Hard Questions

When we adopted our children, I knew there would inevitably be tough questions coming from their ever-growing, curious minds. Since Peter was adopted domestically through open-adoption, his questions can be answered honestly and with considerable detail to fill in the gaps the questions are directed to. Born to teenagers, they simply were not prepared to be parents and picked us. There's more, of course, but that's the basic story.

Today Caroline asked me to tell her her story.

Caroline's story is not so easy.

Caroline was born in China. Her adoption is another casualty of China's "One-Child" policy.

We've told her before about how we went to China to adopt her and how happy we were.

Clearly today, that was not enough.

While we were at Target having a snack, she asked me to tell her the WHOLE story. And if you know my daughter, she knows exactly what she is asking. When I imagined this day, I did not imagine telling the story at a table in Target. But, life has rarely turned out the way I imagined it....

She was left at the door of the Civil Administration Building in the City of Huaihua in the Hunan Province.

She was 12 days old.

It was raining the morning they found her in the springtime. She was given the name "Chun Yu" which means "Spring Rain."

She was found with a note that indicated her birthday, the time she was born, and that she was the 2nd daughter born to her parents. That's all we know.

"Why was I left there, why didn't they keep me?"

"Because they would be in trouble with the government."

I explained that China has a one-child policy and that mommies and daddies are only allowed to have one child and that her birthparents already had a child. They held her for 11 days before they left her.

"Why didn't they just hide me?"

"Because if the government found out, they would be in trouble."

"Why did the government make this law?"

"Because there are a lot of people in China and they were afraid that they would run out of food." (Trying to keep it simple for her to understand)

"It's not fair."

"You're right, honey. It's not fair."

"Well, it's a good thing you came and got me or I may have starved in that orphanage!"

"Well, I'm just happy that I got to be your mom! Daddy and I love you very, very much."

Hugs....

Later as we were shopping, she said, "I'm glad your my mom and I love my family."

Me too, baby girl. Me too.