CARLSBAD -- The best gift that Kurt Burkhart has gotten in three years didn't come in a brightly wrapped package.

And it's one that he probably can't ever get again.

Three years ago, Burkhart and his wife, Harumi, journeyed to rural China to adopt a 10-month-old girl from an orphanage. Since then, China's rules have changed and the Burkharts wouldn't qualify now for a baby, he said earlier this month.

That's because Kurt Burkhart, the executive director of the Carlsbad Convention and Visitors Bureau, is 55. China's new age cutoff for adoptions is 50.

The age restriction is one of a number of changes that make it a little tougher to adopt children from China, the national Adoption Magazine reports.

For instance, the new standards, which went into effect in May, only allow married couples to adopt. There are also changes coming regarding income, legal history and health status, the magazine's Web site states.

Still, U.S. residents adopt more children from China than from any other foreign country. Last year, Americans adopted 6,493 children from China, about all of them girls, the magazine states.

Burkhart would love to see that figure increase. Even before he and his wife brought now-4-year-old Melani Kayla here from China, they were active in a local Chinese adoption support group, he said.

After the Burkharts got Melani settled in her new home, Kurt began contacting prospective adoptive parents and helping them through the process.

In November, which was National Adoption Month, Burkhart appeared before Carlsbad's City Council with his daughter in his arms. He used the council's public comment period to urge people to consider adoption.

Weeks later, as the Burkharts gathered for a holiday photo at the beach, he said, "I wouldn't give her up for anything. She's added so much to our lives."

As his daughter grabbed her mom's arm and tried to pull her toward the waves, Kurt Burkhart listed off Melani's many accomplishments in a rush of words. Proudly, he said that she's learned Japanese from her mom and can even write some Japanese characters.

He laughed as he told how, in the course of his duties as tourism bureau leader, he went to a conference in Texas and met a man who had also adopted a daughter from China. They both showed off stacks of photographs of their girls.

"What women would typically do, we were doing," he said.

In the coming year, Burkhart hopes to start a campaign to send computers to orphanages in China, he said. He'll also continue to offer advice to people considering adoption, he said.

And, on Sept. 27, Burkharts will celebrate "Family Day" -- the day the woman at the orphanage handed their daughter over to them. They'll give Melani a single pink rose and talk about the people who raised her in the orphanage.

"We try to keep that alive, because we don't want her to forget that," he said.