With a nod from Ginny Brown-Waite and adoption efforts everywhere, a pair prove that love is thicker than water.
By BETH N. GRAY
Published November 13, 2003
[Times photo: Kevin White]
Hannah Fremer, 8, from left, plays with sister Olivia Fremer, 3, as Susan Fremer pretends to style Olivia's hair with an unplugged curling iron and Art Fremer plays with the family's youngest child, Julianna, 14 months. This fall, the Fremers went to Washington to accept the Angel in Adoption Award.
SPRING HILL - Art Fremer recalls three years ago when a fellow church couple introduced the toddler they had just adopted from China.
"She cuddled right up to me, right in my arm," Fremer said, smiling. "Can we get one just like her?" he asked.
It wasn't just idle talk. Fremer, a detective with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, was serious and so was his wife, Susan. Their adopted daughter, Hannah, then age 5, also liked the idea.
That chance meeting was the start of a long journey that culminated in the addition of two Chinese children, Olivia, 3, and Julianna, 1, to the Fremer family.
This fall the Fremers went to Washington, D.C., to accept the Angel in Adoption Award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption.
Since its inception in 1999, the award has been given to 550 families nationwide as part of a program to raise public awareness of the ways that "committed individuals can help children and families through adoption," according to U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, who nominated the Fremers.
"I believe they are truly angels in everything they do. I am proud to have compassionate, caring people like this in my district," Brown-Waite said in an address on the House floor. "I'm glad we have them in this country. . . . Their cause is admirable, their persistence something of wonder, and their love unparalleled."
Brown-Waite met the Fremers after the couple, frustrated in their dealings with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, sought her assistance to obtain U.S. citizenship for their Chinese adoptees. The papers have not yet been issued, and the Fremers are hoping that Brown-Waite's help produces quick results.
American-born Hannah was adopted through a Florida agency, but the Fremers were drawn to the plight of unwanted Chinese baby girls after they heard the stories of Dan and Tracey Metzger at Calvary Chapel Worship Center in New Port Richey. The Metzgers told of how the Chinese government limits population growth by restricting family size, which leads to the abandonment of female infants.
Snuggling her youngsters as they played tea party on the living room floor, Susan Fremer nodded to Olivia.
"Her mother left her in a roadway where she would be found," she said. "Mothers want them to be found, and a life in the United States is what they want most for them."
The Fremers got in touch with Great Wall China Adoption, with U.S. headquarters in Austin, Texas. The agency and Chinese officials require applicants to have a certain minimum household income, be at least 30 years old, have no criminal history and not be divorced. Each of the China adoptions costs $20,000, which includes documents, travel, hotels, food and other items, Susan Fremer said.
The agency provides a home study program for applicants and requires a trip to China.
"The agency thinks it's important to see the child's history," Susan Fremer said.
On their first trip, the Fremers went to claim Olivia, who was 11 months old and lived with foster mother Cheng Qiuxia, 52, and foster father Yu Chuangzhong, 58, in southern China's Guizhou Province. The Fremers and the foster parents and infant were to meet at the airport in Beijing.
"We didn't know what to expect," Art Fremer said.
Before raising Chinese children, the Fremers first had to learn the language.
"The first word they taught us in Chinese was "potty,' " Susan Fremer said. "Before you go out anywhere (with a child) you have to go potty."
The Fremers spent 15 days on their first trip to China.
"We went a week early to spend time with the foster family," Art said. Now, "they're like her grandparents."
The couples keep in touch and the foster parents ask for photos of their former charges. Julianna was acquired from the same foster couple.
Leaving China after that first trip wasn't easy, Art Fremer said.
"Our hearts were broken seeing how painful it was for (the foster parents) to give her up," he said.
Those foster parents are the real "angels," the couple said. "They are so more deserving of the award, the way they opened up their hearts," Art Fremer said.
In tribute, the Fremers gave Olivia her foster mother's given name as the child's middle name, phonetically pronounced "Chusha." The youngster answers gleefully to both her names. Julianna's middle name is Mei, pronounced "May."
The Fremers are taking Chinese language classes at the University of South Florida's Lutz campus so they can communicate more fluently with their foster family friends.
"I'm learning," added Hannah.
As her dad recalled his adoption adventure, Olivia climbed onto his lap and showed him a mosquito bite. He kissed it.
"That's a big bite, but I kissed it." Olivia seemed pleased and relieved.
Down on the floor, as Julianna played with a toy, her dad asks for a high-five and gets it. Watching the interplay between father and daughter, it's clear why Susan and Art Fremer traveled halfway around the world to adopt their daughters.
"We just wanted children. We just wanted to be parents," said Susan Fremer, who explained that she and her husband were unable to have children naturally.
"They have set a heart for children," said Jan Trego, pastoral care secretary at the 4,000-member Calvary Chapel Worship Center. Trego has come to know the Fremers well.
"They have such a compassion for children and people," Trego said. "They want to do all that they can for these children in both of those cultures.
"How can I describe this family?" Trego continued. "You just feel you're meeting love personified. . . . The love they show is so strong."
