Mrs. Nie Hui Zhen

All is still up in the air with whether or not we will be staying in our present house or moving. However, I am attempting to arrange my addled brain to think about purging all of the unnecessary things we've collected over the years, and to try to formulate some sort of packing strategy.

Last night, I was putting scattered photographs away, and paused for a bit to look through the box of pictures I'd taken while in China. Nearly nine years later, I can remember nearly every aspect of the journey to adopt Jennifer.

In the box were two very special pictures, given to me by Mrs. Nie Hui Zhen. Mrs. Nie was the director of the Yongfeng Social Welfare Institute, where Jennifer spent 10 months of her life.

I met Mrs. Nie in the hall of the Lake View Hotel in Nanchang. My mother and I had traveled to Nanchang with 15 other families. I was the first in our group of waiting parents to receive my daughter.

Mrs. Nie, with the help of a translator, answered my many questions about Jennifer's early life. The next morning, she spoke directly to the officials at the Jiangxi Civil Affairs office, and Jen's adoption was the first one finalized that day.

Later that afternoon, before she returned to Yongfeng City, she stopped by our hotel room and handed me several pictures of Jennifer that had been taken in the early months of her life. She lifted Jennifer out of her crib for a final hug, then walked out of the hotel room and our lives forever.

I remember tearing up as she held Jennifer for the last time. Here was a child that she had told me had been very special to her. She had traveled with Jennifer by train to Nanchang, handed her over to a perfect stranger, and would return to the orphanage without her.

I was blessed with a bright, healthy, loving baby. I am sure that Jen's happy disposition was in part from the love she received in the brief time she was cared for by Mrs. Nie. Many times, in the years that have passed, I have thought often of Mrs. Nie, and hope life has been good to her.

In thinking of her yesterday and today, it seems only fitting to share a bit about her here...a woman who touched my life forever, if only for a moment.

(The pictures above are not from my personal collection. They were generously posted on another website by an adoptive mother whose daughter also came from the same orphanage.)