Welcome Juliet!

We met our guide Jessica in the hotel lobby this morning at 8:30am.  After a short drive to the civil affairs office, we were led into a large meeting room with 3 other families that were adopting that morning.  There was a family from Sweden and 2 families from Spain along with us.  We had to fill out the necessary paperwork that stated why we wanted to adopt Juliet, as well as sign many different forms.  About 20 minutes later, the 4 children were brought in.  Juliet was easy to spot as she was the only girl.  The 3 other boys ranged in age from about 18 months to about 9 years old.  They were all adorable and dressed very nice for the special occasion.  The oldest boy was particularly excited when his new parents gave him a Nintendo DS.  They even returned all the things that we sent her in her care package.  You can tell that she enjoyed them because all the picture books and toys seemed well used.  She loves her little bear.

Juliet is just beautiful and healthy!  We was a little unsure when Jessica first handed her to Beth, but she quickly became comfortable with both of us and hasn't stopped babbling or giggling since.  She's extremely ticklish and loves to play peek-a-boo.  She's walking on her own and seems to be fearless (like all other Jakubik kids).  She loved the car ride to the shopping market and everything seemed to be a new experience to her.  She's a very curious girl.  After getting back to the hotel, she was a little cautious entering our room, but now she runs around like she owns it. 

Videos - 10/17/2011

She ate a nice lunch and she's now taking her afternoon nap.  She layed down without crying and we haven't heard a peep out of her the entire time.  We've checked on her a few times and she's sound asleep.

One interesting thing that we found out about her was that she was not abandoned right away as we had thought.  She was actually found when she was about 2 months old at a bus station here in Hangzhou.  We hope to visit that spot so that we can take pictures.  We also found out that we'll be able to visit the orphanage on Friday so we're excited to meet the staff that takes care of these wonderful children.

We feel very blessed to be matched with such a wonderful baby and to bring her in to our family.  Luke and Mia will be so excited.