'Gifts' from the Orient bring lifetime of smiles

By Deacon Reinhart Wessing

Christmas gifts come from near and far. When I say far, I mean far - all the way from the Orient. On Dec. 18, 1963, my wife, Rita, and I, and our daughter, Mary, then age 7, received two little Chinese girls into our family. What a blessing they have been to us.

	Silver and Gold

Have you ever felt overwhelmed, inadequate and in a sense lost all at the same time? That's how I felt on Dec. 17, 1963, the day before we got our girls. That's the day I drove to DesPlaines, Ill., in a blinding snow storm to a motel where Rita, Mary and my mother and I spent a rather sleepless night anticipating the next day's excitement. We had to be at O'Hare airport by 5:30 a.m. to meet the 6:30 a.m. plane bringing Therese and Bridget.

The plane was late, of course, because of the snow storm. When it finally arrived 10 little children were brought off the plane. Each wore a shipping style tag with a string, and showed the name of the family receiving them. Our two had tags that simply said "WESSING."

We took them to the Travelers'Aid station across from the arrival gate to dress them in warm winter clothes that had been Mary's. That's when we found out how badly Bridget was suffering from malnutrition. At 19 months she couldn't stand. Her legs were like rubber. She could sit up straight, but when she fell over we had to sit her up again, because she didn't have the strength to sit up again by herself.

Therese, who was 3 years old, was much healthier. She was jabbering away in Chinese and at the same time crying her little heart out. A Chinese man, who got off the plane, talked to her and offered her a sucker, but she wouldn't have any of it. We always hear how grandmothers just seem to know what's wrong with children. After lots of crying my mother said, "I think she needs to go to the restroom." When they came back, my mother said, "I didn't think that kid would ever stop going." After that Therese and grandma were best pals.

After dressing them in warm clothing, we went to the airport restaurant and ordered breakfast. Therese ate a piece of toast and drank some milk. Bridget wouldn't eat anything except the jam and jelly in a few of the little packets you find on restaurant tables. They had only sugar water on the flight to O'Hare, and no solid food so they wouldn't get sick.

On the trip home, Therese sat on my mother's lap all the way from O'Hare airport to Fond du Lac, where we dropped mom at her house and continued on to Appleton. Rita didn't have much of a lap to hold Bridget, because she was six months pregnant with our son Mark.

The first thing we did was take our two new family members to our family doctor for physicals. They were in good health, except for Bridget's malnutrition, and all that was needed was plenty of good, healthy food. Their blood tests showed both were very deficient in iron, so he gave us a prescription.

Both grew up to be fine people, each in her own way. Therese graduated from St. Norbert College. She now lives in Irving, Texas, with her husband, Al, and their two children, William and Beth.

Bridget never overcame the affects of her malnutrition, and was always a slow learner. She did graduate from Xavier High School, with lots of special help from a host of wonderful teachers. Bridget died June 18, 2007, at age 45, the victim of a ruptured appendix. She was one of the few that don't have the usual pain.

We miss her very much, but now she is healed of all illnesses and enjoying life in heaven with Jesus. We can rejoice in her accomplishments despite her disabilities. She was determined to do as much as she could to make her life full and as "normal" as possible. We had her for the better part of 45 years and we thank God for the gift she was to each one of us.

(Wessing is a retired editor of The Compass and member of St. Thomas More Parish in Appleton.)