Official Adoption Day - April 5th

Today was another very important day. We had to go to the Civil Affairs office where each family was interviewed privately. They asked us if we were adopting voluntarily and then they asked us if we promise never to abandon, abuse or neglect Chloe. They also asked us the purpose of our adoption. After responding overwhelmingly positively, we then left to the next location where a formal ceremony was conducted to finalize the adoptions. At the end of the ceremony, each family exchanged gifts with the orphanage director and we were allowed to ask more questions about our individual daughters. Chloe's orphanage representative came over to us and began addressing Chloe in very endearing terms. We could tell that she was fond of her.

Later in the day we took Chloe to a very old Chinese doctor...what an experience! He diagnosed her as having Bronchitis and prescribed three medicines, including antibiotics. These medicines are the most foul-smelling concoctions imaginable. I think the one intended to be cough suppressant smelled like Hickory Smoke, and that was the good one. I have scrubbed my hands several times and I still cannot get that odor off my hands. Just imagine how fun it is trying to bond with an adorable baby and then trying to force three doses of this stuff down her throat twice a day. I think she blames Pete (he helped hold her down) and now she is scared of him. It is going to take a little while for her to warm up to him. They warned us that our daughter would attach to one of us first and reject the other. In our case, Chloe is attaching to Mom first.