Sarah's Story
By Tom Kane

Dear Readers,

My name is Tom Kane. My wife Agnes and I are parents to a remarkable little girl. Her name is Sarah. We started our journey into adoption more than 2 years ago. We looked into various agencies and programs before settling on the Alliance for Children's China program. Our social worker, Vivian Cone, made us feel very comfortable with the choice we made. She knew exactly what we were going through because she is an adoptive mother herself. She helped us with obtaining all the documents and paperwork.

Ten months later (the wait was due to an administrative change in China) we got word that a four month old girl had been placed with us. We got her picture shortly before Thanksgiving, and she was beautiful. Her Chinese name was Yi Rui Xuan (which means "most precious jade" in Chinese) and she was living in the Yiyang Orphanage in Hunan, China.

She was six months old when she came home. I traveled to China alone because Agnes stayed at home with our son, Billy. Agnes met Sarah and me in San Francisco. One of my fondest memories is the thought of Agnes with tears in her eyes, running through the airport, jumping over suitcases to meet her baby for the first time. That joy and the sheer relief to be back in America with Sarah was overwhelming. Seven hours later we were back in Boston and Billy was holding Sarah for the first time. He adored her from the start and loves being an older brother.

Sarah is special. She is a sweet and lovable little doll with personality to spare. She is very intelligent and has tremendous spirit. Agnes and I hope that by sharing our story we can encourage others to create their family through adoption.

Sincerely,

Tom and Agnes Kane