Madeline was born on March 2, 1999, the Year of the Rabbit, in Jiangxi Province. She became our daughter on May 14, 2000, what an awesome Mother's Day that was!
During what seemed like a very, very long wait until we could go to China to be united with our daughter, we often thought of how important it would be that she realize just how much she was wanted and loved. And also, just how excited we were about finally receiving her picture and then being invited to go to China. Many family members and friends endured the wait with us and felt much anticipation about her arrival. We wanted her to know, from a young age, just how special she is to us and how very much we wanted her.
We decided that a children's book would be the perfect vehicle for expressing this to a young child. Children are often most attracted to stories which they are a part of, so, we felt that a story personalized with Madeline's name and the names of other family members, would be a great way to share our journey with her. While there are good books available, none of them seemed to express this in the way we wanted.
With the encouragement of friends and family, we developed Our China Story in a format such that it can be personalized to other families. Since a portion of the proceeds will be donated to agencies which support children of China, it also provides us with a way to give back to China.
An important focus for us, was also to make the story one which could be personalized to reflect the diversity seen in adoptive families. We hope that the joy and love of adoption shines through our words and illustrations and that this story expresses to our children just how dearly loved and wanted they are.
Being born in the Year of the Rabbit seems to have inspired Maddy's love of bunnies! And this little bunny will even share her carrot with her pal, Coal!
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