HILARY'S STORY by Bobbi McKenna In the early nineteen seventies, my husband, Bob, and I lived in Taegu, Korea for a year.  We arrived in Korea with one baby and had a second child while we were there.

(Pictured: Bob and Jason McKenna strolling through Taegu, Republic of Korea.)   Just before we were to leave, the Presbyterian missionaries who we had rented our house from, asked us if we would adopt a little eighteen month old baby that they were caring for in the hospital.     I was only twenty-six.  My husband and I already had a fifteen month old and a one month old, and I was planning to go to graduate school fulltime.  I told them that I couldn’t do it then, but I made a promise to myself that I would adopt a Korean baby sometime in the future.   In 1982, I began thinking about the promise I’d made years before to adopt a baby girl from Korea.  I called the number of an adoption agency that might have Korean babies, and talked to Mr. Kim, the man in charge. I made an appointment for Bob and me to meet with Mr. Kim and a social worker. Because it was a new agency, they had babies waiting for families instead of the other way around.    (The photo below is the one that Mr. Kim of ASIA handed to us with these words: "Here is your baby.")

It took two months for our “Home Study” to be completed, and then, we received a photo of our baby. We thought that she was the most beautiful baby girl we’d ever seen.

It was the end of October, and we would have to wait until three babies were ready to come. The agency would not allow us to go to Korea to get her. It was a Saturday in December before we got any more news about our baby. It was an icy cold day, and our telephone wasn’t working. I believe that there was ice on the phone line or something. At two-thirty in the afternoon, the phone rang and the social worker said, “Mrs. McKenna, your baby will be arriving Tuesday night at National Airport.”   I hung up, and tried to call my husband, Bob, who was working at the office.   THE PHONE DID NOT WORK!   It only worked for that one phone call all day: the call that told us our baby girl was coming from Korea.  Tuesday night, we all went to National Airport: Bob, Jason, Spencer,Tuan, our Vietnamese foster son, and I.  We waited a short time with the three boys watching TV in the VIP lounge.  Finally, we went to the gate, and then, the social worker went onto the plane and brought back our baby.  She was six and half months old, and perfectly beautiful!   We named her Hilary.  I held her in my arms and gave her a bottle, and she looked up into my eyes.  I could see her bonding with me in that second.  For the next two weeks, I couldn’t put her down, or she would howl.  She had been cared for by a foster mother and hadn’t been in an orphanage.  In Korea, it was common for a baby to be strapped to its mother’s back, and thus always in physical contact with its mother. I knew this because I’d lived in Korea.    (Pictured Jason, Spencer, Hilary, and Christopher at the Peace Cross at Saint Alban's School, Washington, DC.)

Spencer and Jason adored her. When she started to talk, she called Spencer, “Bubby.” He even began to refer to himself as “Bubby” as in “Hilly, give Bubby the priceless crystal heirloom right now!”

We had a toy poodle named Puffy, and Hilary ate his dog food once. For fourteen years after that, he always got really worried whenever she was near his food. He would growl and scamper to his dish.   Her favorite TV show was “Punky Brewster,” and she wore her hair the same way Punky did. Spencer and Jason took her to the park and she loved to swing. She would jump out of the swing and yell, “Punky Power!”   She called herself “a little ghoul” instead of “a little girl.” When Spencer was at school, and I took her to the park, she would look around for him and then say “Bubby all gone.”   She couldn’t say “Hilary” so she called her self “EE-EE.” She sometimes shortened it just to “EE,” and she talked about herself in the third person, as in “EE hungry.” — “EE happy.” — “EE sad.”   I remember vividly the day when she became an American citizen.  We got a babysitter for Christopher (the new baby who was born after we adopted Hilary) and then Bob, Hilly, the big boys and I went down to the Federal Courthouse on Constitution Avenue.     As soon as we got there, we knew something unusual was happening.  There were Secret Service agents everywhere and bomb-sniffing dogs.

Finally, we spotted then Vice President George Bush and his wife Barbara coming into the courtroom accompanied by a Secret Service Agent.  One of their longtime employees was becoming an American citizen that day, too.

When Hilary was five, we moved to Colorado. She loved to swim. She was a talented “butterfly” swimmer and then, she switched to back stroke in high school,and swam an All American Qualifying Time.

We went to Hawaii many times. Perhaps the most fun time for me was when we went for New Year’s 2000 to Maui, and she and Christopher were swimming in the ocean at midnight on New Year’s Day.  Now Hilary's in college, majoring in Journalism.   (Pictured: Spencer, Hilary, Jason, and Christopher McKenna Today.)

Hilary and I want to encourage you to write your own child’s adoption story.  Your child will love reading all the details.  Here are some questions taken from my book to help you get started:   When and how did you first begin to think about adopting a child?   When and how did you tell family and friends about your decision to adopt?   What happened and how did you feel the first time you saw your child’s photo?   When and where was your child born?   Write as much as you know about your child’s birth and Birth parents:   Describe when and how you saw your child and held him or her in your arms for the first time?   If you had to travel to another country to get your baby, describe your trip:   What were your child’s first words?   Where and when did your child walk?   What are your five happiest memories of your child?   (If you would like an easy method for writing your own personal history, including your (or your child’s) adoption story, you can buy a copy of a book I wrote called “Telling Your Story.”  For readers of Givingyouavoice.com the book (which normally sells for $24.95) is only $15 plus shipping and handling.   ORDER BOOK   More Information About International Adoption

Telling Your Story®, The Write Your Own Book Club®,and Story Party® are
Registered Service Trademarks that are owned by Bobbi McKenna and Registered
with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  
Giving You A Voice is a division of Global Success Advantage, LLC.
Copyright 2005-2010 Giving You A Voice