Lilies In Bloom

Madeleine/Liwei was found with a "birth note." This means someone (most likely her biological mother) pinned a note to the baby when she left her, so that those who found her would know her birthdate and how old she is. I don't know if this is exactly "rare," - but it is special when you find that your baby DOES have a birth note. It is a link to her past and something that would be very special for your daughter to have in the years to come. The only thing I know (at this point) that is in the birth note, is it said her birthdate was Feb. 14 -- so this really was her birthday; it was not a "guess" by the orphanage. The Referral report also said that she was found at the front gates of the orphanage, on Feb. 25 - so she was 11 days old. Her umbilical cord was still attached (but dry), which tells me that she was not born in a hospital (I don't know the percentage in China, but I'm assuming that most if not all of the abandoned babies in China are not born in hospitals). But since Liwei was 11 days old (most are abandoned at 2 or 3 days old) - this also tells me that somewhere, someone (again, most likely her biological mother) struggled a great deal with this decision. Liwei was healthy and well-fed - she weighed about 6.3 pounds when she was found. It is very hard for me to be "sad" right now - but I do think about Liwei's bilogical mother and how crazy it is that someone else's great sadness and loss will be the key to my great happiness.

Which brings me to the photo of the beautiful Asian lilies above. My dear friends the Coolers brought me the lilies at church right after I got my Referral - it was waiting for me, lying on "my" pew, as I slipped into church at my usual 2 minutes til 11:00! I thought the photo of the lilies against my yellow/gold living room wall was so pretty that I needed to put it on the blog. When I first received it, only the one large stem at the bottom was open. Over the next few days, I watched as the middle stem bloomed, and then a few days later the top stem blossomed - each just as beautiful and perfect as the first bloom. This may be a "stretch" - but I've decided that the three lilies represent Liwei, me, and Liwei's biological mother. Her mother is the bottom stem, strong and sturdy, and the support for the next stem, which is me, and together the two of us will hold up and support the final blossom which is Liwei. OK, so I'm not a writer or poet, but this IS what I thought about as I watched these lilies open up over the course of a week.