Anna's First Christmas

More information from TWCA

I have been working on a digital scrapbook of Anna's adoption process. A few weeks ago I emailed our case worker several questions I had not thought to ask TWCA when we were there. We should have written a list of questions before the meeting, but honestly, with all the focus on the adoption and travel, I don't know if I would have thought to ask them. The following is a list of questions and responses I received from Taiwan. I was very pleased to have my questions answered.

1. Was Anna with her birth mother or other family at all after her birth? Did she see Anna, hold her or visit her in the hospital?

only the grandmother held her when she was still in the hospital after birth.

2. Did Anna's birth mother or other family visit her after placement with

TWCA. I get impression she didn't but just wanted to check.

No, never

3. Did Anna's birth mother have any siblings? I'm mostly curious if she has

any cousins.

one sister, age 17, and one brother, age 14

4. I didn't know if there was anything else she could tell me like what she was studying or what her aspirations are. I thought later that might make it easier knowing what her mother was working towards.

Accounting

5. Also, if the birth mom didn't pick up the gifts we left for her and Samantha doesn't think she will, can we have someone traveling pick it up for us? That way we can keep it just in case. I know several people who should be there soon and can bring it back for me.

the grandmother came to pick up the gift already

6. Can she tell us Anna's foster parent's name or anything about the family?

Ms Chang- the foster mom

I have to admit I was a little, and maybe more than a little, concerned about the answer I would receive to question number one. My greatest fear was that no one other than hospital staff held Anna after her birth and during her hospital stay. In my mind, I kept picturing Anna in the hospital with no one who truly cared for her as a person. I felt like the birth mother and her family put Anna aside and forgot about her from the moment she was born.

I think the reason this question had been bothering me was that I was never able to hold Ryan the day he was born. I only saw him for several seconds while they were still operating on me. During the time I was in the hospital, there were many days I was not able to hold or even see Ryan and I always felt guilty.

I was very surprised to hear the birth grandmother picked up the gifts we left. As someone pointed out to me, this was over seven months after they last saw Anna. The little bit of contact and follow-up the birth grandmother showed has put to rest many of my worries. It has been a great comfort to me and as a result I feel Anna's birth family was looking out for both their daughter's and Anna's future.

Letter to Anna's Birth Mother

Long story, but we thought we had lost our copy of the letter we wrote to Anna's birth mother. I was cleaning out our adoption paperwork and organizing Anna's keepsakes and found the original draft we worked off of. The following is the complete letter we wrote to Anna's birth mother.

Words alone can not express our thanks to you for giving us the opportunity to have Yu-Wen in our lives. We have loved her from the moment we first saw her beautiful face. She has grown in our hearts every day since.

There are already so many people who love Yu-Wen even before meeting her. Our son has been praying every day to “get sister on the plane really quick” and insists on buying gifts for her at every opportunity. We promise you that Yu-Wen will have everything possible in life. Loving family and friends, a very safe and comfortable lifestyle, travel and education. She will never lack for anything.

The necklace we gave you says, “Many hearts, one family.” Yu-Wen and I have the identical necklaces. We are all part of her life and family.

If you desire, we would welcome contact with you through TWCA so we can share Yu-Wen's life and tell her about her birth mother.

It is our sincere wish that you have a long, healthy, happy and prosperous life.