November 14, 2005 7th day in China
It’s Official – She’s Ours!
NANCHANG, JIANGXI PROVINCE - It’s official. She’s ours forever. We went to the Civil Affairs office today and were interviewed by the registrar about why we wanted to adopt her. We then went to the Notary for Jiangxi province and were asked if we were satisfied with her. We promised never to abandon her and it all became official with signatures, stamps and red seals. We still have to complete the American portion of the adoption, which will be next week. We must remain in Nanchang until Friday so we can pick up her passport from the local police station. As far as China is concerned as of today, she is 100% ours and we could not be happier.
Lilyanne finally went to sleep last night. I walked her and held her until she just couldn’t keep her eyes opened. She was exhausted but fought it for a while. While she slept, I jotted down some more notes about “Gotcha Day”. According to her nanny, her nickname was Jia Jia (pronounced Ja Ja), so when she’s upset we say Jia Jia. We will slowly convert to Lilyanne. She appears to be in very good health. She grasps things very well. She’s able to stand with support and she’s very alert. To comfort herself, she will suck on two of her little fingers – her index and middle finger. When she’s trying to sleep she will put those little fingers in her mouth. She smiles very often. She was obviously well taken care of by her foster family and I’m sure she misses them. The orphanage director said she was spoiled by them, which makes us very happy. It will make it easier in many ways for us that she had such a strong attachment to them.
We found out today that Lilyanne’s foster family had returned her to the orphanage just yesterday - the same day she made the long trek from Tonggu to us. We are surprised she wasn’t even more upset than she was yesterday. We also found out that another little girl adopted by a family in our group was in the same foster care family as Lilyanne. Both of our girls seem to be doing really well.
A few months ago we sent a care package to Lily at the orphanage. It included gifts for her foster family, a panda and a disposable camera. We received the camera back yesterday. We can’t wait to get it developed. I may try to develop it while we are in China so there’s no risk of damage through airport x-ray machines. It will be a bit of information regarding her life before she came to us and one day it will no doubt be very dear to her.
Yesterday, it was very muggy and hot. Apparently, a cold front moved through this morning and it is very cold – winter coat cold – with high winds and blowing rain. Not a day for exploring. We are all three snuggled up in our room with hot tea and warm bottles and no plans to go elsewhere tonight.
