Day One with Jenna

Jenna is still grieving the loss of her foster family. It’s heartbreaking to hear her cry for “ma” over and over again. She is also teething so she’s extra fussy…she really doesn’t like me putting my fingers in her mouth with oragel either. With that being said, Jenna still doesn’t like us to take her clothes off or change her diaper either…she’s a fighter like someone else we know! We are still strangers to her and we assume by the end of the trip she may actually begin to trust us more like mom and dad rather than mere caretakers. It’s going to take time on her part and patience on ours.

Today we finalized the adoption at the Civil Affairs office and once again, we were first to jump through all the hoops. We met with an official of the Civil Affairs office in Guangxi and she asked us many questions, “Do you agree to adopt this baby? Will you love this baby? Will you never abandon or abuse this baby? Why do you want to adopt from China?” Our guide, Kelly, translated for us and then we had to put our thumbprint on our signatures to make it official. Jenna had to put her footprint to say she agreed to be adopted too. J We paid our various fees and got our official adoption certificate (which we promptly returned to our guide who uses them to apply for passports) and everything was done…she’s officially our baby girl. The orphanage director gave us a local gift and the most precious gift of all, a copy of the note the first parents left with Jenna when she was found and the clothes she was found in. Words cannot adequately express how we feel about this gift.

Also today we received a CD of information from the foster care program that sponsored Jenna’s foster care, Grace and Hope for Children (GHC). There are many pictures and written reports from each of the visits GHC made to the foster family. Here’s a tidbit we are willing to share for now. Jenna was in the care of an older couple, almost a grandparent type of situation, and was doted upon by their adult children. So Jenna is used to being the center of attention and getting what she wants when she wants it. This may be an uphill battle for her to get used to being one of 3 young children in a family that doesn’t totally spoil their kids.

On a side note, Jenna just quietly woke up from her afternoon nap and is just staring at us. We see the wheels turning in her head…I wonder what she is thinking. She is a noisy sleeper, while she slept through the night I woke up many times to hear her talking (grunting) in her sleep. I wonder what she dreams about…

Other than the grieving and constant fussiness Jenna is doing well. We didn’t take many pictures today so we have only posted a few of her foster family. Enjoy. Tomorrow we are off to the countryside to see beautiful Guangxi and will have many pictures from our trip to share then. For now, good night.