An Amazing Gift

Yesterday in the mail, we received a priceless package. Many pictures of Molly's foster family by themself and with Molly. Many answers to questions we had about the first year of Molly's life and a letter for Molly from her foster mother (still to be translated).

About two weeks ago, I was contacted by a girl named Julie. She said she had information about He Mei Bo (Molly) and she wanted me to contact her privately. Of course, I contacted her very quickly and she informed me that Molly's foster family was inquiring about her. At first, I was not sure this was legit but as I investigated it in more detail, I felt like it was all above board. There is a man in Nanchang, China who knew Molly's foster mother and he contacted Julie and then she contacted me. This information is confidential so it had to be handled under the table because the orphanage does not want the foster family information shared with anyone. We cooresponded with Bruce and WaLa - our package arrived yesterday.

In the photos, you can tell Molly was really loved by her foster family. In several photos, she is smiling brightly and the family is smiling watching her and in one family photo, the father is holding Molly's hand. One of the questions I had for the foster mother was when did Molly go to her home and when did she leave. Evidently, Molly arrived to their home in late March and left in late November. Unfortunately, we were told that Molly went into foster care in May and left in October. I feel much better knowing she went to their home shortly after she was found on March 10th and shortly before our forever family day, 11/30/03. I am still a little confused as to why Molly had such attachment issues but it does not matter at this point because we believe Molly is completely healed from those issues.

My day yesterday was filled with mixed emotions. On one hand, I was thrilled to know that Molly had been so well taken care of and loved and to have this information was priceless. On the other hand, I was so sad that I missed out on those first precious 10 months of her life. When I looked at the photos of this mysterious family in China holding my baby and playing with her, I was so envious that they had this time with her and I was here in the U.S. dreaming of doing the same thing. At times yesterday I felt heartbroken and I guess before I saw these people, it was not as real so it was easy to push it out of my head. I know this will pass and I am so so grateful to have this information for Molly as she grows up and has questions about her first year of life. We might possibly visit them when we travel to pick up Molly but not sure if Molly will be old enough - we will have to discuss this in great detail and it may be logistically not possible. We do have their contact information so we can keep them updated with information on Molly in the future.

What an interesting day filled with so many different emotions.