With adopted Guatemalan girl finally home, 'This is where the new journey begins'

With adopted Guatemalan girl finally home, 'This is where the new journey begins'

By ANNA M. TINSLEY 

atinsley@star-telegram.com

D/FW AIRPORT — At long last, Jacki Dudding was able to wrap her arms around both her daughters at the same time.

But only because she and her husband, Mike, were finally able to bring their 20-month-old adopted daughter, Sienna, home from Guatemala on Thursday.

After clearing customs, the Colleyville couple were greeted by about a dozen friends and relatives — and their 3-year-old daughter, Isabella, also adopted from Guatemala — in the international terminal.

Isabella ran to her mom, who — not letting go of Sienna — kneeled to hug her.

Finally home, finally holding both girls, Jacki closed her eyes and cried.

"It is unbelievable," she said, as Isabella reached out to touch Sienna’s hand. "It’s so surreal.

"This has been a long, long time coming."

Emotional journey

Jacki and Mike Dudding began this journey in February 2007, when they decided to adopt a second child from Guatemala.

They had adopted Isabella in 2005, bringing her home when she was 4 months old, and they hoped that the second adoption would go just as smoothly.

So they went back to the Gladney Center for Adoption in Fort Worth and were eventually matched with Sienna.

Then last March, Guatemalan officials froze pending cases to review facts and interview birth mothers because of concerns about fraud and illegal adoptions.

Their case was allowed to proceed only after a hold put on children at the private orphanage where Sienna lived — Semillas de Amor — was lifted by the government.

They visited Sienna several times in Guatemala, each time aching because they had to leave her behind. Mike went to Washington, D.C., to ask congressional and State Department adoption officials to help bring his daughter home.

And Jacki, with the help of Gladney, secured more than $16,000 in donations for the orphanage, which had fallen behind on bills and risked being closed.

"This has been such an emotional roller coaster," said Jett Hampton, Jacki’s sister. "We would think we were almost at the end of the line, then they changed the rules. We’re almost at the end again, and they lose a piece of paper. It kept going on and on."

One last trip

Jacki and Mike flew to Guatemala on March 2 even though they weren’t sure they would be able to return with Sierra.

"We went, thinking if we worked hard to influence people, we’d get to bring her home," Jacki said. "We were nauseated, nervous, just knowing we would get there and nothing would be ready."

But on Tuesday, the paperwork was ready and a Guatemalan judge signed it in front of them. They took a cab to the orphanage and picked up Sienna.

After so many problems, so many delays, they were afraid something would still go wrong.

"It was not until the plane was in the air did we feel it was real," Jacki said. "It’s just now sinking in. To have them both here, you can’t imagine what it’s like."

Mike smiled as he watched his wife hold both girls.

"It feels awesome to be home," he said.

'Gotcha’

March 12 will forever be Sienna’s "gotcha" day — the day her parents finally got her home — just like March 8 is Isabella’s.

These days are celebrated with just as much, if not more, enthusiasm as birthdays, the Duddings say.

Isabella, who ate M&Ms while waiting for her family, enthusiastically showed off her sister to well-wishers.

"That’s my baby," she told some people. "That’s my baby sister," she told others.

She gave Sienna a stuffed bunny and told her that she’ll show her how to pick flowers, hide Easter eggs, even pet puppies.

Onlookers smiled as the two girls sat together in their mother’s lap.

"This has been an amazingly long, complicated, heartbreaking journey," said Jennifer Lanter, the public information officer for Gladney. "But this is where the new journey begins."

ANNA M. TINSLEY, 817-390-7610