Kailee's story

Jeremiah 1:5 says “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you". I suppose that is how Jad and I felt about Kailee. Before we left China with Jaci, we already felt the calling to find our second daughter. Of course God's timing was not ours. A few weeks after Jaci's first birthday, the Colorado river caught record flood waters. Our house had two feet of water in it, and we spent Jaci's first Christmas staying with Jad's dad and stepmom. Yes, a wrinkle in our journey. Four or five months later, we were finally back in our home. All along the way, the next adoption was always in the backs of our minds.

Once life stabilized, Jad took the lead in assembling our paperwork. Within two months it was in China. That's got to be a record! Don't mess with a Daddy on a mission!
 Kailee was 9 months old when we received her sweet little picture. "Beautiful" was all I could say, over and over. She was in MaoMing City in the Guangdong province. We were blessed, as she was with a foster family from the time she was six weeks old. Her Chinese name was Mao Xiao Shan. Mao means "leader", Xiao means "little", and Shan is "Coral". We decided to name her Kailee Suzanne XiaoShan Hubbard.

We asked my Dad to accompany with us to China, and help take care of Jaci. While waiting for our referral, he became very ill. When the doctors started talking about liver biopsies, I packed Jaci and myself up and headed home. Every time a new doctor or nurse came in the hospital room, he would tell them that he had to get well because he was going to China to get Jaci's little sister. Dad slowly recovered from "Q" disease (Google people, Google), and in April of 2001, we all headed to China.

Kailee at our hotel in China

We spent Easter Sunday on the Great Wall of China. It was a wonderful day, but our thoughts looked forward to getting Kailee. The next day, we flew to Guangzhou. The hotel converted the aerobic/exercise room into "baby central". They laid interlocking foam pads throughout the floor, had a ball pit, and all kinds of toys. As we entered the room, we spotted Kailee. As I held her, she lay limp in my arms and was almost unresponsive. I looked at the little dish rag of a girl in my arms and then fearfully at Jad. I choked back tears and said "she is normal sized, but she is so weak. She can't even sit up". I can still hear Jad's calm voice, as he gently said "It's okay. We'll help her. She is ours.". With his words, my doubt disappeared. His faith stood strong when mine was weak. For the third time in my life, I fell in love with my husband, my strength. We fed her a bottle as Jaci stroked her hair. We tried to get her to laugh, and finally pulled off a little smile. We took her up to the room and she napped. It was a pretty quiet evening, as we just held and cuddled her.



Kailee awoke in the middle of the night with a blood curdling scream (zero to shreik!). She was hungry and wanted to be fed NOW! After her bottle, she immediately went back to sleep. We shook our heads and wondered what we were in for.

The next morning, Kailee awoke as a new child! She sat up, smiled, and even crawled. We all watched in amazement! She enjoyed crawling to the floor length mirror to see herself. Looking back on when we first received her, I think she was grieving the loss of her foster parents and felt overwhelmed, scared, and confused. It was just too much for that little soul to take in. She chose to shut down. When the morning came and a little time passed, she decided to venture out of her cocoon.

Kailee as a toddler

Over the next few days, we earned
her confidence and Kailee's personality began to shine! We would tell her to show us her silly face and she would scrunch up her little nose and pooch out her little lips. She loved to play and was very active. She hated to have her diaper changed (reference blood curdling scream earlier in the post). The Chinese grandma police would stare at me as she wailed, then discuss among themselves while sending some unapproving looks my way. Her temper remained for several months, until she learned to use her words (sign language and English).

Kailee in 2012

Jaci loved her little sister, and would pat her and hold her. Over the coming months and years, Jaci would became Kailee's favorite person in the whole world.

Jaci claimed that Grandaddy came to China to eat ice cream with her. Since my Dad is a bonefied icecream-aholic, he was happy to comply. Dad still holds fond memories of the trip, and will openly state that there was not a dry eye in the room when the families received their babies.

Over two weeks, we were knit into a close family unit of four. While Jad thought our family was complete, I asked him to keep his mind open to the possibility of a third. He agreed, but was pretty sure life was grand with our two little girls in tow. But of course, the story continues...