8.21.2001 8.22.2001 REFERRAL! 8.23.2001 New Pictures 8.24. 2001 To Austin! 8.27.2001The Other Jin Yi Ling 8.30.2001 Care Package 8.31.2001 Update! 9.06.2001 Travel approval 9.10.2001 Poem 9.11.2001 9.12.2001 Travel booked 9.26.2001 Itinerary 10.03.2001 Departure Day 10.05.2001 Hong Kong 10.07.2001 HK Day 2 10.07.2001 Nanning 10.08.2001 GOTCHA DAY! 10.09.2001 It's official! 10.10.2001 Tourist time 10.11.2001 Green Mountain Park 10.12.2001 Market 10.13.2004 Last Day in Nanning 10.15.2001 Visa Day 10.17.2001 Last Day! 10.19.2001 We're Home! Post or view Messages

We're home! After only 15 days that felt like a lifetime, we're all safe and sound in Zoe's new home! We left Guangzhou on Wednesday, October 17, on an 8:20 flight, making it to Hong Kong in less than an hour. Our connecting flight to Taipei didn't leave until 2:05, so we had a chance to hang around the airport and engage in fun people watching. Zoe had a ball, and even flirted with a young man in the waiting area. This is the first time she really smiled for a total stranger. We made it to Taipei with no problem, and left Taipei for the long flight home at 6:30 p.m. The pilot announced that the flight would be 11 hours, 10 minutes long-- which was shorter than the flight TO Taipei. Zoe did fine on the flight; the first hour was a trial, because she was determined not to sleep and didn't want to be held. We were in a bulkhead row and she wanted to be on the floor playing in that ample room. After the fasten seatbelt sign went off and we could let her down to play, she was fine. EVA Airways has bassinets that attach to the wall in front of the bulkhead seats, and they set it up for her. She didn't much like it, though, because she fit so snugly that she couldn't turn over, and she's a regular whirling dervish when she sleeps. If she can't spin, she can't sleep! We finally made a pallet for her on the floor, and she slept for a good part of the flight. When we landed at the Los Angeles Airport at 3:00 p.m. on the 17th, we had been awake and on the move for 26 hours. Going through immigration and customs was really easy; they took one look at me and Zoe in her baby carrier, and said, "Adoption?" and led us to the right line. We just handed over her documents and then picked up our luggage. By the time we got back with it, they had finished processing her paperwork and stamped her passport. As soon as she passed through immigration, she automatically became a United States citizen! We stayed the night in L.A., though I can't say we actually SLEPT in L.A. Zoe was still on China time, and kept us up until about 4 a.m. We got about 2 hours of sleep before we had to head out for our flight. Still, it was nice to be able to take a shower and get horizontal for a little while at least! The L.A. Airport was the first place I saw the enhanced airport security everyone is talking about. National Guard troops with machine guns, security guards checking ID as we boarded -- this after we had already shown ID when we got our boarding passes and when we passed through the security gates. It didnt delay us in any way, and I was comforted to see the extra precautions. Zoe slept most of the flight from L.A., and we arrived at DFW Airport to a rousing welcome. There must have been 3 dozen people there waiting, including my sister who had flown in from Vermont, arriving an hour before our flight, tons of folks from the Families With Children from China group, and a whole contingent of folks from my work -- they must have shut down the law school for the afternoon! They came armed with signs and banners welcoming Zoe to America. I was really touched that everyone came, and can't wait to show Zoe how excited everyone was to see her when she gets older (I don't think she'll remember much from that day!). She was a little overwhelmed by all the people, but didn't cry -- at least not until we put her in the carseat for the trip home. She screamed for the entire 40 minute ride home, poor thing! She just didn't understand why we wouldn't pick her up. She did much better in the car seat today, and even fell asleep in time-honored baby fashion! She's really doing great! I've heard that the best way to reset the clock and avoid jetlag is to get plenty of sunshine during the day. So we took the jogging stroller to the park. Zoe enjoyed riding in the stroller, but didn't think much of the swing or the slide, and thought even less of the grass on her bare feet! I'm sure it's the first time she felt grass! We visited her doctor today, to check on her rash. She's got several different rashes caused by several different thngs, so the poor thing is really itchy. Remember my saying that another baby from Guiping had scabies, but Zoe didn't? Wrong! Zoe has it, too! We're dousing her with all the lotions the doctor prescribed (Thanks, Dr. Lisa -- and though she screamed when you examined her, it was much less than the first doctor exam in Guangzhou, as hard as that is to believe -- are your ears still ringing?!), and though she hates it, she'll be feeling better soon. Well, this is the official end of the journey to bring Zoe Elisabeth YiLing Seymore home. We really appreciated all of your emails with good wishes while we were gone. And thanks for keeping us apprised of world news -- you were our only source of information of the outside world! I thought the happiest day of my life was when Zoe was handed to me. I think the happiest day, though, was when I put my daughter down to sleep for the first time in her crib, in her room, in our house. We will return one day to China, and will always be grateful to those in China who formed her -- her birthparents, who gave her life and made sure she had a life, and the wonderful folks at the Guiping SWI who cared for her for 11 months and 2 days before we met. Now one adventure has ended, and another begins -- the life-long adventure of watching Zoe learn and grow! This page accessed 679 times