Journey brings family double happiness Published Nov. 28, 2006 By Tech. Sgt Rodney Honeycutt and Senior Airman Ben Mota GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind -- There is an ancient Chinese idea of a double happiness, and one Air Force Reserve boom operator became a believer of this idea with his recent trip to that country. Tech. Sgt. Rodney Honeycutt, a boom operator with the 74th Air Refueling Squadron, found out what double happiness really meant as he and his wife embarked on the journey of adopting a child. Sergeant Honeycutt and his wife were married in the late 1990s and a couple years later decided to have children. After several failed attempts, the couple went to see a doctor. "We were finally told that we would not be able to have children," Sergeant Honeycutt said. "Disappointed, we half heartedly accepted all the facts and decided to put our desire for a family behind us." Despite their loss of hope in having a biological child, the Honeycutts pressed on in with their goal to become parents. With continued determination, the couple decided to adopt, he said, but the couple had no clue where to begin. "We started to research the many types and processes involved with adoption, and we finally decided upon international adoption, but could not determine which country to adopt from," he said, but the decision was made easy after attending an international adoption seminar. "It was at an informational seminar by an international adoption agency where we could meet several families that had adopted children from various countries such as Russia, Guatemala and China," stated Sergeant Honeycutt. "It was a family that adopted a little girl from China that caught our hearts, and on our way home that we decided to adopt from China." The next part of the Honeycutt's journey was even more difficult and time intensive as they started what Sergeant Honeycutt referred to as the paper chase. The paper chase is the part of the adoption where all documents required for an international adoption are gathered and when the adopting family starts home study with a social worker, he said. Upon completion of the paperwork, it is mailed to China and officially logged into the China Center for Adoption Affairs. That process took a year to complete. "The adoption process continued on in China where the paperwork went to the screening room to check for any mistakes," said Sergeant Honeycutt. "After a minor correction in my height, our paperwork made it into the placement room." The placement room is where the orphaned children are matched with their adoptive parents on paper. The placement process took an additional year to complete. It was not until over two years later from the point the Honeycutts first started the process to when they found out their daughters name, he said. Upon return from temporary duty in South Korea, he got the news. "I got home, gave my wife a hug and she told me very excitedly that I needed to check my e-mail for a message from our adoption coordinator," he said. "I opened my e-mail account and scanned for the message, and I found an e-mail with the subject line 'CONGRATULATIONS DAD.'" The Honeycutt's hard work had paid off and they were going be parents of a Chinese girl, but that was only one half of their double happiness. "I finished reading the e-mail and I looked back at my wife, who said to me, 'I have more to tell you,'" he added. "The next thing I would hear from her was 'the doctor says I'm pregnant.'" It was at this point that the Honeycutts first realized their double happiness, he said, but the double happiness continues. "Another journey of double happiness is beginning," said Sergeant Honeycutt. "Our family is starting a new journey, the journey of two children born on separate continents and a year apart becoming brother and sister to parents that were told they would never be able to have children."
