Hello, I am Noreen, Fiona's mom -- I should introduce myself
so this doesn't appear to be a mystery page or something!!

     August 8, 1995, while working on a paper for my Master's Degree, I had the television on just for background noise. A Connie Chung special on the deplorable conditions of some Chinese orphanages began to air on Channel 2. With my mouth hanging open, I watched -- I watched and I cried -- I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Tiny Chinese babies with arms and legs tied into potty type chairs hooked together in a row outside in a courtyard. The reporter said they sit like that for hours on end without interaction from anyone. They showed the dying room in which a baby was being systematically starved to death. She was so emaciated it was hard to tell how old she was -- could have been an infant or a toddler. One baby, disfigured from a cleft lip, was strapped into a chair and an older child came over and cracked her head into the baby's. The baby didn't even cry; the reporter said it was because she knew there would be no response from anybody. Anyway, it went on and on...
     August 9, the very next day, I began the adoption process. My family knew I was considering adoption. I had already looked into a number of domestic agencies and didn't feel too hopeful. I knew, as a single person, my chance of getting a young, healthy child was slim. Prior to this television special, my oldest sister sent me an article about a single woman in Chico, California, named Lisa Roy, who adopted a baby from China. Lisa used China Adoption Service (CAS) in Portland, Oregon. With this article in mind, I called information for Portland, Oregon, contacted CAS, and got the adoption ball rolling.
     I received news of my assignment of Fiona in late August -- early September of 1996 -- just missed my birthday of August 23.  What a wonderful gift she was and is!  I nearly died when I saw her beautiful referral photo!
     I found out I was in Group 11 and would be traveling to China late in 1996 (Check out another Group 11 family's experience).  We left for China, with Groups 10 and 12, November 22, 1996, from Bradley Terminal at LAX aboard a flight on China Eastern Airlines to Beijing, China. Twenty one beautiful baby girls came home on this trip! Eight families went to Wuhan and Thirteen went to Zhejiang to bring home their new children, as follows:

     Included in Group 11, was my sister, Trish Smith -- not only as my traveling companion, but as an adoptive parent too! So, there we were off to China to pick up our Chinese daughters, who would become instant cousins. The trip was rough for Trish and I; we were the only ones who were traveling alone. Even though we had each other, we each had to deal with our own luggage, arrangements, and of course our children. Fiona was unable to walk or sit up and had to be carried; Trish's daughter, MollyKate, though she could walk had to be carried much of the time. This was a once in a lifetime, memorable, and fantastic trip! We met some great new friends with whom we still maintain contact. I wouldn't trade this trip or experience for all the tea in China (whoops, am I allowed to say that?).
     After all this time, I am still in awe of Fiona. I don't really know how to explain it -- particularly, for the first year or more -- I would just look at Fiona in disbelief, as if she wasn't real! I can't believe that God has given me the privilege and opportunity to parent this beautiful child. It has been the hardest and most wonderful thing that has happened in my life. I worry, daily, that I am doing right by her.

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