One of the serendipitous or Godly-sent parts of Caleb's adoption is that he is from Yichang, which is in the Hubei Province of China. Benjamin is from Wuhan, which is the capitol city of the Hubei Province, and where all Hubei adoptions are processed.

Benjamin has asked repeatedly over the years to return to visit China, and we were concerned about how the costs would play out should we combine a homeland tour with an adoption trip. As an answer to prayer, we didn't have to worry because we were blessed on this adoption trip to return to Wuhan to adopt Caleb, and in doing so would be returning to Benjamin's city as well.

Our Chinese Daughters Foundation handled much of our touring and our trip to the Wuhan Social Welfare Institute, and I can't say enough good things about how they handled the trip. They contacted the orphanage in advance, set up a date and time to expect us, and paid the necessary provincial fees for our visit. They also sent us a contract for our guide to read and sign, delineating what would be expected of our guide during this visit. OCDF also has excellent articles for parents who are returning with their child to his or her orphanage on a homeland tour, that discuss whether or not your child is ready for such an experience.

As we drove to the Wuhan orphanage, I wanted to clarify with Benjamin that he understood where we were going and that he would not be upset by the visit. Returning to orphanages can be traumatic to a child if he has negative memories of living there, and since Ben had no language while he lived there due to being deaf, he didn't have any close friends or great, positive memories. Should he not want to visit, I had already decided we would leave him back at the hotel with siblings while Jeff and I visited. He didn't seem bothered by the least, however, and when we drove up to the gates, he let out a squeal of delight and started rapidly signing "I lived here before! I remember!" He was the first to jump off of the bus so I guess my fears of him being afraid to visit were unfounded. Micheline asked if we would be meeting his Chinese parents and Benjamin explained to her that this was a home where children lived who didn't have parents.

Continued...