When we traveled to China to adopt two years ago, it was with the understanding this was going to be our one and only adoption trip. However there is a saying in the adoption community that it is much harder to ignore orphans once you have seen their faces and know their names.  We have a hundred and one reasons not to adopt right now; we already have three children with a variety of special needs, we don't have the money to pay for the expenses of an adoption, maybe our house isn’t big enough, and so on. Seeing her picture for the first time though gave us all the reasons in the world that we absolutely needed to move forward with her adoption. There is a Chinese proverb that states, An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. It is with this belief that we are following our hearts back to China.

So who is the Butler Modaff family? Dad (Dan) and Mom (Jennifer) have been married for almost eleven years; we have three beautiful children. Our oldest little is 15 years old; although she enjoyed the first 5 years of her life as an only child, she is a great big sister. She was the only who challenged us to think about special needs adoptions when we were considering our options because “we already know how to handle the tough stuff!” Our middle little is 9 years old. He has worked his way from being nonverbal to now dreaming of being a “you-tuber” and even has his own (private) channel where he delights his followers with his gaming stories and cat jokes. Our littlest little is small but mighty; at three years of age he has already learned that the best negotiations start with a smile, a laugh, and the occasional I love you for good measure. We have a zoo of rescue animals including 2 dogs, 7 cats, and 2 pet mice as well as an amazing autism service dog named Elf.  If you'd like to read more about our adventure, feel free to take a look at our blog!  

Our future little is just 1.5 years old. 'Cora,' as the agency nicknamed her, was found outside an orphanage when she was just a few days old.  Cora has Albinism and a visual impairment.  There is speculation that she may have cerebral palsy based on observed muscle tension but we won't know the full extent of her visual impairment or cp until we are able to get her home to see specialists.  We do know though that she has an amazing smile and a personality that just lights up the videos we are so fortunate to have. We are so eager to bring our daughter home; we already love her to the moon and back.

We are currently working hard on all of the adoption paperwork as well as fundraising. We have a huge yard sale planned with generous donations from so many in our community, we will be selling t-shirts that our talented friend and small business-graphic designer designed for us, and we hope to do a shoe drive that will benefit not only us but also provide start up materials for small businesses and keep shoes out of the landfill. We are applying for grants and planning to also use our retirement account. Lastly, we have started this fundraiser on Pure Charity to help us raise part of the funding that we need to make our adoption a success. We hope that you will consider helping us make our dream a reality.

Every donation is important and will help make this adoption a success. Would you kindly consider making a donation? If you can’t donate, would you consider keeping our family in your thoughts? Also, we would appreciate your willingness to share this with others who may want to participate.

Thank you so much for being a part of our lives and our journey back to China!