Canton author pens memoir of adoption journey

In October of 2004, Robin and Bernie Mendillo of Elm Street took the first step in a journey that would culminate nearly five years later with the adoption of their daughter from China. Bernie Mendillo has chronicled the experience in Bella in America: A Memoir, based on the blog he wrote in China.

Bella and Ben Mendillo

The Mendillos married in 1997. Their son, Ben, was born two years later. The couple wanted Ben, who is now 11, to have a younger sibling and decided to adopt. Bernie has two children, Hollie and Christopher, from his first marriage.

In April of 2009, the Mendillos received an envelope with information about a little girl, whose Chinese name, Zhu Zheng Hong, means Pearl Rainbow. There was a photo in the envelope. After waiting for years, the family had just 24 hours to decide if they were going ahead with the adoption.

“When we got the photo, we just went by that,” Mendillo said. “This is our little girl. That’s all that mattered.”

They named her Bella Dora, which is Italian for Golden Beauty. They liked the name Isabella, which eventually became Bella. “It was a name we had been thinking of if we had a girl,” Mendillo said. Dora was his mother’s name.

In July of 2009, Robin, Bernie and Ben traveled to Beijing with 18 other families from around the United States. A few days after they arrived, they flew to Guangzhou to meet Bella, who was 2 years old, at the orphanage where she was living.

“She was scared, but very calm, very determined,” Mendillo said. “Right away you fell in love with her.”

They spent another two weeks in China, bonding with Bella and seeing the sights, such as the Guangzhou Zoo and the Forbidden City in Beijing. They also heard Bella say her first word in English — Ben. They also went to an American consulate to complete the process for Bella to become a U.S. citizen. It was finalized on the family’s arrival in Newark.

According to her dad, Bella is adjusting to life in Canton very well. “Every parent says this, but she’s very smart,” he said. “She’s picked up English very quickly. She’s very athletic. She attends preschool at the Rodman Center and is having a wonderful time.”

The family has also attended reunions with some of the other families from the trip.

Bernard Mendillo

When they returned from China, a number of people who had been following Mendillo’s blog encouraged him to expand on it. He turned the blog into a book, with a foreword, afterword and plenty of pictures. The cover photo shows Ben and Bella at Scarborough Beach in Rhode Island.

“I thought (the book) would make a nice keepsake for Bella and be good for anyone interested in adoption,” Mendillo said. “We learned a lot, how children are just children.”

Bella in America: A Memoir is available in paperback on amazon.com. For a preview of the book, go to www.mendillo.net/bella.htm.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on May 25 2011. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.