We're famous!!!

Mike and I got a quote in the Sunday edition of the Pharos-Tribune. They were doing an article on our adoption group celebrating Chinese New Year.

Look in the picture of the girls coloring and you can see my big head in the background (see I told ya' all I was famous!!!!)

Here is the link

http://www.pharostribune.com/local/local_story_048231017.html

or read the story here.....

Forming a bond

Adoption group celebrates Chinese New Year
By MELISSA SORIAPharos-Tribune staff writer

The atmosphere at a Logansport restaurant was unusually loud Friday. Several girls dressed in traditional red silk Chinese dresses joined their families in filling half of China’s Best Buffet for a celebration of the Chinese New Year.

About 30 people attended the celebration, where the children ate Chinese food and exchanged traditional gifts such as “lucky money,” which consists of $1 and a charm or “knot” to hang on their windows for safety in the new year. Red eggs placed in the middle of the table symbolized new beginnings. The new year is the largest celebration in China, prompting businesses and schools to shut down for a week. Everything is decorated in red, a color signifying happiness and longevity.

Hayley Hettinger and her husband, Tom, were among the first Logansport families to adopt a girl from China. They adopted Jada, now 8, when she was a baby, then a second girl, Karissa, a few years later.The Hettingers started the group about five years ago with the goal of allowing the girls to learn about their native culture and to grow up around other families like their own.“As many things we can teach them about their culture, we think is important,” Hettinger said.

Brad and Amy Wilkinson of Logansport have two daughters adopted from China: Kendal, 4, and Kimi, 3. They, like most of the other parents, also have a biological daughter, 12-year-old Kaleigh.The families meet about once every two weeks, usually for the girls to participate in play and bonding time. “It’s our own community,” Hettinger said.This is the third year the group has celebrated the Chinese New Year. The group also celebrates China’s harvest moon festival in the fall, and a trip to Chicago’s Chinatown is in the works.

The families say so many Chinese children are available for adoption because that nation’s government, in an effort at population control, has placed strict restrictions on the number of children each family can have, and in certain areas of the country, boys are looked on with more favor than girls.The boys are looked on as breadwinners and the girls as caretakers, so the girls often find themselves candidates for adoption.

Two couples waiting to adopt girls from China participated in Friday’s celebration. Maryann Farnham and her husband, Mike, of Peru are waiting to adopt a girl, but Farnham says “the process has been very slow.”The Farnhams filled out paperwork 13 months ago and are awaiting a trip to China to make the adoption official. At first, they were told they would be able to adopt in five to six months, then 17 months, and now, Farnham says, it might be 21 months before they finally get to bring their baby home.“We’ve been preparing,” she said. The Farnhams have been in the adoption group for a year and are taking Chinese language classes in Kokomo.

Liz Newell and her husband, Tom, are also on a waiting list. “It’s been a long, long wait,” Newell said.The Newells have two biological children. Why do they want to adopt another child?“The way we look at it, everyone needs a mommy and daddy,” Newell said.

Amy Wilkinson said she believed the girls would appreciate growing up together, forming a unique bond they could carry with them throughout their lives. Liz Newell said the parents were also developing a bond.“It’s the love of these girls that pulls us together,” she said.

Melissa Soria may be reached at (574) 732-5143 or via e-mail at melissa.soria@pharostribune.com