|
Reprinted with
permission of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (C) 2004
The two identical 6-year-old sisters, complete in
matching red-and-white outfits down to the bows in
their hair, each were tugging the same small toy.
Their mother intervened. "Girls, I'm just telling this
lady how much you love each other," she admonished.
Olivia and Isabella may never have known the joys and
struggles of being twins if their adoptive parents,
Dawn and Tom Dixon, had not intervened in their lives
five years ago. The girls had been living in separate
foster homes for 15 months in the Szechwan province of
China before the Dixons brought them home to Ladue.
 (
Maren McChesney, 19 months, plays at the Children's
Hope International reunion picnic Saturday at Queeny
Park. She was with her mother, Elizabeth McChesney
(far left), twin sister, Phoebe (far left, playing),
and father, Steve McChesney (right). )
Although
adoptions
of twins are rare, several sets were playing Saturday
afternoon in Queeny Park at the Children's Hope
International reunion picnic. Children's Hope helps
people adopt children from several countries,
including China, Russia, Vietnam, India, Colombia and
Guatemala.
Spokesman Cory Barron said adoptions from China spiked
last year, according to national data. About 5,000
children usually are adopted from there every year,
but last year, 6,900 children were brought home by
American parents.
He cautions hopeful parents that they need to be
flexible when adopting from abroad. When he and his
wife went to China to pick up their adopted daughter
about four years ago, the foster family revealed that
she had a twin. The Barrons sought genetic testing to
prove the relationship and came home with two instead
of one.
Elizabeth and Steve McChesney of Chicago specifically
requested twins when filling out their adoption
paperwork. Their social worker said, "Don't hold your
breath."
Elizabeth McChesney, 40, grew up as an only child, and
she knew she wanted more than one. They had tried to
conceive for seven years before deciding to adopt.
They said in a letter to the Chinese government, "Our
best dream is to receive twins, but we will love any
child that comes to us."
About a year later, they got the call - twin girls.
"It was the most amazing, exciting, exhilarating
moment ever," Elizabeth McChesney said.
"We were kind of scared," her husband added.
The fears disappeared when they brought home Maren and
Phoebe, now 19 months. They describe their girls as
"remarkably easy."
Shea Stith, 34, and Xingying Xiong, 33, of Lake Saint
Louis, also requested twins and were willing to wait
up to two years to find them. Ten months later they
brought home Sarah and Nora Stith from the Guangxi
province of China. The girls were almost 2, and Stith
says having each other has definitely helped the girls
progress.
"They draw on each other's strengths," he said. Stith
added that transitions to their own room and to day
care were much easier with a "best friend" around.
|
