Occassionally when meeting someone new, I am asked if I had to travel to China to adopt my daughters as though the idea of traveling abroad would be one great scary chore. Little do they know how wonderful it was traveling to China, how rich the experience was for me to live, eat and breathe in the culture of my daughters homeland, albeit for only a few short weeks. Now that I have my two daughters and China has it's newly enforced rules, I won't be adopting another child, yet, in my heart I still would love to return again one day with daughters, to experience it all over again through their eyes.
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to view a lovely documentary entitled, Found in China, directed by adoptive mom, Carolyn Stanek. The DVD is receiving recognition throughout the country and can be purchased at Amazon.com. It shows a small group of parents with their preteen daughters, ages 9-12, returning to China for a heritage tour which includes sightseeing, an orphanage tour, and taking each girl back to their finding spot. Found in China is a moving documentary connecting adoptive families and strengthening bonds. The magical aspect of this video is the fact that the nannies and foster mothers remembered the girls with so much warmth and adoration. One even biked over an hour and a half, for a chance to once again see the girl she cared for as a baby. Another bit of magic happens when one of the orphanage workers is able to locate the man who actually found one of the girls. He meets her at her finding place and is able to describe first-hand his memories of that fateful day. To learn more about this exciting documentary, visit: http://web.mac.com/carolynstanek/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html. You can also read an article from the Chicago Tribune about it here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/q/chi-0113_p2p_n_djan13,0,1516775.story
When the time is right, I will also take my daughters back to their homeland so they may climb the steps of the Great Wall, visit the giant pandas, and see the country where they were born. Who knows what else we will discover or what the future will bring? The next time someone asks me if I had to go to China, I will say, "Yes, and I can't wait to go back!"
6 comments:
Me too! I love China. I am dreaming of the day I can take Jane and would have given anything to have been able to adopt two daughters of China.
The documentary will be a must see for me. You had me in tears just mentioning the nanny biking an hour and a half. How I hope my sweet Jane was loved like that before she was mine.
I am so excited to get to go too! At first my husband was like " why do we have to stay two weeks, can't we just go pick her up and leave?", simply because the communist country part. But now, he is getting more into the trip part of it too! And yes, I would like to one day go back too!
Looks like a good documentary. I would love to see it.
Thank you I would like tos ee this as well and will be looking for it. I did not get the opportunity to travel hubby did, but I traveled to Guatemala to adopt my son and it was a wonderful experience I treasure.
Thank you for your comments and recommendation of my documentary, "Found in China." Someone recently told me of your blog and it took me a while to search and find it ... but I did. Your entire web=blog is beautifully and tastefully done, even elegantly done. My hope is that you and your two daughters, and many other adoptive parents and their children will have the chance to go back ... the trip really opens up the channels of parent-child communication and enables our girls (and boys) to put together the puzzle pieces of their lives a bit better. Best, Carolyn
I'd love to read more about this documentary, but the 2 links you posted are nor working!
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