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Show Case |
In the spirit of the Starfish legend, we have decided to dedicate a page of our website to an update on one Starfish Alumnae at a time. The hope is that after you read each child's special journey to where they are now, you will share in our passion to make a difference... one child at a time.
Today our "Showcase Page" is dedicated to 5 year-old Norah (Rachel) who now lives in The Netherlands with her forever family.
Rachel/Norah
November 2008 we were in a crowded office in Xi’an, China, and there you were!! Amanda de Lange was carrying you and you were curious and not afraid at all. We were so incredibly happy to see you!!! You, my new 2 year-old gorgeous daughter, had just been sleeping in the taxi and you were looking at us with curiosity. You didn’t cry and recognized us immediately because of our pictures that were on the wall at The Starfish Foster Home. Amanda amazed me when she showed us what she had with her…. Your favorite snacks, your bottle, and so much more. Within 10 minutes I could lift you up and give you a cuddle without you even being a bit afraid of me…When you saw your big brother on the screen of our video camera you yelled: “gege!!!” and amazed us all.
There are so many unknowns, anxieties and sad realities with adoption. Hard questions and conversations are in our future. No, we don’t know who your Chinese mommy or daddy were; and no, I’m sorry I don’t know when your ‘real’ birthday is. No, I don’t know what happened to you during the month prior to your abandonment. The only thing we know about that is that you were a very sick little girl when they found you…
But the moment you were in my arms, the “what if’s” and “I don’t know’s” were drowned by a tidal wave of the “what will be’s” … and finally, gratefully, some “I knows.” See, I do know the rest of the 2-year history of your life in China.
You lived in an amazing, joy-filled place called The Starfish Foster home, where you were showered with love and with opportunity. The other kids there had special needs too, and you fit in and were accepted. You shared a bedroom with other toddlers whom you considered to be siblings. You still love it when you see their pictures.
Your nanny Xiao Liu loved you so much, and your closest friend that she took care of also had been adopted to The Netherlands, so you would see her again!!! I know you jumped in a bouncy chair hanging in a door-frame and that you went outside to play in a playground. I know the standard rice-and-broth orphanage diet was augmented by milk, fruit, and meat in the foster home (and you had the heft to prove it!).
We know you had surgery in China by Dr. Li and that he did a brilliant job. The surgeons in The Netherlands declared you healthy and hoped to never see you again…LOL
You fit into our family so well. You are loving and sweet, bright, trusting, talkative, and active. You know what you want and have a tenacity we all admire. You learned to ride a bike without side wheels in 10 minutes flat, and had the bruises to show for it, but wouldn’t give up! You’re good at jigsaw puzzles and love doing those. You know the alphabet and can count to 100. You even learned some English already and continue to amaze us. How privileged we are to be your forever parents. How grateful we all are to Starfish and everybody there.
In the summer of 2011 we traveled to China again. We can’t explain how much it meant to us to come back to Xi’an. When we came to Xi’an in November 2008 to become a family of four we visited Starfish and were amazed to see how much the children were loved and sometimes even spoiled…. We knew we wanted to visit again someday and have always kept close contact. And when we told our children in the spring that we were going to China their reaction was: “I want to go now!!!”
There is always the doubt that if you decide something as a parent, if this is the best thing to do for your children. And of course there were people that asked us why we were taking them to China at such a young age (Norah just turned 5 and Robin was almost 7). Well, we thought they would be okay. We have always been very open to them about their adoption. They showed no anxiety whatsoever when our travel date got near and we thought this would be a great experience for them that would stay in their hearts forever. We wanted to show them their China is not gone and you can fly there and see the people that took care of you and loved you.
At the airport our kids were thrilled to see Amanda again, and the minute we walked in to Starfish foster home I knew we made the right decision to come. The children ran inside and started playing with the toys in the courtyard as if they were coming home! The next day they met the babies in the baby room and both had favorites within a few minutes. Leo with his “little ears” was very interesting to Robin because he has microtia too and Norah was loving on little Grace. The pictures that I took of Norah feeding Grace a bottle are so very precious to me and will be to her in the future I think.
And then there were the nannies and some Chinese volunteers that remembered Norah. They were so happy to see her again! Xiao Liu (Norah’s nanny) was overjoyed and so proud her little Starfish had come back to visit. She gave Norah a beautiful dress and Robin got clothes from her too. We were even invited to her home in the Chinese countryside and had a great adventure getting there and driving back. It’s a long story, but we had so much fun in the car!
One of the highlights for sure was celebrating Norah’s 5th birthday in China. The first two she celebrated at Starfish and the second two at home with us; and now she could celebrate another birthday at Starfish! How special is that!!! All of the children were sitting in the courtyard and singing Happy birthday in Chinese and English for her and then we ate the gorgeous cake with pink roses (that had miraculously survived the way home in the car).
All in all we had an amazing experience and we are so thrilled we did this. I can’t tell you everything we did because the story would get much too long. But I can tell you we LOVED it, the kids LOVED it, everybody at Starfish LOVED it….. The only thing I regret is that we can’t visit more often….
So, THANK YOU Amanda, THANK YOU everyone that was there to make us feel so very welcome!!! We hope to visit again someday!!
Norah’s family
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