Day 1 to Year 2...October 15, 1995- September 8, 1997

I was born  on October 15, 1995, in Danang, Vietnam to a single 36 year old woman. I was her first and only child. She saw that I was born with a cleft lip and palate* and immediately took me to the hospital. The doctor said "no money, no fix". My birthmom was extremely poor, and had no way of being able to afford to pay for the many surgeries I would need to fix my mouth. She was left with a heartbreaking decision, would she keep me and not fix my mouth or put me up for adoption so that I may have the chance to be adopted into a family that could afford to fix my mouth? She chose out of LOVE to put me up for adoption with the hope that I may have the chance at a better life. The director of the orphanage in Danag, Dao, came and picked me up to take me back to the orphanage with her. She gave me the name Thuong Thi Doan which translates to Lovely Poem.
I lived at the orphanage for almost two years, until my new family, Mike, Julie and Lauren Scheel (with Carter and Sam waiting at home) came to pick me up in Vietnam. I was officially adopted on September 8, 1997.

I look back at how the start of my life unfolded. Had I not been born with a cleft lip and palate, I would not be here today writing my story for all of you to read. I wouldn't be here now with the experiences I've been through and with such strong faith in a God who has loved me from the start. I've never thought "why me?" or "why did God have to create me this way?", I understand why it had to be this way, it's all according to God's plan. The ultimate plan.
Just try to begin to imagine what it might be like having to make the decision to give up your own baby girl, with only the hope and prayer that she would be adopted into a good loving family who would be able to care for her and pay for all the expenses of her surgeries...to give her away and have no control of where she could end up. I can't even begin to understand what that day...week...month would have been like. My mom has said that once you become a mother you will find it even more unbelievable of what she has done for me. My birthmom had this unbelievable amount of love for me, to be willing to give me up and let me go, so that I could be given the chance at a better life...it's incomprehensible. Yet, this was God's plan for my life.

*A cleft lip and palate is a birth defect that affects 1 in 700 births in the US. It is most common among Asians, 1 in 400, and third common in European Indians 1 in 1500, least in African Americans.
*The definition of a cleft lip and palate is- "Orofacial clefts are birth defects in which there is an opening in the lip and/or palate (roof of the mouth) that is caused by incomplete development during early fetal formation."

This is my birthmother (left), coming to see me at the orphanage

This is me sitting on the swing holding the white teddy bear with all my orphange friends

This is Dao holding me on my official adoption day