We all care deeply about Tim and his family, not only here on the Chenango County list, but also on the Madison County list and probably other lists as well. And he is, after all, the moderator. We are very, very lucky to associate with him. Debbie Smith Zorach On Jul 24, 2009, at 9:22 PM, Elizabeth Allison wrote: > Is this appropriate for a Chenango Co website? > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Timothy Stowell" <tstowell@chattanooga.net> > To: <nychenan@rootsweb.com>; <nycortla@rootsweb.com>; > <nymadiso@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 12:24 AM > Subject: [NYCHENAN] Reunion > > >> Reunion is defined as a gathering of people who have been apart or >> the act of coming together again. >> >> We most often think of this with regards to family. In many cases >> families may have annual or some other regularly preset time they get >> together to talk of the old times, introduce new family members or >> share news of accomplishments or other items of interest. More >> organized family outings may include a roll call, note of new members >> and the death of others. >> >> Of course there are other reunions such as school related or former >> work mates coming together to celebrate the time they were together >> in years past. >> >> When we visited our daughter's orphanage a few days after her >> adoption, in March 2008, the director gave us the name of the family >> and state that her best friend had been adopted to 15 months >> earlier. It was the director's hope that the girls could get >> together, that we could take a picture of them together and send a >> copy back to them. >> >> About 3 months after our return we found this family living in Salt >> Lake City and began a written and telephone connection with >> them. Things worked out that the family was coming through Atlanta >> on their way to Miami and would be there for a couple of days. So >> last August, our daughter and their daughter got to reunite, seeing >> each other for the first time since December 2006. The girl from >> Salt Lake, our daughter and two other girls shared a room in the >> orphanage in two bunk beds. This girl had the bed above our daughter. >> >> Last October after sending a picture to the director to let her see >> how our daughter had grown, I got a reply saying that the little >> girl, a friend of our daughter's who had come to see her off, had >> been placed with a USA family the week before. While I did not find >> her friend in the months since then, I did find a group of parents >> who had adopted from the same orphanage and thus connected with other >> families. These groups often have picture sections so looking >> through these I ran across some pictures of our daughter that we did >> not have, which was quite neat. >> >> I finally asked on the group if anyone knew the little girl who was >> adopted out, gave her name but got no concrete response. In December >> right before Christmas I posted to the group again and included the >> URL of the article at my work talking about our adoption. A group >> member in another country saw the article and send me three pictures >> of our daughter taken just a few days after we started the process of >> adoption for her, shown under Feb. 2007. >> >> Time marched on until Memorial Day weekend, when I was very ill and >> then the whole family got whatever it was and we were all confined to >> bed for most of the weekend. At the tail end of the weekend I >> finally turned on my computer and was stunned to receive two emails, >> one from a mother and then one from the father just in case the first >> email got lost. Mother's email subject line was - our daughter >> roomed with your daughter in China. A couple of days later pictures >> confirmed that it was the little girl we met. >> >> After the initial - it's her! We began to explore other details and >> it turns out they live 20 miles from where I grew up in the >> Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The Mom has a connection to the girl >> from Salt Lake as she met her and had a picture made with her when >> she was with a group doing a medical mission to China in 2005. This >> Mom reported that our daughter's orphanage was the best orphanage >> they saw in China of about 30. >> >> Later today it will be my distinct pleasure to bring my daughter and >> their daughter in to a reunion. We will spend a week with them doing >> things and celebrating the little girl's birthday on >> Saturday. Once this reunion is over, we hope in the years to come >> to visit another child from her orphanage that we met while in China, >> at our hotel, who lives in Oklahoma. >> >> So while this is not a family reunion as such, it is special to me >> that these three girls who roomed together have been reunited at >> least with our daughter. Sixty pictures have been added to the site, >> of life in the USA in 2008 plus about 150 of my wife's that got >> waylaid and only added >> recently. http://home.highertech.net/~tstowell/tian.htm >> >> Tim Stowell >> Chattanooga >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> NYCHENAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus >> signature database 4266 (20090722) __________ >> >> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. >> >> http://www.eset.com >> >> >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYCHENAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message