Memories......

Our little China doll - June 2005

I happen to run across an old email that we had sent out to family and friends back on June 20, 2005 and it brought a huge smile to my face, so I put it down below. One of the reasons for this blog is to advocate for adoptions whether they are domestic or international...the place you find your child does not matter.

What matters, is that no child should ever have to go to bed without having someone tuck them in at night with a hug and kiss. What matters, is that no child should ever have to go without having someone tell them how special they are and no dreams are too big. And what matters most, is that no child should ever have to go without someone telling them how much they are loved each and every day.

Email dated June 20, 2005

Hi everyone!

So much has happened in the past two weeks - it seems like we’ve been living in a dream.

It was two weeks ago tonight that we went online and saw the new group of special needs children that our agency received from China. They had JUST posted the pictures as we were walking out the door to Kelsi’s baseball game. There were ten pictures of absolutely beautiful children...but there was one that literally jumped out at us.

We had to leave for Kelsi’s game and this little girls face would not leave my mind. It was a cloudy evening (but no rain) when Kelsi took off her catchers gear and came running up to us in the stands and said, "Mom, Dad, look above you"! We looked above us and there was a rainbow....not just a regular rainbow that goes from the ground to the ground - but a rainbow that looked as though someone had painted against the sky right above us!! We thought it was really strange because we’d never seen anything like it before, but we also thought it was really cool! The game went on and we went home to read a little paragraph about this little girl that we couldn’t stop thinking about. She was born on 10-10-03 and she was abandoned at the age of 4 months old in a children’s hospital with a little note tucked inside her shirt that said she had a heart condition. After examination they determined she had VSD (ventricular septum defect aka - a hole in her heart). While most children who have this defect never need surgery, the hole closes on it’s own over time, they decided to perform surgery on her on May 18^th 2004. After a sleepless night - I phoned our agency two times and left messages for them to call me as soon as they get into the office - we wanted her file asap! The wonderful agency that they are had her file emailed to me with other pictures immediately. While I was reading her file - little did I know that there were close to 30 other families that same day inquiring about her!!

This little one’s Chinese name is "Kong Shanshan". Kong was her given family name at the orphanage and Shanshan means "coral, tinkling of jade pieces". She lives in the Nanjing Children’s Social Welfare Institute in Jiangsu Province. She is described as a pretty and lovely girl and all the visitors love to play with her. She has beautiful skin, is outgoing and loves to laugh. And the best thing....she’s HEALTHY! As I read on in her report what stood out to me is she is being raised in the Bei Bei department in the "RAINBOW" building! Could this be a sign after the rainbow we saw above us the night before?

We forwarded her file and photos that evening to our pediatrician for her review. She has been so incredibly supportive of our adoption process and is just as excited as we are for our new daughter. The very next morning Kevin called me five times before noon to see if I had heard from the doctor yet and the results of her review! I told him that I would call him immediately once she did. Just after noon that day the doctor called me with fantastic news - she was VERY impressed with her medical report and said she cried the evening before looking at her pictures - she said she was healthy and perfect! This is exactly what we were praying for! She told us that according to the Chinese growth chart for children her age, she was in the 60% for weight, 50% for head circum. and not yet on the charts for height (so...she'll fit right into our vertically challenged family) :-) That evening we went home to discuss our options (there really was nothing to discuss - she is our daughter and we knew it right from the start).....since we were currently waiting for our referral to come sometime in October and go in December possibly to pick up our child....but low and behold...this little girl tugged at our hearts and she was not going to let go! That evening I went to find a picture that Daniel had drawn for his sister Maci over TWO months before. At that time I told him I would hold onto the picture until his sister comes home and we would frame it for her bedroom. You’ll never imagine what the picture he drew was of......yes - a HUGE RAINBOW with a tree, clouds and grass! Yet another sign?!?!

The next morning after having butterflies in our stomachs and not sleeping well - I called our agency and asked if they could send us a Letter of Intent for us to fill out for our little Miss Maci! They were thrilled - but not as much as we were! That evening Kelsi had her end of the season baseball pizza party and when Kevin and I sat down he asked me if she was ours? I told him it looked like it and he said "Thank God" and pulled out his wallet......I looked down and there were Maci’s pictures in his wallet!! It was absolutely adorable! Next we overnighted our Letter of Intent to our agency and they were going to send it over to China, have it translated and walked over to CCAA to get Pre-Approval and then Travel Approval. Unfortunately, we don’t know how long that will take - but I’ve heard that it should be fairly quick since we were already "paper ready". A woman at our agency adopted her daughter from the same orphanage and said that the facility is wonderful - incredibly clean, airy and a happy. She said their nannies just love those kids! She also told me that the girls from that province are suppose to be the most beautiful in all of China.....aka the "Venus of China". I’ve actually heard that many times now from others as well. :-)

The following Monday I received an email from a woman in Florida that saw my posting on one of my Yahoo groups and she said our daughter is on a report she received when they picked up her daughter in China last November. They both had the same heart condition and they both had surgery performed by an organization called "Hopeful Hearts". They fundraise for surgeries such as our two daughters and pay for all of the medical expenses etc.! She emailed me the photo and sure enough - it was her with her name and everything! I got online and saw their website and guess what? There was another picture of Maci when she was younger with a huge grin on her face - just like she has in all of her pictures! She said when she brought her daughter home in November - she went to a cardiac doctor and they were so impressed with her surgery - the wanted to know the Chinese doctors name and had other doctors look at her too! They did the surgery under her arm and they had never seen it done that way before.....needless to say - her daughter doesn’t have to go back to him anymore - she’s 100% healthy and with the way the surgery went in China - it looks as though she never had any problems in the past! This wonderful woman in Florida also gave me an email address to a woman named Helene who is one of the head volunteers of Hopeful Hearts. She had me contact her and ask if she could send me some information on Maci. The next day - there were three pictures she took of her - just for us!!!! She said that she is extremely healthy, happy and such a wonderful child. She is also very excited for us to become a family. Within two days, there were two other families that had emailed me stating they were going to China to pick up their daughters in the same orphanage and they both offered to take pictures of Maci and send them to me when they get home! So, we’re extremely excited to see them!

There’s still so much to tell - but I will be updating more often now that things will start moving, hopefully quickly. We never imagined that you could love someone so much, right from the start, with only pictures - but we do!! It’s a feeling I can not explain. Our family is truly on cloud nine. We are thinking about taking Kelsi & Daniel with us to China to give them this experience and hope that the transition with Maci would be a little easier on her having children around.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support through this journey - we’ll keep you posted! Enjoy the pictures!