I know it has been a long, long time since I posted, but it has also been a really long three years. While most of the world moved into a state of “living with COVID” by 2021, China refused. It was as if we were stuck in the worst months of 2020 for three years. We stayed in China throughout most of their COVID measures for two reasons: 1, we didn’t want to leave China before vaccines were available. And 2, we didn’t want to leave China without our second daughter. Unfortunately, long after vaccines became available, China still refused to move on, and that included not reopening their adoption program, which was abruptly closed as quickly as everything else in Feb. 2020. But life goes on, and the daughter we already had at home was getting older, We could no longer keep her life on hold, waiting for Chinese authorities to see sense, so we had to leave China with the plan to go back and get our other daughter if and when China reopened adoptions.
As I have written before, our daughter has special needs. Because of this, finding a school for her had become impossible. She attended a fantastic kindergarten in Yangshuo, but as she moved into primary school age, we were unable to find a school for her. We even moved to Guangzhou, a first-tier city with supposedly some of the best schools in the country, and we still could not find a place for her. We also could not find affordable medical care. Medications that cost us $10 in the United States were costing us over $300. The daily strain of not being in school, not being able to access medical care, and the constant fear of COVID lockdowns became too much for my little family to handle. So as difficult as it was, we had to make the decision to return to the United States.
We have now been in the United States for nearly six months. I’m sorry I was not able to write this post before now, but moving back has not been as easy as we hoped. Navigating schools, getting healthcare, and trying to get my career back on track have all been far more difficult than I anticipated. However, things are slowly getting better. I have a new release coming out in March. China has abruptly abandoned its COVID policies. And while this is creating massive problems in the country for now, at least there is hope that the country is on its way to getting back to normal, including, hopefully, reopening its adoption program. We still don’t know when we will be able to go and get our little girl, but we have not given up hope that she will eventually be home and in our arms.
This far from the last time you will hear from me, though. As I said, I have a new release coming out very soon! I have more time for reading, connecting with other authors, and reaching out to fans. If you want to know more about my time in China or what is coming next for me and my family, feel free to reach out to me or even leave a comment below. I can’t wait to start reaching out to everyone on a more regular basis again. Be sure to subscribe to my mailing list, so you never miss the latest news!