Melody Davis and Marc Moegerle

Even though we've been home several months, my husband Marc and I are still amazed that we have our wonderful son.  We often turn to each other (especially when we're driving and he's in the backseat babbling) and say, "Can you believe it?"  Yet, on the other hand, Kee seems to have been with us for a long time.  We started our adoption journey just a year ago in July, 2002 and stated our willingness to take a special needs child.  We were shocked in September when we were presented with the possible adoption of Xin Ke Ji.  When we saw a picture and read about Kee, who has a cleft palate, we fell in love and knew it was meant to be. Since we hadn't yet started much of our paperwork as well our home study at that time, we worked hard to get everything submitted by December.  In March, we traveled to Beijing to see the incredible Great Wall and Forbidden City, then to Urumqi in northwest China where we met our son.  From there, we went to the wonderful White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou and arrived home on April 3rd. (Although we left for China on the day the war started, and were there during the beginning of the SARS epidemic, we felt so fortunate to have made this trip when we did. We really got  to see our son's birth country!)   On May 20th, Kee had his first cleft palate surgery and he's recovered well from this.  Keelan is an amazingly bright child who charms everyone he meets.  He's brought so much joy to our lives.

We are so grateful to our family and friends for their encouragement and support.  We have also been amazed at the kind treatment of Keelan by strangers here and in China.   We are also very grateful to CHI and the wonderful assistance they provided us before, during, and after our adoption!