Welcome to the Hawkins Family adoption blog.  We got official word yesterday that we are invited to China to come and get our son and finalize his adoption.

We leave two weeks from today.

I'm so excited my ears might fall off.

Melissa and I have been married a little over ten years.  Even before we got married we talked about how we loved seeing families with children from other cultures and nations.  To us they reflected ultimate realities we believe in but can't explain here.

Last December I posted this note on Facebook that explains where we were then:

Dear friends and family,

Many of you know that we started working towards adopting a son from China last January. Our materials have passed through every step here in the U.S. and were sent to China yesterday. Please join us in this process by hoping that our paperwork will be “logged in” quickly. The average waiting time from this point to going to China to get one’s child is 5-7 months. We have seen our hopes fulfilled at many steps along the way and would like for you to share our joy and our blessings.

We have been  led to a little boy on our agency’s “waiting child” list. His name is Dimao Wu, and he lives in an orphanage in Shanghai. He is 3 and ½. We have a couple of photos and a page or two of information about him. He was born with cleft lip and palate and has had a couple of surgeries already but will need a few more when he gets here. When he becomes ours we will change his name to Abraham Dimao Hawkins and eventually call him Abe.

Please  hope with us that the Chinese adoption officials will log in and approve our application quickly. Please hope that Abe will be prepared to become part of our family.  Hope that we will be prepared to meet his needs and become his family. We believe that every child is loved and should have a family- we are led to be a family for this boy.
Thank you for your friendship and your love for us. I am thankful that you have been put in our lives.

Craig, Melissa, Amelia, Eli, and Abe Hawkins


Abe - Fall 2011.