Hello everyone, we are the Worrell family. We have 7 children, 4 of whom are deaf children from China.
My husband Tom is deaf, and I am a sign language interpreter. Our 3 biological children all know sign language.
I knew since I was a teenager that I wanted to adopt, and after our three biological children were a bit older, we began our adoption journey.
Our first son, Fu Xin Hai, was 10 years old at the time, from Jinan, Shandong, China, and he is deaf. His file said our son could read and write Chinese and knew Chinese sign language. It said he could walk, run, and basically do everything a 10-year-old boy could do.
When we met him, we discovered that this 10-year-old boy didn't even know he had a name, couldn't tell us when he needed to use the bathroom, and had absolutely no language skills or prior education. He was 10 years old but couldn't walk down stairs or run; he didn't know that cars on the street could hit and kill him. He was essentially a 10-year-old toddler.
Our first few years were okay, but what followed were incredibly difficult and terrifying years, like living in a nightmare. Thankfully, those hard years are behind us, and he has made tremendous progress. Our Fu Xin Hai, now Luke, is 21 years old. He attends a college for the deaf and has finished his freshman year. He is a straight-A student.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, his studies were put on pause. He now works in Amazon's software and design department. If the pandemic calms down, he might return to college.
He isn't the easiest person to get along with because the things that happened early in his life caused significant damage to his brain, but he has a kind heart. He is smart, highly motivated, and hardworking, and we are proud to be his family.
While adopting Luke, the agency showed us a picture of a little boy. He was also deaf, six years old, with a brilliant smile—the cutest little boy we had ever seen. We told the agency we would pray for him to find a family to adopt him.
Two years passed, and I didn't hear anything about that little boy. Suddenly, an email popped into my inbox, and the picture of this little boy appeared again. Only this time, that brilliant smile was gone; he looked emotionless, lost, and incredibly vulnerable, so in need of someone to protect him. My husband and I started praying hard, and we realized that we were the family we had been praying for over the last two years... Yes, we were praying for ourselves to find him.
We started the process of bringing this deaf boy, Elias, home from Guangzhou, China.
During the preparation process, something strange happened. One night, our three-year-old daughter Paige was saying grace at dinner. First, she said, "Dear God, thank you for the sunshine and the day. Thank you for my puppy." Then her prayer changed into words we had never heard before, using vocabulary we knew she couldn't possibly have. She said, "I am praying for my little sister Emma; she is very sick and in the hospital, but the doctors are taking care of her. When the time comes, God will send her on an airplane to find me."
My husband and I looked at each other, thinking we only planned to adopt one child, and the process for this boy was already underway. Secondly, Paige didn't have a sister, and we weren't going to adopt again.
But every night, Paige prayed for her sister Emma. Then Paige started asking to look at pictures of Chinese girls waiting to be adopted. She would look at photos of deaf little girls waiting for adoption and say, "No, that's not my sister."
We thought Paige had just imagined a sister and named her Emma.
About a month before we were set to fly to Guangzhou to pick up Elias, our adoption agency called and said: "Tracy, we believe we have found Paige's sister, Emma." They told me the story of a little deaf girl they met at an orphanage in Jiamusi, China. They asked if they could send her photos and files. I said of course, but that we wouldn't be adopting again; rather, we would pass her information on to others looking to adopt.
I opened the email, and my daughter Paige walked over, dropped to her knees, and said, "Mommy, my sister Emma, you found her, you found her!" She started sobbing, just repeating, "That's her, you found her!"
My husband and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes, knowing we were now going to add another daughter to our family.
We expedited the paperwork to adopt her and brought Emma and Elias home at the same time. Both children are deaf. At the time of adoption, Emma was 6, and Elias was 9. When we got home, neither child had any real language or prior education.
Elias is 18 this year. He just graduated from high school half a year early and has also completed his freshman year of college courses. This week, we took him to his university for the first time to start the next leg of his journey. His goal is to become a deaf missionary, spreading God's love throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Emma is now 15, and her life has been full of bumps. A year after coming to our home, she had a five-hour-long seizure that caused severe brain damage. She is currently a high school freshman and studies very hard. She is very artistic and loves to create. She has grown into a beautiful young woman.
We were living a quiet family life with six children. One day, someone suddenly contacted me saying that a Chinese girl who had been adopted by another family was abandoned; she had only stayed in that American home for two days. She is deaf, 14 years old, from Shenzhen, China, with curly hair, beautiful but with a big temper. She didn't know English or American Sign Language.
I know some Chinese Sign Language, so I offered to video chat with her. Over the next month, we taught each other our languages via video, and we began to look forward to our daily chats very much. I found out she was about to be kicked out of the foster care system. After my husband and I prayed again, we decided to adopt Fuling and make her our seventh child.
Mia Fuling is 21 this year. After the pandemic started, missing her country and culture, she was filling out paperwork to return to China. She now works at Amazon and is doing very well there. She is getting her driver's license. Once the borders reopen, she will likely return to China for 6 months. She isn't sure if she will go back to settle down permanently.
Mia is our social butterfly; she loves everyone and is the most artistic and talented young lady. We can't wait to see what her future holds.
Over the past few years, I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to my liver. The chemotherapy and radiation process has been grueling.
Yesterday I saw my oncologist, and he told me my HGC levels have been rising and are very, very abnormal. I may have to undergo a hysterectomy next.
As I battle cancer, our family has gone through some tough years, but it has brought us closer together in some ways.
Adopting our children has been the greatest blessing of our lives. It has been an amazing journey full of happiness, heartache, laughter, adventures, many firsts, many tears, and much joy.
Adoption is not smooth sailing, but it is absolutely worth it. We are so thankful for our beautiful, large family.
