Chinese Babies

Aren't they adorable, all bundled up?! Who wouldn't want to have one to love ?!

So, as you all know, we are so ecstatic for our upcoming adoption, our dossier is already in and as soon as our local clearance is done, we will be in the waiting phase. So my big dream is to have the twins/baby by next Christmas. Wouldn't that be great.

Now before I go on, let me first say Holly (the old housekeeper/Ayi) is now starting a Housekeeper Agency. I'm so excited for her, I encouraged her to do this-- she's gonna BANK. So our new housekeeper comes in the afternoon and also makes us Chinese dinners, can't argue with that, right? Then she told us of her Sister-in-Law who's family members are earthquake victims. So I hired her for a couple of hours in the mornings. Then I find out she has a 6 month old baby. Culturally, around this age, the moms will send their babies to their parents or in-laws to raise while they work. I knew she loved her daughter, so I asked her how much she would have to make in order to keep the baby here (by the way, she brings the baby to work, it's great practice for Tanner to have a baby around the house other than him).

On with my story:
Then one night, a few Ayis were hanging out at our house (I love it when they stop by--reminder, only one is being paid to be here at any given time, see "***" below). They were just chatting and having fun being together. The Sichuan Ayi was chatting with the others while I played with her baby, ZhenLi-- the cutest little Chinese girl ever.

Then they tell me this. Hold on to your chair while you hear this. Don't tell me I didn't warn you...

"Suzanne, you want to adopt right? And you said the baby was going to be 6 months, right? Why don't you just take ZhenLi? She really likes you." And then followed by some other persuasive words.

Deer in headlights. I know they are not offering a baby to me?!! UNREAL.

I immediately handed ZhenLi over to the arms of the woman who loved her best. The mother who would lay down her life for this armful of one of God's finest creations--sweet little ZhenLi. I shared with them that nobody could ever love ZhenLi more than her mother, and her mother had everything in her to make ZhenLi's life exactly as it's blessed to be. ZhenLi's mother was sweet and kind and rolled with the conversation-- as if giving her baby to another family was an okay conversation for her friends to be having. I could tell that perhaps this was a conversation she'd heard before from her fellow roommates/family members.

But the next morning when the house was empty except for her, ZhenLi and I, she told me how much she loved ZhenLi and could never see her anywhere else but with her. Couldn't help but think of that song "You and Me Against the World" about a mother/daughter relationship.

Crazy that it was such a casual conversation her friends were having. I thought, it must be a Chinese Cultural thing. Of course, you'd never hear that topic being made light of in the USA. Of course not. Never.

Then...

Then, a couple of days later, I see this want ad on ShangHai Craigslist:

" We have been married for four and a half years and living together for over 8 and a half. We have one four year old daughter and would love to have another child. We know there is a problem with over population in China and that you're only allowed one child, so if we could we would love to help a child that may not be accepted. We don't have the extreme amount of money it normally takes to adopt, but can provide everything a child will need and an excellent education. Of course we have tons of love, care and experience with the best and healthiest ways to raise a child. If you would be able to bring your child here to Colorado, we could handle the process by simply signing your child to us in court. Please let us know if you or anyone you might know would need a wonderful family for your child. We would also be able to stay in touch with the real parents in reguards to the child, send pictures and could even come to visit or have them come visit us anytime. We beleive in this type of respect. We are very peaceful and patient as well when it come to handleing children. We always stay calm, don't raise our voices and are totally against using physical discipline. We find it very abusive and unjust! We hope to talk to someone soon! Thank You All!!! "

ShangHai Craigslist:
I can understand desparate measures, and I know I'm not seeing the whole picture. But really, I didn't think Americans would take it so lightly too.

What are your thoughts?



***Our house is also known as the "AYI BOARDING HOUSE"... really. At any given moment, you can find up to 5 Ayi bikes (rusty and taped together) out front of our house. I have helped over 8 of them find jobs, and it saves them alot of money (they usually have to pay for someone to find good American families to work for). So when they aren't working their jobs, they come back here to hang out.