To Huai Shuang's Biological Mommy

Dear Mama,

Today our daughter turns 18 months old! Here in the US there is much rejoycing and happiness over this small milestone, but I wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you today.

First of all, I want to say publicly in cyberspace, thank you from the bottom of my heart (and Kurt's too!) for the gift of this amazing child. We named her Kelsey Frances Shuang and we love and cherish her deeply.

Kelsey is very healthy, smart and happy. You took very good care of her and I want to assure you that we plan to do the same for the rest of her life.

Our entire family, group of friends and community have embraced this lovable child. It really does take that village to raise a child. Our girl is warm, friendly and outgoing. She loves being out and about and has been that way since the day we became a family.

Kelsey has been walking independently for the last month, and shows great balance and natural grace. She is also a great climber and fearless in her quest to reach everywhere! She balances this fearlessness with her affectionateness. She is a snuggler and a huggy-kissy girl.

To our amusement, Kelsey has started to be really affectionate with her boy friends at daycare. She tempers her kisses with high-five fests, thank goodness!

We know that you passed to our girl quite a few gifts.

The easiest to see is that she is a beauty. Her eyes shine and sparkle. Her hair is dark brown and super straight and shiny. She has perfect skin and a rosebud mouth. She is slender and well portioned and has long slender fingers.

Kelsey is also really smart. She says a few words and know what we mean when we speak to her. She also knows what she wants and how to get most of it. She (I guess like most babies) is a creature of habit and prefers certain kinds of cookies and a specific cup for her juice.

She is adventureous! She is a great eater, there is nothing that she won't try at least once! She enjoys going different places and meeting people. She likes to check out the nooks and crannies of our home and loves holding things.

Kelsey enjoys nature... She loves puppy dogs and when she sees one she says "woof!" This is too cute. She also loves our cats (the "ga's") and is learning to "pet them nicely" and she is also amused by fish. She loves looking at the squirels in our neighborhood and also at the trees. Every walk she takes she comes home with leaves. I can't wait to see her expression when she sees all the flowers in our gardens this spring and summer!

She's also independent. And stubborn. These will take her places in life, but right now can be quite challenging. These "gifts" have shown me that I have much more patience than I ever realized.

I also want to make an open promise to you that we will do our very best to raise our girl to be a wonderful, joyful human being. She will have a good education, and be able to follow her own interests - whatever they may be. We will raise her to respect the choice you made and if someday somehow the two of you are able to meet, we will support her in this quest as well. She will understand that she is a very fortunate girl to have 2 sets of parents that loved her and wanted the best life possible for her.

She will visit China in the future and our hope is to show her how beautiful the world is.

We thank you and wish you peace and love and happiness. I dearly hope to meet you one day in person...maybe when our first grandchild is born.

Love,

Huai Shuang's Adoptive Mommy, JoAnn