We actually got "THE call" instead of me calling them, on Friday June 24th, 2005! I had been expecting them to wait until Monday to call (I followed the APC list which let me know when referrals were coming in), but was pleasantly surprised, to say the least! The following three pics were the first glimpse we had of our cutie pie! Cute's just not the word!
We found out, through a little investigation on my part, that Luci was assigned to a foster home sponsored by an American adoption agency. I contacted this agency and after we arrived home with her and then sent a copy of our adoption decree, they sent us the following 13 pictures which were taken by her foster family during her stay at their home. She left the orphange after 5 weeks and spent the rest of her wait at the foster home. We are grateful that she spent so little time in the orphanage as an actual home setting is so much more beneficial! We noticed a huge difference between her and Drew. It's as if Drew was forced to "grow up" more quickly in the orphanage. We got a lot of baby out Luci! Our only issue with foster care at this point is that the American agency which sponsored her foster care, now refuses to give us the name of her foster parents, even though it would be a valuable piece to her puzzle! I'd love to send this family some pictures! According to the agency, they have an "agreement" with the Changsha 1st people to not give out such info. I have since found out that families who use their agency to adopt children from China will be given this info freely if their children have been sponsored thru the program. Boils my blood! Hopefully this policy will change in the future and we may still be able to retrieve this information. Only time will tell.
GOTCHA! Drew screamed like a banshee, but Luci was so laid back! She was just curious more than anything. I, on the other hand, was bawling like a baby! She looked very intently at me and the more I cried, the more it looked like she was going to cry, but when I saw that my bawling was freaking her out a bit, I tried to stop! Thankfully, she reacted in kind and was such a happy little tyke!
The hair was hilarious!
Red ink on our thumbs and her foot...makes it a done deal! She is officially ours!
Like her big sister, she loves baths, too!
Both girls are from the same province, so we tried to get copy-cat pictures of a few that we had gotten when we were here for Drew. Below is one of them.
One thing we were able to do this time that we couldn't last time, was find Luci's finding spot. This where her birth family left her to be found. It was in front of a building that handled taxes of some sort. It was located right next to an apartment building. Who knows, maybe her birth family lived there!
Here's the famous Frank I mentioned in my last post. He is definitely one in a million! We miss him and Smile a great deal!
And this is Smile! When we went to adopt Drew, he was looking for a wife. By the time we got there for Luci, he had found her! He showed us his wedding photos and she is quite beautiful! They are both lucky to have each other!
Here we are with Kate and Foster and their daughter Lauren. They are originally from Northern NY like us, but now live in central NY.
Here we are in the Six Banyan Temple in Guangzhou. (Getting out my soapbox) I have heard that some people who are very religious(christian), have had serious problems about adoptive parents getting their children blessed by the Buddhist monks. We had a few families in Luci's travel group who refused to take part in the ceremony, which is all fine and dandy, but when they try to make others feel bad about doing this, then I have a serious problems with that! I am not a religious person but I don't begrudge anyone for whatever they believe in and want to worship...have at it! Just don't shove your beliefs down my throat, thank you. Apparently these families who refused to take part in the ceremony felt "sad" that the rest of us chose to do this and prayed for us later(try to imagine me rolling my eyes here). Personally, I didn't view it as a religious thing, but a way to honor my daughters' heritage. China is, after all, mostly Buddhist, so it makes sense that her birth parents probably were as well. ANYWAY, getting off my soapbox now. If you are a religious person, please remember I am not trying to down your beliefs, I'm just posting an experience. On with the show...
This is a store owner on Shamian Island.
Luci spent most of the flight home in this state of consciousness!
Grandma and Grandpa get their first live look at their newest granddaughter at the Syracuse airport!
