Twin sisters in Chattanooga adopt Chinese infants with cleft palates

Rebecca Dean, a first-grader at Grace Baptist Academy, was adopted from China by Donna and Tim Dean in May 2011. The family lives in Lafayette, Ga. Rebecca Dean, a first-grader at Grace Baptist Academy, was adopted from China by Donna and Tim Dean in May 2011. The family lives in Lafayette, Ga.

By Lynda Edwards May 13, 2016 8 min read

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Coming to America: Twin sisters in Chattanooga adopt Chinese infants with cleft palates

Rebecca Dean plays with a stuffed penguin that she bought with library points Monday, May 9, 2016 at Grace Baptist Academy.

Elizabeth Cooke draws Monday, May 9, 2016 at Grace Baptist Academy.

Elizabeth Cooke draws during class at Grace Baptist Academy, where she is in first grade. Born in China, she was adopted by Launa and Terry Cooke of Ringgold, Ga., in November 2010.

Elizabeth Cooke's artwork is on display Monday, May 9, 2016 at Grace Baptist Academy.

Rebecca Dean's artwork is on display Monday, May 9, 2016 at Grace Baptist Academy.

Launa Cooke greets her class as they enter the playground Monday, May 9, 2016 at Grace Baptist Academy.

A bulletin board displays student ideas of how to help an orphan Monday, May 9, 2016 at Grace Baptist Academy.

The Dean family poses for a family photo with their newest member, Elizabeth. From left in blue shirt, 19 year old Covenant College student Zachary, husband Tim, Elizabeth, wife Donna and John Dean, age 16.

Launa Cooke holds daughter, Elizabeth, left, while her twin sister, Donna Dean, holds daughter, Rebecca, in the entry way of Grace Baptist Academy where the two children attend first grade.

Elizabeth and Rebecca frolic in the foyer of Grace Baptist Academy where they attend first grade. The school is decorated with whimsical murals like this garden looming over a grass green floor. Elizabeth loves math and the movie Frozen. Rebecca enjoys art and music.

Elizabeth Cooke, age 7, is as pretty as the spring crocuses she loves to draw. Her adoptive mother Launa Cooke describes her as an “uncut diamond that other parents couldn’t see because they kept grabbing shiny gems around her,” carrying away topazes, amethysts and opals that sparkled but were not as rare or dazzling as Elizabeth.

Looking at Elizabeth now in her crisp white shirt and tidy school uniform, it’s hard to comprehend what Launa and her husband, Terry, saw when she first held the little Chinese girl who had been so ignored because she had a cleft palate.

“Her teeth and gums were black from blood and caked-on debris; it looked as if no one had ever cleaned her teeth properly,” Launa remembers, her heart clearly still aching for that baby from the past. “The orphanage staff said, ‘We do not have time to brush teeth.'”

Rebecca Dean, who also was born with a cleft palate, was living with foster parents, not in an orphanage, when Donna Dean, Launa’s twin sister, and her husband, Tim, first saw the adoption agency photo of the then two-year-old. During the only time Chinese officials allowed the Deans and the foster family to meet, the foster mother gave them a photo of Rebecca as a gift.

“On the plane taking us home, I found a little pocket hidden behind the photo and the foster mother had slipped a photo of herself inside, so I know she must have really cared for Rebecca,” Donna says. “And Rebecca did ask in Mandarin where her foster mother was.