A Beautiful Beginning (Mei Yuan)

Last Thanksgiving, Doug and Ada Purdie received a very precious gift from a rural town southwest of Guangzhou in China – the gift of parenthood.

When Doug and Ada decided to adopt a baby from another country, China seemed to be the natural choice. Doug frequently travels to Hong Kong and China and Ada was born in Hong Kong. Their familiarity and connectedness to China and its culture has led them to adopt a 10 month old baby girl from China.

Their daughter’s English name is Elizabeth. Her Chinese name is “Mei Yuan”, which means “beautiful beginning”. Doug and Ada affectionately call her “Yuan Yuan”.

Double Happiness
The first step in adoption is to assemble the application and documents that will go to China. Doug and Ada submitted their application to the adoption agency for approval by the Provincial government. After it was approved, it was sent to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in Beijing. This was the beginning of their waiting for a match with a child.

Fourteen months later, on Ada’s birthday, they were finally notified of a match from the CCAA and were overwhelmed with excitement and joy. They immediately shared their joy with family members at Ada’s birthday in their home.

Subsequently, a proposal package was given to Doug and Ada for their consideration as to whether they wished to accept the match. The proposal package contained photographs and medical reports.

Doug described the proposal, “What I found most striking were the photographs. Despite her living conditions, she had a happy and healthy look in her face. She has a big forehead and round eyes, just like me. She seemed to be looking right at me, and I felt like I was looking right at her.”

They had a pediatrician review the medical reports to make sure Yuan Yuan was a healthy baby and accepted the match. They were given an Invitation to Travel document, which initiated the next step in the adoption process, the trip to China.

Journey to China
Doug and Ada traded emails with other couples undertaking the same adoption journey to China, and decided to spend some time together with three other couples as a group. They all gathered in Hong Kong, where they talked endlessly about their feelings of excitement and anticipation for meeting their children.

The next day, they all arrived in Guangzhou at the government adoption agency where couples from all over the world were waiting to meet their adopted child. In a room full of mixed emotions and energy, Doug and Ada anxiously waited for Yuan Yuan’s arrival.

Then, all of sudden, someone gently placed Yuan Yuan in Doug’s arms. This moment is one that Doug and Ada will never forget.

In the midst of the joy and excitement of being with their new daughter, they spent two more weeks in China to deal with the Chinese and Canadian governments to complete the adoption and much of the Canadian immigration process.

Doug recalled his encounters with some Chinese people he met, “Many Chinese people were appreciative of what we were doing, which was being a foreigner who was adopting a Chinese child, but there were also others who were less keen on it.

What I found surprising was how some locals described some of their fellow citizens as being hypocritical in that some of the very same people who appreciated what we were doing was a good thing, were also those who would abandon their own baby girl in hopes of a boy. China’s one child policy has resulted in some very unfortunate behaviours.”

After they received a Canadian Visa for Yuan Yuan, they were ready to bring her to Canada and begin a new life together as a family.

Joys of Parenthood
In the last six months, Doug and Ada have noticed how much Yuan Yuan has grown. Initially, Yuan Yuan was not adjusted to her new environment and her new parents.

Doug explained, “I sensed that she was tense around me and even her hugs were a bit strained, probably because of my foreign face. Although she is a baby, I can tell that initially she knows there is something different.”

Yuan Yuan was also afraid to be alone at first, so she would get frustrated if both Doug and Ada were out of the room. However, Doug noticed that she is now much more independent and that sometimes she even walks out of the room on her own to explore. Doug added, “She is beginning to let her outgoing and social personality show. She also shows us how much she loves her parents. She kisses me good-bye when I leave the house and she runs to greet me at the door when I return.”

When asked about how Yuan Yuan changed his lifestyle, Doug said that his focus in non-work time changed a lot and he feels that his work hours are challenged. He also feels that his business trips are now time away from home and not and not as much of an exciting opportunity.

He said, “When I spent ten days in January in Hong Kong, I was unsure of how Yuan Yuan would react so I spent quite a bit of time in front of the computer webcam to see her.” Although he said that he was worried about how Yuan Yuan would react to his absence, it is interesting to note how Doug reacted more strongly to being away from his daughter and Ada.

Doug summed up his adoption experience as he said, “You are leaving a legacy with everything that you do, because everything you do makes a difference. The love that Ada and I have towards Yuan Yuan is unconditional, even if she is a non-biological child. She is an extension of us. We will never forget the moment when we each first picked her until now, and the memory will never change. It has been extremely rewarding and satisfying. Yuan Yuan has given us love and joy that we would otherwise not have.”

Welcome Faces at Reception

Good Luck for the Year of the Rat at the ACCP Chinese New Year Dinner

ACCP members and guests celebrated the Year of the Rat on February 16th at Shun Feng Restaurant. The Chinese New Year dinner was a blast featuring Lion Dancing, fun trivia games, and the keynote speech by our Honourary Advisor, Ms. Anna Fung.

Three Presidents-Jeremy Chan, Anna Fung, and Paul Cheng

Q.C. Ms. Fung shared her experiences as being the immediate past president of the B.C. Law Society, what it meant to be a Chinese Canadian professional and her role as a community leader. For the script of the speech, please visit the ACCP website: http://www.accp.ca

Lion Dance at ACCP Chinese New Year Dinner

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