footprint

The day we were united with Lauren her orphanage gave us all they had of her past, including the care package contents that we sent (the full camera, the answers to questions that I will get translated, the little lamb blanket that she sleeps with and the family photo album we sent her). They gave us the clothes she was wearing when found, a map of Chenzhou with the finding place indicated, a copy of her 'finding ad' and some 'chops' with her Chinese name written in Mandarin Characters.

She was dressed in these oversized woolen clothes and hat. What I find so poignant is that these clothes appear to have been hand made / sewn by someone (probably the split pants and sweater were made for another child as they would swallow her up even now; but the hat may have been made for her). Someone (her birth mother or another relative?) cared enough to dress her warmly and place her in an area where she would be found.

Chop with the Mandarin characters of the Chinese name she was given by her orphanage. It means 'beautiful jade'.

The photos of her are similar to one of her referral photos.

When we were completing all of her official adoption paperwork last week, we had to sign many papers (all in Chinese / Mandarin). On one of them we had to put our thumbs in red ink and place our thumb print over our signatures (we didn't get a copy of that form). Basically, in some of those forms we were making a vow to never abuse or abandon Lauren and that we would care for her as if she were born to us (as that's how China now legally considers it).

Of all the documents, I love this one. Her little right foot was put in red ink and her footprint placed on the document. Sweet little red foot. . . of this precious daughter of ours.

Her footprint was not just stamped on a piece of paper. . . It is stamped into our hearts so beautifully.