Madalyn
Kim Shen Le
& Callie Yang Li
Updated 10/26/99
Madalyn
Height =
3'10"
Weight = 42
lbs
Callie
Height =
3'5"
Weight = 36
lbs
On February 10, 1993, my husband
and I started the process of bringing home a daughter from China. To our
chagrin, China closed down all adoptions for the purpose of re-writing their
adoption laws on March 1, 1993. Although each month they told us they would be
reopening the next month, month after month dragged on and they did not
re-open. Expecting to travel in June, my sister had come to paint and decorate
the baby's room in May. But again, June came and went, and though we had a
beautiful, bright yellow room, complete with crib, stuffed animals, a rocking
chair and a closet full of clothes, we still had no baby.
In December of 1993, China
reopened their program. The first group was off to receive their daughters. Our
dossier went with the second group that travelled in January of 1994. In March,
Dr. Hong, China liaison to Hand In Hand International Adoptions, made his first
trip to the United States, with a stop in Colorado Springs. A potluck was held
at the home of a single adoptive mother, who had just returned in December with
her daughter. As we were meeting Dr. Hong, who chose the Hand In Hand babies
from the Nanjing Children's Welfare Institute, Jennifer McCoughey toddled past.
I looked at Dr. Hong's briefcase and smiled and said "I don't suppose you
have any more of those hiding in your case?" He smiled and nodded. Shortly
thereafter, Libby Theune, Asian Director for Hand In Hand, motioned us into the
bedroom, where she seated us at the end of the bed. Dr. Hong opened his
briefcase and presented us with an envelope. I was shaking as I opened it, and
found the picture of the most perfect, beautiful child I had ever seen! I began
to cry as I handed it to Scot. "Your daughter, Shen Le, is awaiting you in
China" it said. As we both sat there crying and hugging, Libby nervously
explained to Dr. Hong that we in America cry when we are overjoyed. He laughed
and said "It is the same in China."
More red tape interfered with
travel plans, and we were not able to travel until June of 1994. Updated
pictures arrived in March, and my husband's look told me something was wrong.
He could tell that her condition had begun to deteriorate. He made me put the
pictures away where he would not have to look at them.
When we met Shen Le, on June 18,
1994, exactly 11 months from her purported date of birth, she was in very bad
shape. She was extremely malnourished, had a flat affect, her hands and feet
had started to turn inward, she had bleeding lesions the size of quarters from
diaper rash, bug bites all over her body, and smelled horrible. She couldn't
hold up her own head. Her diapers were a sheet of unbleached muslin covered
with a piece of plastic, all "secured" with a fabric rope tying it in
place. I returned to the hotel and burst into tears. "Scot, I don't think
I can do this" I said. He, being the voice of reason, told me that we HAD
to take her or she would die. The following day Madalyn Kim Shen Le Hanson
returned to the hotel with us, and twelve other Nanjing babies and their
families.
Maddie's recovery was nothing
short of a miracle. Within 24 hours she made eye contact with us, and in 48 she
smiled! The third day she picked up a rattle, the fourth day, two. By the time
we were ready to board the plane home from Guangzhou, she could hold up her own
head, her cheeks had started to fill out and were rosy, and her diaper rash was
reduced to scars and one small lesion. Five months later she was walking AND
running. Today, at six years of age, she is in first grade, a consummate
athlete, concentrating on gymnastics and karate.
Three months after receiving
Maddie, Scot and I started the paperwork for our second daughter. To date, Hand
In Hand had never processed a family for a second daughter from China. We were
to be a test case. Our second daughter was to be "handicapped" though
instead she is exceptionally gifted in intelligence and has joined her older
sister in gymnastics and karate.
Callie Yang Li Hanson came to us
a mere nine months later. Maddie and I met her and dad at the airport on July
11, 1995, and she was just five months old. She was a fat baby, seemingly
healthy in every way, no bug bites, virtually no diaper rash, and very, very
determined to have her way! Bringing her to our home at 9300 feet above sea
level, she developed pneumonia the first month, and was on oxygen for six
weeks. But now she is a very healthy and happy almost five year old, halfway
through her last year in preschool, ready for all-day Kindergarten in the fall
of 2000.
We have been so blessed that
China allowed us to parent two of their most beautiful, intelligent, WONDERFUL
children! For that we are eternally grateful. I hope you have enjoyed our
story.
Send us a message, please!