A Young Singer's Olympic-Sized Adventure: Part Two
On a tour of the People’s Republic of China with the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, 14-year-old Gianna Horak finds some of the missing parts of herself in the land of her birth.
Kelsey Menehan
Ever since she was little, Gianna Horak has wondered about where she came from. Each year, on the anniversary of her adoption, she wrote a letter to her Chinese birthparents. Over the years, the letters got longer and more detailed, but almost always she ended by saying, "I miss you."
Her adoptive parents, Mindy Schirn and Chris Horak, encouraged the wondering. They knew that Gianna was really missing a part of herself and that one day they would take her to visit her homeland.
A tour of China with the Los Angeles Children's Chorus in the summer of 2008 seemed to be tailor-made for Gianna. The family made plans to extend their stay so they could travel back to the government orphanage where Gianna had spent the first eight months of her life.
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