Elizabeth Butler
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
VALDOSTA — “Have you lost your minds?”
That question pops up as people learn Carlton Brown, 49, and his wife, Lisa, 44, are preparing to bring home a 4-year-old girl from the People’s Republic of China to be a part of their family, which includes their biological children, 21-year-old Christopher, who’s in the U.S. Marine Corps, and 15-year-old Caitlin, a rising sophomore at Georgia Christian School.
“No,” Lisa simply answers their question.
“We get asked a lot about our age,” she explained Wednesday afternoon in an interview at Azalea City Church of God, where they are members and Lisa was formerly the events coordinator and Senior Pastor Brett Jarriel’s assistant.
“This was a dream that I have had since I was a child,” Lisa said. “I never dreamed it would take us to China. Carlton and I would talk about adoption, then life stuff would come up, and we would say, ‘We will do it later.’ I thought that one day a child in need of parents would find its way to us somehow. And so the years went by ... fast. Then, on a Sunday morning, five-plus years ago, God showed my dream again, and he also showed me that there would come a time that we would no longer be able to adopt. God showed me that if I didn’t follow my dream to adopt that I would morn having not done it all the way to my deathbed. So on the following Monday, I began the ‘Journey of My Heart’ with the loving support of my husband and children. It has been a long journey for our family. So for years, I carried a child from adoption in my heart, but this past Mother’s Day, I was able to carry a picture of Carriann, knowing that in a few months, I would carry her in my arms.”
Carlton and Lisa will fly into Beijing in September and then travel to the orphanage in Guangzhou City, where they will pick up Carriann, bond with her for 2 1/2 weeks and then adopt her at the American Embassy there. Carriann Jialin Brown will become an American citizen once she lands on American soil.
Carriann was found in China on June 3, 2006, in a pink jacket (Other details are not known to the Browns as of yet). She was taken to a hospital where she was found to be healthy and then taken to the orphanage. She is described as having an “outgoing personality, talkative, loves to play games, likes to be teased by adults. Her favorite thing is to play on the slide.” It was also noted that she could be “obstinate.”
“The joke is I had asked God to give us a clear sign that she was actually ours, and the first thing her (new) dad saw in her medical description was that she could be obstinate,” Lisa said. “... she is obstinate like her mother and flat-footed like her dad.”
The Browns used the Open Door adoption agency in Thomasville, which handles both domestic and international adoptions. In addition to the home study by the Department of Family and Children’s Services, the Browns had to be cleared by both the GBI and FBI.
“We had to have clearances from each state we lived in (Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Georgia) that we had no child abuse charges,” said Carlton, who has traveled with his job with Wal-mart and is the current market health and wellness director for the southwestern Georgia.
In about two months, the couple who have been married 26 years will get to wrap their arms around Carriann and claim her as their own.
“We are very excited about bringing Carriann home to her forever family,” Lisa said in a note to family and friends. “We know she is the one God picked for us. Please pray that Carriann remains safe and healthy, and pray for God to give her peace during her transition into her forever family.”
