About a year ago, my parents called my two brothers and I into their room. We thought we were going to be going on a vacation or a trip, but that wasn’t the case. My mom started off by saying, " How do you guys feel about adoption?" We were very confused at first. But I assumed she was wanting to adopt. It was silent. "Do you want to adopt?" I asked. My parents both looked at each other and my mom stated, "Your father and I have been looking at adoption websites and have had our eye on this one little boy for almost a year, we decided we wanted to adopt him and we were wondering if you guys would want to also." Me and my brothers looked at each other in shock. We didn’t know what to say. "Well, I will think about it, it’s a lot to take in all at once." Said Jake, my older brother. "Sure, I'm fine with it." Caleb, my younger brother stated. Then my parents looked at me. "What do you think about all of this Abby?" My dad asked. I was in such shock that I didn’t know what to think. I told them I would think about it too.
The next day I went into their room and I asked them a bunch of questions. They told me it was defiantly going to change our lives. They also said that he was blind. That made me think of how different things will be, living with a blind child. I asked my parents to describe him to me, so they did. They said he was born in China and abandoned outside on orphanage at 10 months. After one year, Bethel, an orphanage for visually impaired children, found him and brought him to their orphanage. He is very blessed to have gotten to bethel because his other orphanage was very bad. Bethel named him Gong Xin, which means treasure.
My mom had seen him on the bethel website several times and felt that she had to adopt him because she keeps seeing pictures of that specific kid. I helped pick his American name. We all decided to name him Gabe, but his middle name would be Gong Xin.Adoption is a very long process, but after one year of fundraisers, phone calls, inspections, interviews, and a whole lot of paper work, we would finally get to bring him home.
In March, my parents left for China and would be gone for two weeks. Me and my two brothers had to stay with my aunt while they were gone, because we had to go to school. But finally on March 31, 2016 they had come home. My whole family was waiting at the airport. It was 10 pm. I was nervous but excited at the same time. We saw them get off the plane and I was so relieved to see that my parents and my newly adopted brother had made it home safely. Holding him for the first time was the most amazing feeling. It was as if I had known him for so long and treated him like a brother my whole life even though it had been my first time actually seeing him and holding him in person.
He was only three years old, which meant I had to act differently around him because my other two brothers are much older. Now that we would be living with him and he was so young, we would have to be much quieter when he naps and much more careful, especially since he's blind. This also made me think differently on how much more challenging his life is than mine. I need to be more appreciative and helpful to others because I may have something that they wish they had.
Gabe has been home for five months now and is adjusting quite well. He knows our voices and loves to be held. It impresses me on how he is doing se well after being through so much in his life time. He has had many people come and go in his life time and never knows where he is going or what is going on but he stays brave. We really want him to know that we
are never and will never leave him. So that he can go to sleep at night knowing we will be there when he wakes up.
This experience taught me not to take things for granted because Gabe only got to eat rice and milk every day before we adopted him and he never really knew what a family was or meant. I am lucky enough to have a family that I love and trust. Also to have a variety of food which I can eat at any time unlike he could. Gabe inspired me to push my limits and to never give up. Because he never gave up.
Written by: Abby Sloan
