Twin Chinese sisters join an American family just in time for Christmas.
Mai Xie and Xian Lo are twin sisters who have come to our family from China. They are four years old, pretty little things, who have brought our family much in the way of joy in the short period we have had them.
We applied to adopt a little girl (or boy) from an orphanage in China; instead, we ended up getting two for the price of one: twins. We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas gift!
My name is Geordie Reynolds. I'm married to my husband, Joe, and we have four kids of our own: Silver Grace (11), Simon Theodore (10), Susannah Brooke (7), and our youngest, Joseph Thaddeus, who is five. Now we have two four-year-old daughters to add to the family; now we have six children.
Our kids came to us just this past August; it's been a journey of discovery on all involved, a journey of hope, a journey of adventure, and even a journey of fear, tears, and frustration.
Because our newest daughters don't know much in the way of English (yet), we have to do a lot of charades or pantomiming, to get our message across to the girls. Or we have our elderly Chinese neighbor, Mrs. Yee, come over, so she can translate for the girls if they start jabbering away in Chinese again.
We do plan on adding to our family, but we are going to wait until the girls have settled in and have learned enough English to make their way in their new land. They also need therapy because they are developmentally behind: at the age of four, they are more like two-year-olds. They don't talk but the simplest of words/phrases, they aren't toilet-trained yet, and they don't eat much in the way of "grown up food"; they still prefer baby food from a jar or a bottle at night before they go to sleep.
We would like to have a big family, like our other neighbors, the Sanduskys, who live a few streets away from us; but a family we have come to know really well throughout the years. They have an incredible sixty-three children, sixty one of them adopted; and what makes their story even more amazing is that Louisiana, the mother, just had twins, boys, on Thanksgiving Day!
If we could adopt as many needy children as they have over the years, we would do it in a nanosecond. We have more than enough love to give, we have the room, and we would ensure that they succeed in life, no matter what their disability or medical condition may be.
I think with the adoptions of Mai Xie and Xian Lo, we may very well be on our way! Thay may have been with us for only a few short months, but they've already made a huge impact on our hearts, and it's gotten to the point to where we cannot imagine the family without them!
Heartfelt Karen - I had enough trouble with three myself. Can you imagine the chow line at dinner? I just realized how many titles you have - almost 3500 is astounding. Your are so prolific; what a gift God has blessed you with. Never rest your quill!
Blessings and Love ...
Richard
Double the trouble, but double the pleasure: twin blessings in small packages! Well written, Karen, nice to meet Mai Xie and Xian Lo. Shay-shay (phonetically "Thank you" in Chinese). :)
