Loss and the Adoption Process

Is it possible to "attach and bond" to a picture? Yes - well, sort of... I still remember the first day that we saw James' picture. While we didn't want to get our hopes up, we knew from that moment that he was our son. Seven months later, we were united with him. We first saw Xiaoli's picture on a blog. Several months later we met her in her orphanage. However, at that point, her file had not even left her orphanage and had to be sent to Beijing and then to an adoption agency. Through a miraculous series of events, almost two years after first seeing her picture, we were united with her. We had attached through the pictures of both of our children before we ever even met either one. Those who have never been through this process have a difficult time really relating to the attachment that can take place through a picture of a child somewhere on the other side of the world. It's not really the picture that we were bonding with - we were bonding to our children through the picture.

(Those are the first two pictures that we saw of James and Xiaoli.)

Unfortunatly, some good friends of ours have had to deal with losing two children after receiving their pictures and referrals but not being able to complete the adoptions. We ask you to lift Zach and Leanne up in prayer as they deal with this second loss. Click here to see more about their story.

Caleb Binh Jenkins