Quite awhile ago, I received a note on this blog from a family preparing to go to China to get their little girl, who was at the same orphanage, Maonan Social Welfare Institute in Maoming, as our MelodyJoy. Naturally, it was fun to give them insights into our experiences and we exchanged a few e-mails. A couple of days ago, I stumbled across one of these old e-mails and wrote them to ask how things were going.
They told me to visit their pages at TheStoryofYou.com and I did. What I saw there blew me away! Take a look yourself at http://www.thestoryofyou.net/Hallie. After reading their story and looking at Hallie's pictures, I wrote them back:
"Hallie looks a lot like our MelodyJoy. In a couple of the photos, you could easily have convinced me I was looking at MJ. We bought Melody the exact same red squeaky sandals that you got Hallie. Melody loved holding onto the travel pack of Kleenex, too! And it was clear that she had never had a spoon either. She's caught on just fine, though. And she wasn't crawling when we got her but is walking pretty well already now. I would make a joke about 'separated at birth' here but it hits too close to home." (They are about four months apart in age.)
For those of you who know MelodyJoy well, look especially at the June 17 page and Hallie's photo with youngest brother Silas and the "Home Update" page's final picture with her dad. The way she wrinkles her nose and has that same little white hat that MJ wears . . . they could easily be cousins! Of course, to our Western eyes "they all look the same," don't they?
Now, look at the photographs at the top of this entry. Which girl is Hallie and which is Melody? I imagine that Jeannette could instantly tell them apart but you have to admit that the resemblance is striking. For the record, the first photo (of the laundry basket) is Hallie and the second one is Melody, on her first birthday with a doll I bought her in China. Just for good measure, here's another one of MJ, from her 1-year visit to the Penney's Portrait Studio in Salem . . . showing an expression that we know quite well!
(By the way, don't dawdle when it comes to visiting Hallie's web pages . . . I think they'll only remain posted for another month and then will be taken down.)
2 comments:
I can't tell them apart! When I first saw the picture of the baby in the laundry basket, I thought it was MJ. They say the babies are 4 months apart but is it possible that they are twins? It seems that this may be more than coincidence!
-Amy
P.S. I got some good feed back from families in our AWAA chatgroup about your blog. Thanks for continuing to share your stories with us.
Hallie and MelodyJoy had different finding places (Hallie at a kindergarten and MJ at a gas station) so it seems unlikely that they are sisters. I haven't asked yet how certain they are of Hallie's birthdate but MJ's is somewhat approximate, but I still wouldn't expect a four month "margin of error."
And, who knows, it may just be that the girls in that region are likely to share a close resemblance to each other.
Thanks for sharing the blog. Your group is more than welcome to contact me with any questions about our travel, etc.
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