tempting to say “It’s a small world after all” but it’s much better to say “What an awesome and huge God we have!”

Joi is a new Christian, and I love to see God affirm new believers as they grow in Him. This past week we got a letter from Holt International noting that Joi’s sponsored child had been adopted and has a forever home in the United States. You should have seen Joi’s face when it sunk in! Amy and I had the honor of telling Joi the Lord not only heard her prayers, but He has acted on them and placed this special child in a family where she will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and understand unconditional love.

As we read the letter at the dinner table, we came to a paragraph noting that we had been assigned another Korean baby girl to sponsor and pray for.  She is the latest addition to our sponsorship family. Please pray for her to have a forever family soon…and remember, if you don’t, Joi will be there to remind you!

Hands Full of Children in Need
by: Juan Ocampo

I took the rest of the child sponsorship folders and handed them to a lady who wanted to look at them, and she ended up sponsoring a child. She then handed the pamphlets to someone else, and the sponsoring moved forward. Seeing the handful of pamphlets that began in my hands being sponsored by others was God’s way of telling us that, though we could only sponsor one child, He would always provide for the other children to be sponsored as well. Our hearts melted, and we thanked God for His love.  My wife and I registered to sponsor a 4 years young little girl from the Ukraine for 6 months at $30 a month. That is a minimal amount of money that will help her with her medicines and general needs. That’s the least we could do. I’m sure it will go on beyond the six months, but everything has a beginning. Read the rest of this entry »

A pastor’s offer of prayer encouraged a couple to proceed with their first of several adoptions through Holt International

by Todd Wisotzkey

Dianne and I got married in July 1993 and five years later began our family with the birth of a beautiful baby girl named Kayla.

Our journey to extend our family through adoption began when Kayla was about 2.  The idea of adopting a child had come up in our discussions before, even prior to our marriage.  The process seemed intimidating, and we were anxious about unknowns and all the factors that were out of our control.  We initially decided against pursuing adoption.  But the Holy Spirit worked on both of us, and we both independently came to the conclusion that we wanted to adopt.  This would be our way to serve God by sharing our blessings, which included our marriage and family life, access to good medical care, loving extended families, a safe family-oriented neighborhood and caring Christian friends.

We began researching adoption agencies and procedures, which took many hours on the Internet and phone conversations with agencies.  We ended up choosing a Christian agency—Holt International.

Shortly thereafter, I became overwhelmed with fear and worry about whether we were making the right decision to proceed with adoption.  We were just getting into the mountain of paperwork, and had not yet been matched with any child.  Dianne and I had prayed a lot about our decision and received many indications that this was God’s will for us, but the details and the unknowns of how we were going to handle it were causing me to question our plan.  I finally said out loud in a tense discussion with Dianne, “I think we should back out.”  In that very instant the phone rang.  I answered, and was greeted by the pastor of the church we were attending at the time, asking what he could pray for on behalf of our family.  Every week, he prayed for five families, and it took him more than a year to get through the congregation’s rolls—this week, he happened to have reached us.  I stood speechless, in awe of God’s timing of this phone call.  My doubts about the process vanished immediately. Read the rest of this entry »

by Sally Dunbar, Holt Family Recruitment Specialist

Ilsan, Republic of South Korea—It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at Ilsan Center, known affectionately as Holt Ilsan Town! Today was the annual Christmas party at this residence center for homeless, disabled children and adults, some of them now in their late 50s and who have been here since Harry Holt first developed this site in the early 1960s. I couldn’t tell who was more excited: the 270 residents or the Holt International Korea Gift Team.

Molly Holt welcomed the Gift Team into her home, the last original structure that Harry Holt built at Ilsan with his own hands, and told us how much the residents have been looking forward to this day. It wasn’t long before our group was off, each donning a Santa hat, carrying bags and bags and bags of gifts, delivering them to every residence home at the center. The residents were so excited that some of them burst outside to greet the team before we arrived at their doorsteps. We shared a few Christmas carols and exchanged many hugs, but that was only the beginning of the festivities.

Once every home had received a bag of gifts, the residents, staff, volunteers and guests made their way to the gymnasium (home to Holt’s wheelchair basketball team and site of the annual Holt Cup Games) for the main Christmas party. Two members of the Gift Team (a mother and daughter) had the privilege of meeting their sponsored child, a 6-year-old boy, and walking hand-in-hand with him into the Christmas party. The happiness and excitement that was in the air instantly came over us as we walked into the gym. Residents young and old filled the room, beaming from ear to ear and talking excitedly in words I couldn’t understand with my ears, but understood perfectly well with my heart. Read the rest of this entry »

by Sally Dunbar, Holt Family Recruitment Specialist

Seoul, Republic of Korea—Holt International’s 2008 Korea Christmas Gift Team held a reception party today to honor the Korean foster mothers who care for relinquished, orphaned or abandoned babies.

Today’s party at the offices of Holt Children’s Services of Korea (HCS) was the 40th Annual Celebration for Holt’s foster mothers. Nearly 80 foster mothers, representing a combined total of over 300 years of service, came to Holt’s office in Seoul where they were honored by Mr. Park, Heung-keun, director general of Social Services; President Min, Kyung-tae of HCS; Molly Holt, board chair of HCS; Paul Kim, director of programs for Korea of Holt International Children’s Services; and Kim Hanson, Holt International board member, adoptee and adoptive mother.

