A new little tid bit about our Kaitlyn's finding

Kaitlyn's finding location

Kaitlyn was found somewhere in Kunming between September and December, 2003

We were told she was left in a chicken market the day she was born with a diaper rash.

Well we know this could not have been true and usually they comment on the umbelico (sp?)cord still being attached like with Reagan at 3 days. Also newborns do not have diaper rashes :-)

So we often wondered about this. A month before traveling to get Kaitlyn in 2005 - i got 2 photo's of her at the orphanage which were taken by volunteers which i finally met this summer. They would be sent to a women in neg form in the US and she would develop and distribute as families announced their adoption.

We have these 2 precious photo's of her. When we met one of the volunteer/workers in 2005 he noted that the photo had 2 sets of dates - one was the month of the photo and the other was the receiving date at the orphanage. The one photo was January 04 and the other February 04. They both also had December 25, 2003. So we now know she was actually sent to the orphanage on Christmas day and the one photo was taken only 2-3 wks after she arrived.

We suspected on the 2nd day we got her that she was older - she seemed on target and mature for her age compared to others. We suspected her birthday was late August to early September - but it was listed as October 8th. It was no big deal really but just a nagging thing.

Well this summer we got more clarification when we went to the finding spot and saw her files.

In her files we found another date and staff were embarrassed that i picked up on it - but i noticed a date under her photo (at about 15m old in foster care) of August 31, 2003. Well this was before she was born??? So i inquired about the date and what it was - they responded immediately without checking that this was her birth date. But then they realized there were 2 dates in her files????

So we now think her birthday is about 6 wks earlier, she would just make it under the wire for a grade above and with her being at the top of the class - this all makes sense. But we will probably leave it all be for now.

We then went to her finding place which was no longer there - it was a chicken market (above photo) but when we arrived 4 years later it was now a high rise. We were grateful to our guide that when i showed her the photo she recognized a phone number of the vendor and called him and we learned a great deal about her finding since he was there. We learned a women had found her near a phone booth and had taken her home, but he husband said no since she already had 2 children and the next day put her back and called the police (this is were we believe the diaper rash happened) she was still in the same clothing.

I had my friend Lisa call the man again recently and she wrote me back yesterday of the newer info. We are hoping she can track down the women who has moved away to see if we can actually learn the real date and any other info about the clothes she was wearing... for some they would say what is the big deal, she is with you now, but for us (me being adopted) we understand all these little details make the story and brings more closure with the puzzle coming together.

Dear Lavonne,
I called the man yesterday. He told me that the woman who knew something about Kaitlyn had moved to Sichuan province and that they had no contact with each other. In fact, the woman just found Kaitlyn beside a telephone booth, and later she put her back to the place because she thought it was difficult for her to raise the child. The man also told me that they found nothing else except some money in her pocket. The money was less than 50yuan (about $8). That was all he told me. He could not tell me anything more. I'm sorry, Lavonne, that I was not able to help you. Do you have any other information?
Love,
Lisa

We feel Kaitlyn was loved and that maybe they discovered her heart condition and felt they could not help her and thus chose to give her up, or her mother got pregnant again. But she lived with her family for about 4m and they made sure she would be found and left her with money for milk - it makes you wonder what her mother feels each August as her birthday comes and goes. I know my birth mother got depressed and cried. When we went to the Minority Village this summer and learned that most likely Kaitlyn is of Miao Minority, we found a mock Miao Village and instead of a temple it was a Christian Church. That many Miao are Christians - and Kaitlyn and I have talked that if she never meets her mother her - there is a chance that she is a Christian and she will meet her in heaven. What a peaceful thought for my daughter who struggles with this whole thing.

Lavonne 11-19-09