The Provinces of China

Eva is from the Hunan province, which is is southeast China, above the Guangdong province.

Evangeline Referral Photos

The beginning of parenthood

About a year into our marriage, David and I realized that we were not easily going to conceive. We began to pray at that time. Four years into our marriage, we began fertility treatment. The things we have gone through to try and become a parent... During the infertility treatment, my husband urged adoption, but I still hadn't come to acceptance of my inability to conceive and could not contemplate adoption. Ten years into our marriage, I was in prayer about becoming a mother, when my cat jumped on the bed and plopped onto my lap. I experienced an overwhelming sense of love for this cat and suddenly it dawned on me. I was completely in love with a cat, who isn't even the same species as I am. What in the world made me think I wouldn't be able to love a child who wasn't of my womb, all of a sudden things were clear. The next morning, I called the social worker and in the fall of 2004, we began the path to adoption. We chose to adopt from China for several reasons, one my husband is several years past 40 and China is one of the few places that allows older parents to adopt an infant. Another reason that factored into our decision is the uncertainty that is inherent in domestic adoption. Finally, both David and I have a love and admiration for the Asian culture and history, so much so, that we knew we wanted to bring a daughter of China, with her culture, into our home. We sent our paperwork off to China for our daughter on May 19, 2005. It was logged in on May 27. And then we began the wait, which would end with a match to our daughter. The girl that we believe God would bring into our lives, allowing both us and her to be blessed by love and family. At the time we sent the paperwork into China, the wait time for matching, or referral, was 6 to 7 months. We waited 11 months to the day. Our path to parenthoood experienced a jolt of completion yesterday with one phone call, that changed our lives. The call was from our social worker, and with it came our daughter, Evangeline Wu Yi Hurlburt, into our lives. Her English-Chinese Hybrid name means, "A messenger of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who can be depended on in battle." She is 12 months old, and from the Xiangtan Orphanage in the Hunan Province. And I, who once feared an inability to love, am madly in love with this little girl, whom I know only from pictures and a few snippits the orphanage workers have shared. I know that she is a good sleeper, I know that she is restless, that she is fond of games and toys that make noise and that she is sometimes obstinant. I know that she is the most beautiful little girl on the entire planet. And, I know that she is mine!