Marjorie- How I dealt with waiting for two and half months to hold Malissa...

     Once I had seen Malissa's beautiful face and knew who she was, I had to find a way to bide the time without going crazy.  I decided to write a story about our adoption story and what could possibly have happened with Malissa her first year of life.  I thought this could answer a lot questions people kept asking...What did you have to go through to get her?  What happened to her before you got her? ... Also,  I thought it may be a story I could share with Malissa once she was old enough to start asking her own questions.  Of course, before we got her I had to assume some events about Malissa's portion of the story based on what little information we were given.   Since that time we have learned a little bit of new information and hopefully we will gain even more through this heritage tour that we are taking.  My plan is to revise the story once we are back home in July.  Maybe Malissa will write her own story.  :)  Here is the story I wrote the summer of 2003...

Many Red Threads

In China it is believed we each have an invisible Red Thread tied to us.  The other end is attached to someone we are destined to love in our life.  It may stretch, even become tangled, but it will never break.  As we get closer to our loved one the red thread untangles and shortens until finally we are with that person.

     This is the story told by a girl born in China who was loved by many people and was attached to many Red Threads.

     I was born on a clear, starry night in the Chinese city of Qinzhou (chin-joe) in the Year of the Horse. I had a Red Thread attached to me that stretched to my birth mother since she loved me very much, but my mother cried sad tears on the day I was born.  She knew she would have to give me to strangers because in China you are supposed to have only one child.  She already had a child.

     A few hours after I was born in the predawn hours on a hot, sticky morning in August she gently bundled my up in a blanket.  She held me closely to her aching heart as she walked down a street where a grassy knoll lay in front of a dance studio.  The tiny lights of the studio marquis which normally twinkled like stars in the night sky were now dark.  She looked around to make sure no one was awake, and with silent tears running down her cheeks she placed me on the ground knowing the people who worked in the markets near the studio would soon walk by.  She softly called out, "Ziajian, baobei, " (bye-bye, baby) as she walked away.  The Red Thread attached to her may stretch, but it will always be there.  

     When the sun soon peaked above the eastern horizon an elderly woman pushing a cart full of yams strolled along the street.  As she neared the grassy knoll she found me sleeping peacefully in the soft grass.  She picked me up, gazed into my tiny pudgy face, and glanced around to see if anyone was near.  No one was to be seen.  The old woman smiled down at me, knowing I was now safe.  She went to a nearby phone booth and called the local police.  When the police officer arrived, he placed me in the police car and drove to the orphanage on the other side of the city.

     At the orphanage the police officer handed me over to the head nanny so I could be named and taken care of until a family was found for me.  The nanny named me Min Ke Xing (min-kuh-sing). Min was my new surname meaning "citizen" because I was now a citizen of the orphanage.  Ke Xing was my given name meaning brilliant star since I was born on a clear, starry night, and because I was found in front of a dance studio with many twinkling lights.

     In the orphanage there were many children.  Some of the children were old enough to go to school. Some of those older children were found as little babies like me, and some were brought to the orphanage later because their parents died.  The room I was taken to was full of little babies like me. Many nannies fed us, bathed us, held us, and loved us.  Our sleeping room held 20 cribs full of babies just like me.  In another part of the orphanage there were rooms full of toys.  We would play, crawl, bounce, and laugh there while listening to music.  I will always have Red Threads attached to my nannies and the other children in the orphanage.

     After being in the orphanage for about a year, one of the nannies held me closely and cried.  She knew she would soon have to give me away, because a family from the other side of the world was coming to get me.  She was sad since she would miss me, but she was also happy because I would soon be part of a loving family.  The nanny dressed me in a red shirt and shorts and wrapped a blanket around me.  While holding me tenderly, she carried me to a bus that was to take thirteen other babies and me to a hotel where many families were waiting for us.  

     My nanny sang to me softly on the hour long bus ride.  I had not been out of the orphanage since the day I was born.  I looked around at the passing trees, hills, rice fields, and buildings.  I listened to sounds I had never heard before.  There was wind rushing in the bus windows, horns blaring, people shouting, and bells clanking.  My eyes were big with wonder.  

The rest is to come in an upcoming blog post...