The Meldrim Family
We traveled to China and met Chloe Patricia-Li Meldrim on December 22, 2003. The assistance of your foundation helped make this adoption possible and we are very grateful.
Chloe has a dislocated left knee and some problems
with her feet. She will be having surgery on February 9th to correct her knee
problem. The doctors haven't decided what is wrong with her feet. However, so
far she can walk on them fine and doesn't complain of pain, so the only problem
may be cosmetic.
Chloe is the youngest of six children
in our family (and one grandchild). Our youngest four are all adopted internationally
(two from Korea and our youngest two from China). The age range is 26 to 3. We
have been blessed with much and love children. When we saw Chloe's picture the
first time we knew we could squeeze one more in.
We
thought you might like to hear the story of the day we met, so here is a copy
of the message we sent home the day she came into our lives:
December 22, 2003 will always be a day to celebrate in our family. It is Chloe's Gottcha day. She is ours, forever!!! At 9:30 this morning we went to the same building where we met Grace, but just about everything else was different. When we arrived in the Adoption Center we were the only family there. As we sat in the waiting area preparing the paperwork for the finalization in walked two young women, in their 20's with a little girl (who very shortly thereafter, became legally ours) dressed in a yellow two-piece snow suit. We knew better than to jump up and run to her. She didn't know us from Adam. It was actually good that we were just sitting doing paperwork as it gave her time to warm up to us.
At first the nannies encouraged her to come over to us and she didn't want to.
But, soon after when Mom got her toys out, she came right over, from that point
on you would have thought she had been ours from the beginning. After signing
all the paperwork she wanted her Mom to carry her, but when we went to the police
station it was ok for Dad to carry her too. The nannies seemed much attached to
her and one cried as she left. Chloe was dressed much too warmly for the weather,
but didn't complain. The only thing she didn't like was the seat belt on during
the ride to the police station to have her final paperwork done.
Her
English skills surprised us. She knows some of her ABC's, but really amazed us
when she was copying a doll that said, 'I love you', Hearing her say "I love
you" for the first time was truly indescribable. Chloe loves to play with
toys, especially toys that do something, like a talking telephone. She likes to
talk on the phone and says 'hello', she is fluent in Chinese as well although
our guide couldn't understand her because the dialect in her region is one she
isn't as familiar with. She can walk really well. Her healthy leg must be really
strong as she can bend down just on that leg and sit herself on the floor, or
bend down to pick something up. Try doing that with no support for balance.
Chloe
(who's nick name at the orphanage was Wei-Wei) is apparently healthy except for
sounding very croupy. That is really our only worry at this point.
We
can't believe how easy today has been, how happy Chloe is and how much fun she
is to be around. We couldn't have asked for more. I met one shop owner who remembered
us (especially Sara) from our last visit. She was very kind, but thought it was
quite odd that we would have wanted a child that was less than perfect (because
of her knee problem). It was cool explaining that we wanted her because she needed
us to help fix her knee. We didn't come to China to bring home a child to make
us happy, we came to China to bring Chloe home because she needs us. Doing something
with another human being in mind is a very joyful deal though.
Every
shop and restaurant (even those where only Chinese people shop) seems to have
Christmas music playing, usually with English words. Christmas decorations are
apparent everywhere. I haven't seen 'Happy Holiday' signs anywhere. Every sign
declares Merry Christmas, though there are no nativity scenes and no mention of
the Savior's birth, except in the sound of Silent Night we heard piped into McDonalds
tonight.
Even though we are not home with our whole family, who we miss acutely
at this Christmas season, like the Who's in Who Ville, Christmas has come without
presents or all we are used to in the states. The gift of Chloe is just right.
We couldn't be happier!
Thanks again. Sincerely,
Harmon (Mel) & Debbie Meldrim