One Year - Happy Anniversary Lucy!

It's hard to believe that it has been a year - and then it's easy to believe that another year has gone by. Today, July 2, is the one year anniversary of Lucy's adoption in China. It was a hot, amazingly sticky day in Fuzhou, not too far off what it feels like in Seattle today - and we had been preparing most of the day after travelling to Fuzhou from Beijing with the two other couples who were meeting their children - Scott & Chris, and Travis & Michelle. After days swealtering in Beijing and wondering if we'd ever see blue sky again, we set off for Fuzhou.

The actual getting ready to meet the kids was a funky affair. Far too much running back and forth as we learned they had forgotten to have us copy this document, or bring two copies of another document, to prepare this cash or that voucher, this form to have ready - and then getting it all pulled together. After a few false starts to actually walking into the conference room where we would meet the kids, in we went. We were joined by Lynn, who was meeting her older son who is from Lucy's orphanage.

As we sat and waited we tried to get ready - food out, toys out, cameras ready or not ready... And then SLOWLY the kids started to arrive. Malone literally RAN into the room to meet his mom Lynn and his new sisters. By the time we figured that he was there, I was able to see Lucy coming into the room with the Director of her orphanage. She was so small - smaller than a 27 month old should have been, quite frankly. They handed her to me, and she was so light - and to my suprise, in no diaper at all. We got to know each other with cheerios and toys. She would not take off the little backpack that she had arrived with, and in holding her I knew I would have to shop for new clothes - the ones I brought would be way too big. (Note: she is just starting to fit into those clothes this week!)

After about 15 minutes, Shen arrived for Travis & Michelle. Not to be outdone by good behavior in Lucy, Shen came into the family with a BANG! Yelling, screaming, and crying - poor guy! He was not sure about this new mama and baba and wanted all of us to know. Lucy, for her part, just wondered what the fuss was about. Shen wanted nothing to do with baba, and sat on mama's lap screaming. None of the balls, stickers, cars would suffice to distract him. Thankfully - there were bubbles - which proved to be a GREAT distractor.

By the time he settled down, Jade arrived for Chris and Scott. Not sure if she should scream, she settled for something in between - tears and unhappiness for sure, but not the raw emotion shared by Shen. She settled in with either her mama or baba, and I think immediately realized that here were folks who could worship her!

A year later, Lucy is finally the size of the child I was anticipating getting last year. She is only a few months older than what I thought she would have been. After returning to the states, bone scans confirmed my belief - that she was considerably younger than her paperwork stated - anywhere from 6-10 months younger. During this past year I have legally changed Lucy's birthdate by 4 months - taking the 8 month average for how much younger she was, and splitting the difference, just in case there is a mistake. However, each day in watching her developmentally I believe that she is probably about 8-10 months younger than the 27 months she was supposed to be, which would have put her at 17-19 months old when I got her. Hopefully she will like the new birthday, and not fret too much that I changed one important piece of who she was and her story from China.

Lucy has come a long way in the past year, and still has quite a journey. She is one of the most spirited and smart, independant and daring little girls I know. She loves her big sisters, and copies them far too often. She is very healthy thanks to surgeons in China who repaired her heart, and loves to laugh. Happy Adoption Day, Lucy!