This is the second in a series of columns I am devoting to the adoption journey my wife, Claudette, and I started in 2005.

Hank Bond, publisher and editor of the Greenup Beacon, asked that we share our story with you. Maybe you have an interest in adoption or know someone who does. If so, I hope this information is helpful to you.

I left off last week sharing with you how God provided signs to us telling us that we should adopt Wu Si Yan from Suzhou, China. We made that decision official while standing in K-Mart in Maysville, Ky., just after finding a Chinese baby doll named “Bridget,” which was Wu Si Yan’s online profile name on the Lifeline Children’s Services (of Alabama) website.

Doug Darbro, Ph.D., and his wife, Tonia, had adopted one daughter—Sadie—from China already. He and Tonia were in the process of adopting their second daughter—Bailey—during this time. Doug, a math professor at Shawnee State University (SSU) while I was an English and communication professor there, invited us to their home to meet Sadie. While there, Doug and Tonia provided Claudette and me with an abundance of very helpful information to help prepare us for our “Journey to Josie”—Josie Claire Siyan Hapney, which would become Wu Si Yan’s name once our adoption was final. Claudette and I are forever grateful to them for their help throughout our journey.

Now that we were on track to adopt Wu Si Yan, we had to inquire of A Helping Hand adoption agency in Lexington—the original agency with which we had already contracted—to see if the agency would work with Lifeline Children’s Services in partnership to help us bring our daughter home to the United States. As God would have it, A Helping Hand agreed to partner with Lifeline in a first such relationship of its kind at A Helping Hand.

Lifeline had direct access to Wu Si Yan. Therefore, staff members there (Karla in particular) were very helpful to us in providing updates about our daughter and how close we were to traveling to China to bring her home to live with her new family. A Helping Hand would make all travel arrangements for us. This arrangement worked out pretty well.

I won’t get into the particulars of the paperwork required for our adoption because some of it may have changed since we went through this process in 2006 and 2007. That said, it entailed a mountain of paperwork. My friend Doug had shared with me what he called the “Paper Chase.” That’s exactly what it was. Claudette did such a wonderful job filling out all of the required paperwork, dotting every I and crossing each T.

I suggest that anyone interested in adoption become personal friends with a notary. You will need that relationship in a major way! At that time, we lived in Ironton, Ohio. Given we are in a Tri-State area, we had paperwork notarized in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. That meant our paperwork had to make its way to Columbus, Frankfort, and Charleston, depending on what needed to be done in each state capital. Again, Claudette did such a wonderful job of tracking our paperwork and ensuring each required piece was correctly filled out, notarized, and sent off for processing. We also applied for and were granted passports. We underwent a comprehensive home study—complete with federal background checks.

While the process was tedious, it was very predictable. We knew what to expect and approximately when to expect it. Seven months after we officially started the process of adopting our daughter, Wu Si Yan, we were notified we would travel to China to get her! Our trip was in January 2007. We packed as lightly as we could for our two-week stay in three provinces in China. Prior to our trip, Claudette and I set up a blog through which we would communicate with our friends and family members. We provided updates on it prior to leaving for China, during our stay there, and for some time after our return. The site showcased our daily itinerary, our thoughts, photographs, and video.

During our preparation for our trip to China, Doug and Tonia provided us with a checklist of things we had to take with us. Of course, Lifeline and A Helping Hand did as well. While we attempted to pack as lightly as possible, this proved to be a difficult task as the temperature in Beijing was in the 20s, in the 40s in Nanjing, and in the 80s in Guangzhou. We wore toboggan hats, heavy coats, and gloves at the Great Wall of China and shorts and short sleeves at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou!

We made the decision not to take Brock and Blake—our sons who were 6 and 5 at the time—with us to China. Our itinerary included a trip to Columbus, a flight to Chicago, a flight to Beijing, a flight to Nanjing, a car trip to Suzhou, a flight to Guangzhou, a flight to Hong Kong, a flight to Chicago, a flight to Columbus, and a car trip to our home in Ironton. That was too much for two little boys to handle, in our opinion. My Dad, Terry Hapney, Sr., rode up to Columbus with us the night before our flights from Columbus to Chicago to Bejing were scheduled. Claudette and I spent the night at a hotel in Columbus while Dad and the boys drove back home that night.

All the while all of this was going on we had many friends and family members who were praying for us. God and the prayers of our friends and family members are what made all of this possible. It was a major miracle for us.

Next week, I will write about our time in China and the experiences we encountered there. It was a fascinating place to visit. More importantly, it was the country that was the temporary home of our daughter. I’m looking forward to sharing some of the particulars of our “Journey to Josie” with you.

Terry L. Hapney, Jr., Ph.D., is a professor in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Marshall University, and an eastern Greenup County native. He may be reached at hapney@marshall.edu.