Mr. Park, Heung-keun opened the ceremony with these words: “Today is a day to honor angels—the children who are our angels and their foster mothers who are their guardian angels.” As I looked at the children’s precious faces and into the eyes of their loving foster mothers, I silently asked God to bless their everlasting bond with one another. Read the rest of this entry »

When a long-waiting couple opened their hearts to a boy, their assignment from Holt International came quickly.

Excerpts from the blog of Lisa Ronda

We started out our adoption process only open to a girl, as young and healthy as possible. So to end our adoption with a boy who was 2 1/2 years old with a minor special need was sort of our “surprise” ending.

We were just over two years into our adoption when we decided to talk with Kris Bales, our Holt social worker, and just learn a little more about adopting a child with minor healthcare conditions, now known as the China Child of Promise Option. We figured asking a few questions couldn’t hurt anything.

Kris mentioned that if we were open to a boy, we might be matched more quickly, as most families in the program were not open to boy adoptions. We knew that we would be adopting a second child from China as soon as we finished our first adoption. So we decided if we were matched with a boy this time, we could always request a match with a girl next time.

We opened up the age range to include 2 years and under, boy or girl with minor healthcare needs. Within several weeks we were presented with Zhao Jian Hui, now named Aaron. His healthcare need was unfamiliar to us, but after discussing his medical records with our pediatrician, we felt that it was within the scope of what we were able to take care of.

Aaron’s medical condition was completely corrected with a minor surgery. He is wonderful and very healthy. We feel so blessed to have been matched with him and are so thankful that God placed it in our hearts to open our match criteria when He did, so that Aaron could be brought into our family! Read the rest of this entry »

A couple who adopted a perfectly healthy boy with a missing limb through Holt International’s China Child of Promise Option got just the son they wanted

by Sheri Quirie

When I answered the phone, I had no idea how important that call would be. Our social worker asked, “How much purple paint did you get painted last night?” “One wall,” was my answer.  “Why?”

“Well, we have a 10-month-old boy we’d like you to consider.  Would you like to review his file?”  This call caught me completely off guard.  After all, I had talked to our social worker the previous day and was told that our wait for a referral was probably going to be about five more months.  When it finally registered that she’d said “boy,” my first verbalized thought was, “What’s wrong with him?”  Our social worker said, “Oh, nothing really.  He’s missing part of an arm.”

I called my husband, David, at work and said, “I think we have a son.”  When I asked if we should review his file, David responded with a “Yes!”

Less than an hour after that initial phone call, I had several pages of information and five pictures in front of me.  David and I read through everything that evening and contacted our doctor for his opinion.  None of us saw any red flags or had any hesitations.  Fu Zi Jian was our son!  Three months later, we were in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China, and Micah officially became our son.

How did we know that this boy was our son?  Well, my first question was: “What’s wrong with him.”  We now know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Micah.  In fact, limb differences run in our family.  Micah’s daddy has one leg that is shorter than the other; his grandpa is missing two fingers.

Limb differences was one of a very few medical issues that we were open to.  You and your family know what you can and can’t handle.  When considering a China Child of Promise, it’s 100 percent okay to say yes to things others would hesitate at.  It’s okay to say no to things that others are comfortable with.  Micah’s special need requires an annual visit with a pediatric orthopedic specialist.  We drive about an hour for that appointment.  It’s very doable for us.  Otherwise, he’s perfectly healthy.  In fact, our Holt guide in China told us that his Chinese name translates to “Healthy Child.”  How appropriate that is for this precious boy! Read the rest of this entry »

“You cannot lose sight of the goal” say Holt International adoptive parents Tom and Debbie Lizer, who are now in process of adopting a second daughter from Haiti.  The Lizers live in Iowa, where they find time in their busy lives to serve as Holt Ambassadors.

by Debbie Lizer

“We live vicariously through the Lizers.” That’s what our good friends tell their friends!

Who are the Lizers? My husband Tom and I and our brood — seven children, four of whom are adopted or in process of adoption from other countries —  are the Lizers. We are somewhat set apart from our “normal” friends.

Our adoption journey began 19 years ago when we brought home our first daughter, Reka, from India at 22 months to join two big brothers. Our tiny little girl flourished and soon our family grew by another son. We put the thought of future adoptions not out of our minds, but still buried rather deeply.

After years of waiting for the right time to make the decision about another adoption, we realized that time was making the decision for us. If we were going to do this, it was now or probably never. I started searching Holt’s Waiting Child website “just to see who was out there.” We thought we might be interested in a preschool-aged child and soon came upon a little girl from India with many unknowns. She stole our hearts and before long, we were working on a dossier, knowing that the choice wasn’t necessarily “safe,” but it was right. Four-year-old Vaishali joined us in a year, and we thought our family was probably complete.

It was during the post-placement phase of this adoption that our social worker urged us to consider Holt’s new Haiti program if we should want to proceed with any subsequent adoptions. We smiled and said, “We’ll see,” but thought, “That won’t happen.” In time, though, curiosity got the best of us. We started reading about the Haiti program in Holt International magazine and checked out the waiting children on the website, “just to see who was out there.” Our interest grew as we noticed the older girls needing families. We reasoned we could handle the placement of an older child, as we had already mastered the ’tween and teen years (to the extent that that’s possible!) and, we rationalized, we really could use a playmate for Vaishali, a sibling closer to her age. We noticed a little girl 7 years old, and our interest continued to grow. Maybe she would fit our plan. But God had a different plan, one much more complex than our own, one that started us on a new journey down a long and rocky road. Yet, God’s plan was a perfect one, and this is how it has been unveiled… Read the rest of this entry »