It’s Just a Birthmark

At the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China, the Harris family of Florida was getting to know Caleb—and it was obvious that each of them had fallen in love with their newly adopted boy.

Tom and Meredith were getting kisses and offering food, as were Caleb's two new siblings, 6-year-old Collin and (almost) 10-year-old Abbie. They were so ecstatic, the fact that Caleb has a healthcare condition seemed irrelevant—except that the Harris family would still be waiting for an assignment had they not decided to fill out Holt's Minor/Correctable Conditions Checklist. Their willingness to consider a child with a minor healthcare need moved their adoption along quickly.

"We were in the regular China adoption process," said Tom. "But the wait times were just so long. When we heard that we could stay in the regular program and also consider a child with a healthcare need, we thought about it only briefly."

The login date for their dossier in China was October 19, 2007. The following week they notified Holt's China team they were willing to consider a child with minor/correctable needs. Six weeks later, they got Caleb's referral.

"Caleb has a hemangioma on top of his head," said Tom. "On a little head with no hair to cover it, it would have been huge and scary to a non-medical person."

Meredith, a registered nurse, explained: "It's just a birthmark. A place where the capillaries come close to the surface of the skin. It fades over time, and after a while, it can disappear all together. With the hair he has now, you can't really see it unless you look closely."

Caleb comes into a family with two doting, older children who one day not so long ago asked their parents when they were going to get a new sibling. "We really looked at one another," said Meredith, "because Tom and I had been talking to one another about adopting a child. But they didn't know that."

"We have a sense that this was pre-ordained," said Tom. "The fact they became interested in a sibling when we were considering it between ourselves is just one of many indications. It is neat to see God at work in our adoption process."