I and my husband Hjalti J.Sveinsson have recently returned from China,swheresour mission was to complete the adoption of a Chinese girl. Native Icelanders, I am 47 and my husband is 49. We both had previous marriages, and children from those unions. I have two children, a girl of 17 and a boy 21 years old; my husband has three, a 26-year-old son and daughters aged 24 and 22.Apart from the youngest, Una, they are all grown up and have more or less left home.

　　Unfortunately Hjalti J.and I have not been able to have a child together. Two years ago we heard that it might be possible for Icelanders to adopt children from China. The two nations were then beginning negotiations on the matter. We were immediately intrigued by the possibility of adopting a Chinese orphan.Why? Because we were deeply interested in China and Chinese culture, even in the landscapes of China that we had seen in pictures. When I was young my father gave me a copy of the Daodejing - a treasure he called it, urging me to read it. I did, and was soon fascinated by the philosophy of Laozi. I believe that I have often been influenced in a very positive way by Taoism, both in my personal life and in my work as a teacher and school principal.

　　My husband feels the same. For his master's degree in literature he wrote a thesis exploring how our most famous writer, Nobel laureate . Halldor Laxness, became interested in Taoism, and how the philosophy is reflected in most of his novels. Over the years we have read a great deal about China, in both literature and non-fictional studies, and we have watched Chinese films.

　　Everything connected with the adoption was very well organized. Two guides from the China Center of Adoption Affairs welcomed us at the Beijing airport and accompanied us throughout our stay. The infant we were given was 13 months old.She is a wonderful child - a born Taoist, I think. She is everything we hoped for. Adopting a child gives you the same feelings in your heart asshavingsa biological child. There is one big difference, though:you visit another country with another culture. You take that whole packagesintosyour life forever.

　　An international adoption affects everyone in the family, not just the two parents. Our biological children now have a Chinese sister and this endows them with a permanent connection to China. In our case this has given them a new perspective. It has made them more open and, we hope, more tolerant of other people and cultures. We feel we are giving them something of immense significance. We now believe that this adoption is something we would by no means have wanted to forgo, even had we been able to have a child of our own. Our eyes have been opened.

　　Both of us have parents who are still alive, all in their seventies.When they first heard we were going to China to adopt a little girl, they thought it would be strange to have a Chinese granddaughter - even my father the Taoist felt this way. But they were not at all negative. They are just people of another generation and in their day would never have dreamt of doing something like that.In part this is a consequence of theirshavingstraveled so much less than we have.But in any case, they gave us their support and now they see that their lives have been enriched as well. Since meeting our new daughter they have had the same feelings for her as for their other grandchildren.

　　Our friends and the friends of our children have all been very supportive. Some of our daughter Una's friends are quite the China fans,shavingsread a lot of Chinese literature, plus all the books by the Chinese-American author Amy Tan.

　　We came back to Iceland a few weeks weeks ago. We live in Akureyri, a town on the north coast of Iceland.However few they may seem by Chinese standards, the15,000 souls who dwell in Akureyri make it one of Iceland's biggest settlements.It is funny to think about the great contrast between China and Iceland - the one so vast, so hot, so crowded, the other so cool (in Akureyri the mean temperature is 10 degrees in July, our warmest month), so small and almost empty.We 280,000 Icelanders are scattered over an island almost exactly the same size as China's Jiangsu province, with its 80 million inhabitants!

　　Our new daughter is now called Johanna Lan. The second name is her Chinese name. She is named Johanna after her father's sister, who died in an accident in France on 8 May 1995. Johanna Lan legally became our daughter on 8 May; my other daughter Una was born on 8 May 1985.

　　A coinci-dence? Think so if you wish. For our part, we are sure that this was meant to be.