Eden Hope, Day 2

This morning we returned to the Civil Affairs Office to continue our paperwork for the adoption. Yesterday we essentially "checked out" Eden on a 24 hour evaluation basis. Today there was a brief interview at the Office and they asked us if we really wanted to adopt Eden after we "reviewed" her for 24 hours. Of course we nodded wildly! Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

Last night Eden slept all the way through the night. She seems to be used to a crib, because she took to it immediately. Today for her nap we laid her in the crib again and she already knows that's the sleeping place. It bears noting that her crib is the most comfortable bed in the hotel--the beds here might as well be quilted concrete they are SO hard.

Okay, now for the tough part. Eden is grieving the loss of her foster mom. This is completely obvious, a little painful to watch, and continued today. Now, today was a little better than yesterday, but she really does understand that someone is missing. Today several times she broke our hearts by walking to the door and pointing and saying, "mama." Sorry, sweety. We wish we could fully explain it to you. All we can do is support you now as you mourn the loss of your foster mom. We love you so much but unfortunately today that's just not enough. Eden has this little look she gives where she furrows her eyebrows and is obviously trying to figure things out. She'll give us great eye contact but I don't think she really thinks of us as mommy and daddy yet. I think the process that the Platt's went through in Kazakhstan where they visited the orphanage every day for two weeks would actually have been better than the "cold turkey" transition we've had--at least better for the baby to ease her into the transition.

The first bath time today was traumatic. We tried the tub last night but she burst into tears when her feet hit the water. Today we got sneaky and took her to the pool first and played a little. She was really scared, so we did not stay long. We can see streaks of bravery in her at play time, but she is so out of her comfort zone right now that anything new she just stands still and processes. Every child loves bubbles, right? Not Eden, at least not yet. We blew some bubbles at the pool and she cried like we were showering her with toxic waste. Oh well, all good things will come in time. I'm really looking forward to giving her some detailed instruction in the finer points of blowing bubbles...

Bath time had to come though and she full-on cried throughout the experience. No, mom, please, not the washcloth! No, no, not the shampoo! Ahhhhhh! What a tragedy! Mommy, you were mean to wash me, how could you!

Eden is crying quite a bit in her grief and we know we haven't seen the full scope of her little personality. We've gotten just a few smiles, and those have been precious and wide-mouthed displays of all 10 of her teeth. Before nap time today she cried in her crib and Keri stayed next to her and prayed over her until she fell asleep. We are seriously falling in love with this little Asian princess. We're just prayefully supporting her through the really big transition right now. It's kind of an odd process because when we grieves we actually don't stop her from crying by saying, "Shhh" or "Don't cry." Instead we let her cry and just rub her and pat her back and say comforting things as she grieves. I'm so grateful for all the preparation we had going into this--it's really helped us to not lose it ourselves in the process.

Oh, almost forgot to mention breakfast and lunch, which were quite the photo-ops. Seems Eden prefers her watermelon by the whole slice. At lunch, she would not give up until we gave her a "big person spoon" and promptly covered her face with mashed potatoes. Thanks to the marvel of digital photography, we'll be able to hold these photos over her head in so many new ways when she grows up. Ah, the joy of being in communications...

And one small note about China. There are NO fortune cookies here. None whatsoever. Seems that is actually an American invention. For the lunch buffet though there was "Duck Neck," "Dried Fish Skin with Chinese Spices" and "Spicy Lamb with Goat Cheese and Noodles." Mmmmm, tasty.

Tomorrow we head to visit Eden's orphanage. We expect this to be a very traumatic time for her. We met with many behavioral specialists before coming to China and all said that this would be a good experience for her--to go back, and then to leave with us. It will help her to process what is happening. Tomorrow we will also visit her "finding place" where she was abandoned in January of 2006. That will be an emotional experience for us too. So we're packing extra Kleenex in Keri's giant personalized diaper bag.

Thanks for your continued prayers and notes--they are so appreciated. We're here in Wuhan until Friday as the Civil Affairs Office processes paperwork and finally presents us with our adoption certificate, and then we head on to Guangzhou to finish up at the American Consulate.