There is so much of our daughter’s life that will forever be a mystery. I think it is going to take me a number of years before I can even try to understand the pain that comes with the not knowing. There is so little I will be able to do for our sweet girl to help give her any answers. However, I was able to find a man who finds the “finding ad” for children in China. Every child who is abandoned in China must have an ad placed in the newspaper, in an attempt to encourage a family member to come forward for that child. I imagine that those times are few and far between.
Anyway, here is a picture of our Hannah’s finding ad. This will probably always be the youngest picture that we have of her. You can see that it states her birthday (3/17/2010), as well as the day that she was found (5/14/2010), in addition to the details about where she was abandoned.
Precious, precious child. I have been reading everything that I can get my hands on about adoption from China and the cultural norms that have made it so common to abandon baby girls. As a mother, I just can’t understand it. I have no idea how a parent could take their beautiful baby and leave her on the side of a street, or in front of a store. In Hannah’s case, she was not left until she was 2 months old. I can only speculate, but I think that is probably around the time that her parents learned that she had a serious heart condition. It is very possible that her parents loved her, and couldn’t afford surgery for her, and therefore did the only thing that they could think to do for her; an ultimate sacrifice in love. We will most likely never know the true story that led Hannah to our family, but I plan to tell her that I believe that her parents loved her, and wanted the best for her. And we will be forever grateful.