Tuesday July 14, 2009

Today we woke up feeling a bit lighter than the day before. Turns out adoption day is joyful but wrought with emotion. I was physically exhausted the night before, and when Sidney fell asleep at 7pm, as her schedule from the orphanage listed, I followed suit. We woke up the next day to a scared and confused little girl. As is the norm for children in this situation, she kind of looked at us like we were aliens but did not cry. She let me hold her to take a bottle, as she did the day before and made instant eye contact. This is a positive attachment sign for a child who spent all of her 15 months on earth in an orphanage.
We made our way to the breakfast buffet in our hotel, and she ate well. I worried that the environment might be too over stimulating for her, but she seemed content with us. There was not much time to think about all of this, because we were leaving for the civil affairs office. This is the same location we met Sidney for the first time. We signed a temporary guardianship agreement for the first night and officially signed off on this day.

We were unaware that the same people who delivered the children showed up again the next day. I later found out this information, because they must be available to transport the children back to the orphanage should the parent decide differently about the child overnight. This was heartbreaking to think about, but I was so happy that Sidney, and all the children in our group were with their forever families the day before and when signing off on the children.

We were shuffled through an appointment with a notary, to pay our orphanage donation and fees, and finally to meet with an official for an interview. The man interviewing Tom and I had a kind face, and I AGAIN cried when he asked us to verify we will never hurt or abandon Sidney. One could tell by the expression on his face that he was truly happy this group of kids had found their forever families.
The remainder of the day and week was spent with much time in our hotel. This was for multiple reasons but most importantly to work on the process of bonding between parents and kids. In this hotel room, on the other side of the earth, I have some of my fondest memories of Sidney opening up bit by bit. Again, we picked her up on Monday, and by Tuesday afternoon, after we signed off, she gave us her first smile in the evening. While climbing around on Mommy and while mommy had all too much fun, she cracked a small smile. Progress!