Chloe's first day with the Drake's

I sit at the table in the hotel in Hangzhou, and we have the lights dim in the room; but Chloe is not asleep yet.  It is 9:45pm here and she seems to be just taking things in still.   Not quite ready to turn the page in this book, and neither am I.  Dawn is resting in bed, and I'm typing this while watching Chloe suck her thumb as she switches between gazing at me in the dim room and rolling over in her crib to look at her other surroundings.  The white ceiling, the golden drapes covering the hotel window by her crib, all of our bags that we are living out of for several days.  She is not crying now, although she was pretty fussy about going to bed at first.  Now, she is looking at me with a smile.  She seems to love people, anyone who will stop and talk to her and play.

Today was a living dream, and I say this remembering how long ago we first had thoughts of adoption overseas.  To realize this adoption is a huge milestone for us Drakes. The day consisted of meeting with the orphanage supervisor and one of the caregivers, as well as other Chinese officials who held the adoption ceremony this morning about 9:00am.  Out of the 5 children in the ceremony, Chloe was one of the first two to be carried in.  They called her Chinese name out and asked who the parents were.  As I stood and took Chloe from the caregiver, I cannot describe the feeling.  Almost a Christmas morning feel; but nothing i can describe here.  Not even the same as when Nathan, Samuel, and Anna were born to us.  Those of you who have done this know what i mean.

There is another U.S. couple here with us in Hangzhou that we flew in with from Beijing.  Theyre' from Tulsa.  They adopted a little boy (20 mos.) also with a severe cleft palate.  We still have not found out who helped these kids in the Hangzhou orphanage; but quite a few of them had their lips repaired the same day or week - and by the same organization or doctor.  Whoever it was did a wonderful job.  These little ones can now eat & drink much better.  Chloe and Deacon (the 20 month old boy) both have beautiful smiles.  They will both still need surgeries for cleft palate when back in the states; but we are thankful to have the lips repaired.  If Dawn has not done so yet, we will probably be posting photos of them together later.

In the morning, we go visit the Hangzhou orphanage to close out the final adoption process and make payments.  We also brought gifts to give to the caregivers.  This will be a memorable moment.  We also have been given the location where Chloe was found at 8 days old in the city.  We hope to find it tomorrow and take some photos so she will have that in the future if she ever wants to know.

Much more to write about, but will leave it at that for now.

With much thanks to you all,
dennis