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Chloe's Story
 How
we found our waiting child
We
had thought- About adopting for a while. Our son was born to us after many
infertility treatments. Not wanting to go through infertility treatments
again, we turned to adoption to complete our family. We researched many
countries and found that China was the best match for our family. China has
a very organized and secure adoption program. They also have a reputation
for giving good care to their children. When we first started the adoption
process, we signed with another agency. However, a month into the process
we decided that we wanted to adopt a Waiting Child. Our current agency did
not have any available Waiting Children. I started searching for our
daughter by looking at all available children on various Waiting Child
lists.
One
day in April 2005, I saw a description for a little girl on JOH’s Waiting
Child list and Gabriel sent me her file immediately. We decided that this
little girl was our daughter! Her name was He Zhi Hong, she was 1 year old
and her special need was a congenital heart defect. She was living in
Changsha, Hunan, China. Our little He Zhi Hong was soon to be known as,
Chloe ZhiHong.
 Gabriel
(International Adoption Coordinator at Journeys of the Heart) was very
helpful and friendly. He helped us with all of our paperwork, was always
available to answer questions, and was very quick in answering all e-mails!
I was always very impressed with the communication and with the honesty of
the staff at JOH! They always make you feel like a member of their family
and not just a client. JOH excels in customer service! Gabriel worked hard
to get us updated information
 and
photos of our new little girl. We were very grateful when we received this
information - especially the pictures!
I
sent our dossier to Gabriel in June and he had it on its way to China the
next day! One thing I really noticed- About JOH is that wanted to help us
get our child home as quickly as we did.
We
received the wonderful- About traveling to China to meet our daughter in
November. JOH made all of our plane, hotel, guide, and entertainment
arrangements. It was wonderful! During this very stressful and exciting
time, all we had to do was board a plane and then meet our daughter. The
guides that were provided for us in China were first rate! They handled
everything for us and always made sure we were happy! All of our paperwork
was handled by the guides as well. All that was required of us was to sign
a few forms and swear to love our child forever!
Our trip to China!
When we arrived in Beijing, our guide went over everything we were going to
be doing each day. (All of our guides did this so we always knew what to
expect.) While in Beijing, we got to climb the Great Wall, tour the Summer
Palace, visit Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. Our guide took us
to a Jade Factory, Cloisonné Factory, and a Silk Factory. All of our guide
were very knowledge and were eager to share with us all of China’s culture,
customs, and history.
 Next,
we were off to Changsha to meet our now, 19 month old daughter, Chloe. Our
guide made sure everything was in order and again, we had to do nothing, but
be nervous and excited. Our guide took pictures for us at Gotcha day as well
so that we could really enjoy everything. We stayed in Changsha for a
week. During this time, our guide took around the city educating- About this
cities culture and history. We visited Hunan University where Confucius
studied as well as an Embroidery Factory. Hunan is a province known for
beautiful embroidery.
Our
last stop in our journey was Guangzhou where we stayed at the beautiful and
famous White Swan Hotel! This is the hotel with the Famous Red Couch. I
couldn’t wait to take Chloe’s picture on it! Guangzhou has many little shops
all around the hotel that center around adoption so it was a really
wonderful experience. All families who adopt from China must go through
Guangzhou, so we were able to meet many other adoptive families. Our stay
in China was great! The people were all very friendly and eager to help.
The food was so good it can’t even be described!
Home with Chloe
After arriving home with our new daughter, JOH called to make sure
everything was going well and asked if we needed anything. How wonderful is
that!
We
were told that Chloe’s heart would probably need surgery once we got her
home. But, to our surprise - her heart had healed on its own!! Yea!! She
is a very healthy, happy, and active toddler.
I
can’t even remember what it was like without our precious little Chloe.
It’s like she has always been a part of our lives! She is the most
wonderful child in the world. We have not had any attachment problems or
sleep problems and she is a very loving and affectionate child. Chloe and
her big brother get along great and they are now the best of friends!
Our
family is very thankful to Journeys of the Heart for helping us to complete
our family! I highly recommend them and would use them again!
Sincerely,
The
McCormick Family
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