A Bittersweet Reunion: Years gone by...

August 23, 2009

Years gone by...

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

6th Grade

8th Grade

10th Grade

13 comments:

AnonymousAugust 29, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Wow, truly inspiring story! God Bless... dutch
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AnonymousAugust 30, 2009 at 12:37 AM
This is just AWESOME!! I'm 32 and a father, not a emotional type but will honestly say it brings tears to my eyes everytime I read it!! Glad to hear he found his real family and now knows the truth. Many kudos for Norris for taking these kids into her home, showing them love and treating them as her own!! We need more people like her in this world :) She is an example of what we "ALL" should be like!
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johnAugust 30, 2009 at 7:58 AM
God bless the norris family.IF there were more people like julia norris the world would be a better palce.
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UnknownAugust 30, 2009 at 8:28 AM
What a great story, as a Chinese American knowing the restriction of the one child policy that it is totally understandable that he was sent to a village to be raised by uncle and grandmother. How fortunate Christian has a loving mother like Julia who went beyond anyone could ask for helping her son locating his biological parents.

What a wonderful story, I recently read a great book called "The Hotel Around the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford, a terrific writer of another great great story, a must read. Jamie Ford would be a great person to write this incredible story, Just a thought. Please let me know where can I send money to help Julia Norris cover some of these travel expenses, Jean Cheng of San Diego.
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TamAugust 30, 2009 at 9:06 AM
Your story has left me in tears! Amazing! You are an amazing person on so many levels!
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UnknownAugust 30, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Very nice story.
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AnonymousAugust 30, 2009 at 9:50 AM
One could not read this story and not have tears in their eyes and joy in their hearts for such an amazing woman. Love of family is universal no matter what country we live in. We all have the same feelings for our loved ones. I hope the love they can all now share will help to heal some of the pain they went through all these years that they were apart. God Bless them all.
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Waiting to adopt from ChinaAugust 30, 2009 at 9:58 AM
How truly amazing!!! I am a biological mother of 2 and in the process of adopting a Chinese baby girl (waiting over 2 years and 9 months now). I have always thought that if my adopted daughter would want to find her biological parents in China, I would help her. I think most, if not all, adopted children would feel the void of their biological parents no matter how happy and loved they are by their adopted family. You are such a wonderful mother! You are an example of a mother's selfless, true love for her children! God bless!!!
elrandolph@yahoo.com
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UnknownAugust 30, 2009 at 10:24 AM
God Bless You All...the families on both sides of the world, and the many volunteers who made this reunion a reality.
Ms. Norris deserves to be reconized internationally for her selflessness...all children should be so lucky to have a mother like her.
This story just made my day and uplifted my spirit.
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jloverherAugust 30, 2009 at 11:57 AM
What lucky family's! Julia you are a beautiful person. It seem's everyone is blessed thank's to you. God Bless you all.
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AnonymousAugust 30, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Julia, you and very brave and selfless. You are an inspiration.
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cjchtAugust 30, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Julia, I have a 15 y.old adopted son from Guatemala. He had such a thirst for his country that I took him to meet his birth mother when he was 10. It was very emotional but healing. I feel like I share him with another country and world too. God bless you on your venture. Your journey inspires me. I know how hard it is.
cj
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SingaporeanAugust 30, 2009 at 7:38 PM
Dear Julia,

you are such an amazing person. All my life I have been searching for a person with a heart as kind as yours ... so we can give to the world, so I can learn from her ... I wish I had met you years ago ...

I just love who you are ...
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Our Family's Story.....

In the summer of 2000 I led a mission trip to an orphanage in China. I set out on this trip expecting to be taken in by all the little girls in the orphanage, but instead spent most of my time with the older children. One little boy in particular caught my attention. His name was Jiacheng and his engaging smile stole my heart. I knew I was supposed to do something to help this little boy, but I was 33 years old and single at the time. After returning to the US and praying for this little boy, I began the process to adopt Jiacheng. On April 5, 2001 the adoption was finalized in China and he officially became Christian Jiacheng Norris.

He adjusted very quickly to his new life in America and attached easily to me and my family. When he turned 14 years old, he asked me to help him find his birth parents. Unlike many adopted children, Christian had a lot of memories of his birth family and as he shared this information with me over the years I wrote it all down in the event that some day he might want to search for them. After searching on and off for three years, on May 31st, 2009 a non-profit organization in China that had been helping me in the search contacted me to say they had found Christian’s birth family.

It was such a surprise but the real shock came when we learned his birth family had never abandoned him but instead lost him in April of 1998 traveling back to his father's family village. The birth family searched for years but never got much help from the police. He was presumably kidnapped and sold to another family. Christian had always told me he remembered some man took him by bus and that they traveled for three days to another city. After that he recalls the man left him in a restaurant and never came back.

In February of 1999 the police three provinces away in Henan found him wandering the streets. When the police found him he was so traumatized that he couldn't speak so they just took him to the local orphanage, where he lived until I adopted him in 2001.

After finding his birth parents we immediately began planning a trip to China for a reunion in August 2009. I created this blog so family and friends could follow along with us on this incredible journey.