Mia’s Twin
By: Holly Funk

 

We wanted to adopt twins, but then we met Mia...

Twins! Ever since my husband Doug and I chose to adopt, we requested twin girls. I felt that God meant for us to have twins; the number “two” just wouldn’t leave my head. We bought a tandem stroller, baby blankets, even two little wind-up lambies that played music. But then an adoption agency introduced us to a 13-month-old girl who had been abandoned outside a textile factory in Yangzhou, China.

Doug and I fell in love with her instantly and all thoughts of twins were put aside. I knew we had to name her Mia. I had never considered that name before, but somehow it just seemed right (and by now maybe you’ve noticed that I’m often at the mercy of God’s little “nudges”). In July 2004, we brought baby Mia home with us to Chicago.

We gave away the tandem stroller and extra blanket and bought a single stroller, but for some reason I couldn’t part with that second little lambie. There was an internet forum for parents who had adopted from the same orphanage. For a year I shared updates on Mia’s progress.

Then one day I noticed a posting from a woman named Diana in Florida who was talking about her daughter, a little girl who was the same age as Mia. I sent her an email and she answered me right away. Her daughter’s birthday was the same as Mia’s. “Where was Mia found?” she asked me. Turned out both girls were found in the very same place, a week apart.

We exchanged pictures. Wow! The girls looked so much alike! So many similarities. Could it be? Only a DNA test could tell us for sure. So Diana and I did a swab test on our daughters. The girls were related all right… they were twins! Our daughters met for the first time last August. They hugged each other and acted almost as if they had never been apart.

Mia gave her sister the lambie that was meant especially for her. Oh and there is one other thing that the two girls have in common. There’s not just one Mia. Her twin is named Mia too.