I jumped the fence...shh, my husband doesn't know!

I have two beautiful daughters. Twins, in fact. They were born in Anhui Province in China. We get asked a lot if we asked for twins during the adoption province. We did not. In fact, we said we were willing to adopt a boy or girl or twins. We were open for anything, and it's a good thing, because anytime twins come into the picture, you had better be open for anything!

My husband and I are caucasian. His parents are from Wisconsin, and he has kind of strawberry blonde/light auburn hair and green eyes, and a double dose of freckles. I have medium brown hair (at least, that's what color I grew up with) and dark brown eyes, and a very fair complexion (most of my ancestors are from the United Kingdom). Our children are, as you might guess based on their birth place, asian. They have dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. Their facial features are distictively asian.

When we were in Hefei (the capital of Anhui), a young chinese woman came up to me as I was holding one of the girls. She asked, "Are you her mother?" "Yes," I replied. "Where is her father?" I pointed at my husband. "Oh," she said, walking off, "I thought she was Chinese!"

I thought it was a cute story, but didn't really think much of the comment. China is a very big place, and perhaps they do not know how frequently Americans adopt from China. However, I get asked this question in the States! Yes, really! Most frequently people, after my husband and I, ask if we adopted our girls. Not only is that a rude question (how is it their business), but DUH, don't you think it's obvious?

My friend suggested instead that I say, "I jumped the fence. Shhh! My husband doesn't know! Thanks for bringing it up!" But I'm afraid that the questioner might believe me, and soon the girls will be old enough to ask me what that means. I don't EVEN want to go there.