Owned by adoptive dad Robert Tadjiki, Scrolls from China sells unique, handmade Asian wall scrolls designed and painted by Chinese orphans. Proceeds from sales support the artists as well as orphanages in China.
I had a chance to interview Robert via e-mail:
Laura Christianson: What sparked your interest in adoption?
Robert Tadjiki: We were drawn to adoption after having our two boys. Soon after our youngest son was born, my wife started getting interested in China and the people there. She felt strangely pulled to learn anything she could about life there, and about the culture. Several months later, she just suddenly, one day, knew that we were meant to adopt a baby girl from China.
LC: How did you react to your wife’s suggestion that you adopt?
RT: We are Christians, and she felt that these feelings she had been having about China were God’s way of preparing her heart, and mine. She shared what she was thinking with me. We had talked about adoption before – one of Stephanie’s brothers is adopted, from Korea in the ‘70s – and I had always been against the idea. But I listened to her, then I prayed about it, and I came away convicted that we had a daughter in China, and eager to proceed. That was Dec 28, 2002. On June 28, 2004 – a year and a half to the day – we received Maya into our arms for the first time.
LC: And now you’re anticipating your second adoption.
RT: While we were in China, adjusting to being Maya’s parents, I felt strongly that we would come back. When I mentioned it to Stephanie, she insisted that we talk about it later – I think she was a little stressed out and just wanted to focus on Maya!
A few months later we started talking and praying. We decided to wait until Maya was two before beginning the paperwork and announcing our decision to our family and friends. We have a LID of April 6, 2006 for our next daughter.
LC: Why did you opt to adopt a daughter with special needs this time around?
RT: As we were finishing the paperwork, we both started thinking about special needs kids. I teach developmentally disabled high school students, so I am with special needs kids every day! Because of that, we did not decide to go the SN route lightly. We filled out our agency’s medical conditions checklist carefully.
LC: What special needs do you feel comfortable handling?
RT: We did not feel equipped to choose most special needs, but both of us felt comfortable saying yes to a cleft-affected child. Maybe this is because we know of a child who was born with a cleft lip, and who has gone through many surgeries because of it. For whatever reason, we know for sure that we can adopt … because we have done it before. So it wasn’t hard to take another small step and say yes to a cleft-affected child. We are still waiting for a call from our agency … which could literally be any day, or it could be months.
LC: How did Scrolls From China originate?
RT: When we were in China adopting Maya, we met a man who is an artist, and who also teaches art to older orphans. His parents and two siblings are all doctors, and they all support him so he can do this. He was raised in an orphanage, in fact, because his parents were too busy traveling as doctors to raise him and his brother and sister.
Anyway, Kenny is a Christian, like us, and he has a heart for these kids. He teaches them art so that as adults, they have a trade and can make a living. Some of the kids are disabled in some way; for example, one beautiful girl is missing one arm.
Kenny and I are very much alike in what we have chosen to do as careers. My main focus for my students is to teach them to become independent adults who can hold a job and contribute to their community. Kenny and I became friends instantly, and we corresponded when my family and I returned home.
Eventually I decided to buy scrolls from Kenny’s students and sell them here. At first family and friends bought them, but now people who don’t know me, who love art, are buying them, too. Kenny only sends me artwork from his best students, who are truly gifted. Sometimes he sends me his own pieces, which are extraordinary. I have also bought Kenny a laptop for his classes to use, and am working on getting more laptops donated so that the kids can learn computer skills, which Kenny has said is a high need for these kids.
LC: I’ll bet you’re looking forward to returning to China!
RT: When we go back to China for our next daughter, we are planning to see Kenny and the students. We are taking our whole family, and really looking forward to sharing China with them. The kids will be 6, 5, and 3 ½, so hopefully they will remember the experience.
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For more news and information about adoption, visit www.laurachristianson.com, and check out my Exploring Adoption bookstore.
, has opened the door for the singer/songwriter to tell his own adoption story for the first time. Only within recent months has Schultz revealed the news that he was adopted when he was two weeks old.
