The Adventure Begins!!

Ready to Go! What a team! Traveling with all the family and our nephew

It feels similar to being perched on the top of the highest roller coaster ever imagined, after months of climbing (sometimes straight uphill!) on the laid out track. Then, when finally at the top, balancing at that crucial tipping point before careening downhill (picture the stomach dropping point just over the hump) around many twists and turns, thrilling all the senses, screaming WHEE and AAHHH and YAY, before jolting to the bottom and saying WOW that was fun!!

So we've climbed up, made it through all the paper-chasing and dossier hoops and through the 30+ hours of door to door travel from our house to China. Now we have crested the top and are on the way down, enjoying every minute! Today is a rest day (2/14) where we gather ourselves together, settle in the hotel and get familiar with our surroundings. Tomorrow will be the big day (2/15). We will meet Sam at 3:30 AM EST time (2:30pm China time). He will be brought from Shantou by Director Guo, travelling about 6 hours by bus. He is well prepared and excited to meet us.

Our last chat on Thursday morning. Sam's cheeks must hurt!

We have had many opportunities to communicate with him over WeChat the last few months. He has seen our home, our pets, our backyard, his room, the refrigerator, all the things that would seem so unfamiliar have been experienced through the Ipad! He has even seen Daddy and Mary Alice get into the car, back out of the garage and leave for work and school several mornings. We have shown him the changing fall leaves and the snow (sparse as it has been this season)! We have carved pumpkins together, drawn turkeys with our hands, sang songs in Chinese & English. We have met his nannies, friends and teacher. We are so fortunate to be able to spend this quality time with him. It is not common at all to have this much contact prior to adoption and we are so thankful and appreciate everyone's effort that has allowed us to develop this deep connection to each other.

Making a turkey together on Thanksgiving

Baba's Turkey

Mama's Turkey

Our Wonderful Friend's Mui & Portia, giving our gifts to Sam!

Sam & a Friend--- who still needs a family, making Glutinous Rice Balls!

Sam's Chinese Name

Added Sam to the Mural in his room!

The backstory is that we got to know Sam because I was chairing the annual PTA fundraiser for Megan & Shanna's school. I chose Love Without Boundaries for the charity. We wanted to sponsor a child for an adoption grant. I asked LWB for a recommendation for a child from Shantou, Shanna's orphanage. Sam was the immediate suggestion as LWB had known him since 2007 and they thought him to be a very smart, sweet boy who had been on the waiting list a long time. Before we had a chance to run the fundraiser, he was matched with a family, so we switched the focus to his foster brother. We continued to follow along with him and when his adoption was not completed, our hearts broke for him and the family. After discussing it for several weeks; realizing that we had the experience and circumstances to do it, we decided that we would adopt him.

And here is the best part of the story.... Shanna and Sam were brother and sister at Shantou together when they were younger! Here are some photos of them. In the first photo, Sam is in the yellow shirt on the nanny's lap. Shanna is in the front right, sharing candy that we sent her in a care package. In the second Sam, bottom left; Shanna, right.

June 2010

Maybe December 2010 right before adopting Shanna

A month or so ago, I reached out to the mother that had previously come to China to adopt him. We had a good long talk about her experience there. For deeply personal reasons, the match between them was not right and she knew it with her whole being, so they decided not to continue. I completely admire and support the courage that it took for this family to recognize this and make such a painful choice. Their choice to let him go set in motion the circumstances that we were able to find him, and we are a perfect fit for each other. Our deepest thanks to them.

I took my special necklace which previously had 4 children, to a custom jeweler and he did a beautiful job adding our 5th (and final) child!

Happy to have my "expanded" necklace back

Our Family

Everyone is so independent---I'm walking alone!

De-icing the plane

The screen was stuck on 7 hours and 40 minutes left to destination, making us all a little crazy!

Somewhere over China

Bunny loves going to China!

Our Guide Elvin. Sooooo glad to see him at 10pm China time, 28 hours into our travels!

Guangzhou Airport

Expectant Parents on Valentine's Day!!

Expectant Sister

Expectant Sister

And my sweet girl, Whisper, staring at the door at her nanny's house, waiting for our return. XO We'll be back soon!