Mon, 11/5: Zoe day!!!!

In terms of adoption gotcha days, ours has been the most uneventful ever, so much so, there really isn't much to write about.  At 2pm we met with our guides and the 2 other families with our agency and headed to the Civil Affairs Office.  They told us we would go in, have a seat, and the children would be brought out one at a time and they would tell us when it was our turn.  They said that a total of 20 children were being adopted today so we may wait a bit.  We were only there about 5 minutes when our guides indicated it was our agency's turn.  At first they called another one of the families, but their new daughter's diaper was being changed so they called us and there was Zoe.  She was quickly handed to me by the orphanage person who had brought her and boom, she was ours.

She didn't make a sound just looked at me.  I handed her a pink ball we brought and she took it and then I went back to where I had been sitting before.  She sat in my lap, was looking around but was ok with it all.  As far as she goes, we knew she would be big, but she is huge!  She has the cutest chubby cheeks and is just adorable!

With one of our guides as a translator, German asked the orphanage women some questions, we filled out some paperwork, and after being there about 45 minutes it was time to go back to the hotel.

Zoe fell asleep on my lap on the way, German carried her up to our room, we laid her on the bed, and she has been there deeply asleep for the last 2 hours.  We haven't heard her make any type of sound, haven't seen her walk, and haven't even seen her standing up.  We don't know the last time she ate, or had her diaper changed, or even what type of diaper she is wearing.  We have learned she sucks her left thumb on and off while sleeping, but that is about it.  We sat over her talking, rubbed her arm, etc, but she really seems to be a deep sleeper and as much as I want to get to know her more, I guess right now she just needs sleep, it seems to be her way of coping with all the events of the day (FYI.. we also learned today the only time she has ever left the orphanage before was at 8 months for her adoption medical exam, and she has never worn shoes before today).

So, traveling 3 hours in a car to go be given to people you aren't familiar is a lot to take in and right she wants to sleep, so sleep she will, we have her whole life to get to know our precious new daughter.

Here are some pics from the hotel, I'll post some from the civil affairs office once we download them from the camera (these were from my iphone).