NATCHEZ — Soft green grass creeps between little toes. It pokes a bit, maybe even tickles.

And when that grass is a world away from home, it’s OK to freak out the first time you touch it.

So, that’s just what 2-year-old Lucy did when her brand new mom and dad let her loose on their lawn.

You see, in a country where thousands live on the same city block, you don’t walk barefoot on grass. There isn’t any grass.

But, grass aside, America hasn’t been as much of a culture shock for the Chinese toddler as her adoptive parents Brandt and Erica Dick and their 8-year-old son Zachary had heard it would be.

“They say children are like sponges and she truly is,” Erica said. “She’s pretty much just grasped everything amazingly fast.”

Lucy came to America just over a month ago, but don’t tell her dad that.

“It’s like she’s been part of the family forever,” Brandt said. “It’s been easier than we had any right to expect it to be.”

While Lucy quickly latched onto Brandt — who is curate at Trinity Episcopal Church and chaplain at Trinity Episcopal Day School — it took her a little longer to get used to her mother.

“For the first three days she wanted nothing to do with me,” Erica said.

Lucy finally let Erica paint her toenails, and they really connected in that moment, Erica said.

“After that she’s just been momma’s little girl. It was just like a light switched on that third day,” Erica said.

For the Dick family, adoption became the best option, since they couldn’t have anymore biological children for medical reasons.

For Lucy, adoption was the only hope.

Lucy Claire, named Fu Ni Hua in China, was found abandoned outside an orphanage in Fuzhou City when she was only a few days old.

She is an albino — a genetic disorder characterized by a lack of pigment, which creates pale skin, lighter than normal hair and vision problems — and was likely abandoned because of that.

She ended up in the care of the Chinese Children Adoption International program.

CCAI’s Web site says it is common for children with “physical handicaps” to be abandoned, mostly because the Chinese government only allows each family to have one child.

The Dicks also said that many of the special needs children come from rural areas, and parents cannot have albino children that cannot work in the fields due to the sun.

“I’m sure it’s a hard decision for the family, but they have to have healthy offspring,” Brandt said.

However, Lucy has blue eyes, blonde hair and no major vision problems, the Dicks said.

“A lot of people wouldn’t know she has albinism,” Brandt said. “They just wonder why we have a blonde Chinese kid.”

Many children who live in orphanages are developmentally behind, Erica said. But Lucy is pretty much on target in all aspects, Erica said.

Adopting a child, especially a special needs child from China, takes a lot of time and work, the Dicks said. They have several thick binders of paperwork, or a paper pregnancy, Erica said.

Their effort started two years ago. They were finally “booked into China” on Dec. 31, 2006.

They got a call around Easter saying they could adopt Lucy, but they had very little time to decide.

“We read it and we pretty much knew that she was ours,” Erica said.

“We were given 24 hours to make a decision and turn in more paperwork. We had 24 hours to learn everything we could about albinism.”

Their trip to China to pick up Lucy was also a bit of a culture shock, but went well, they said.

“It was different because the smallest city we went to had two million people,” Brandt said.

The adoption agency was also a big help during the trip, they said. Their contact with CCAI stayed in the hotel with them and would go to dinner with them, just to help order.

“Every once in a while we’d be craving McDonalds,” Brandt said.

Lucy will grow up with McDonald’s. But she won’t forget where she came from.

The Dicks said they have no intention of completely Americanizing Lucy, and they want to keep her in touch with her Chinese roots, something CCAI stresses.

“We’ll always let her know she came from China,” Erica said. “We want her to be proud of where she came from.”

The Dicks have gotten in touch with other parents who adopted Chinese children, including the Central Mississippi Cultural School. This group, based in Jackson, holds celebrations for the Chinese New Year and Autumn Moon Festival.

“To us, we’ll always be indebted to China for sharing her with us,” Erica said. “It’s so worth it in the end.