Sera's Smile

I can't even begin to put into words how amazing this day has been for both Jim and me. It seemed to take forever for 3:30 to get here. At 3:06, I grabbed my backpack, Jim grabbed the rolling small suitcase and we headed out the door. We knew we were walking to the Civil Affairs office, so we stashed our gift bags in the suitcase to make it easier. We ended up only needing four gifts today. We'll need two more for our guides, but I bought enough for 12 gifts. I wasn't lugging that stuff back around the world. We added it to the nanny's gift bags.

Even though we were early, we weren't the first family in the lobby. The nervous chatter started as we waited to go. Each family paired up with another to pass our cameras and take pictures. We posed for one last group shot and headed out the door.

The Civil Affairs office is literally across the street. Not one of those crazy four-lane nightmares where you risk your life, but a narrow, brick-paved street used primarily by taxis coming to our hotel. As we rode up the elevator to the 14th floor, Tracy, our coordinator, mentioned to me how surprised she was that other families were there because she thought we had the only appointment that day. She also mentioned that this was her first visit as these were new offices. They are beautiful.


We entered a large waiting area with chairs that were directly in front of the official's work station. In a small room to the right, we could see the nannies and the babies. Some were being held, and some were in walkers.

We rushed to get the camera for the first family as we were supposed to take their pictures. Jim did the video, while I took digital photos. It seemed like seconds before the second family was called and then the third. Jim and I hurried to trade cameras as we were next.


The next few minutes happened so quickly. We walked up, and they handed Sera to us. She looked so serious and dour. She just watched taking everything in, then the baby next to us started crying. Sera thought that was a good idea, too. We moved out of the way to give the other families more room. Jim and I traded back and forth as we walked around the room. Sera calmed down and just started watching everything again. Jim noticed that her crying had made her nose run. He got some tissue from the diaper bag and wiped her nose. BIG mistake. That started the next crying jag.

All the babies were dressed in extremely heavy snow suits and the cutest red shoes. Underneath they had on a white shirt with red polka dots and matching split pants. The room was so warm the babies were radiating heat.

We continued to wait for things to wrap up. We learned that Sera is a snuggler. She likes to lay her face against yours when she's upset or burrow her face in your shoulder. We got a chance to ask the nannies some questions. One I asked is what they did to soothe her when she was upset. They pointed to her snuggling against my face and nodded in approval. Apparently that is what soothed her.


After another nose wiping and another crying jag, we had our official family photo taken. We then waited our turn to visit the police official's window. He had to compare Sera to her photo to make sure we had the right baby. Then we waited for our turn to place our thumbprints on the adoption papers.

Finally, we paid our fees to our coordinator who would run them to the bank, separated our gifts into the appropriate piles and headed back across the street to our hotel.


In the hotel, we removed the outer garment. After a few minutes of observing us and the room, we propped her on the bed with some pillows and showed her some toys. She was indifferent at first, but soon warmed up to them. Within 45 minutes of returning to the room and with Daddy's full attention....


...we saw Sera's smile for the first time.