1/2 Love letters in the sand

Somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight
Someone’s thinking of me, and loving me tonight.
The familiar lyrics from the children’s movie “An American Tail” continue to waft through my mind. Those words are the heart cry of the child who longs for someone to love them

In an earlier post, we wrote that Thanksgiving found us on the beach in Galveston, tracing a heart in the sand for our daughter, Zhu Hai Zhen.

How could we have known that on a distant shore our little girl would also be writing love letters in the sand?

In America, two future parents knelt down and wrote their daughter’s name in Chinese and the phrase “wo men ai ni” (we love you)

In China, a child and her caregiver knelt and wrote three simple figures I "heart" U

Two love letters written in two different languages on two beaches half a world apart. Two love letters saying the same thing.

American parents proclaiming their love for their daughter in Chinese –-- a little girl in China echoing back in English.

Each reaching out in a foreign tongue to touch the heart of the other. Neither knowing what the other had done.

The orphanage gave us this picture on adoption day. It was taken December 12…. just 5 days before the adoption took place.

We were preparing for our flight to China to meet her.
And she was still in Zhuhai, writing love letters in the sand.