5:00 am

Hi Everyone!

It is 5 am and I am awake, so I thought I would give you a quick up date.  Clara Grace is doing well.  I feel she is a little shut down, but every once in awhile, I get a laugh out of her.

I am concerned about her hearing, and I did not bring my otoscope.  Not that much could be done before we get back to the states.

Right now, she is  definitely a mama's girl, she does not let me far from her sight and she keeps a close eye on Bryon (baba) not letting him get too close.  This too shall pass, Bryon is really being patient but he definitely wants to get some

 of the hugging I am getting without Clara screaming bloody murder. :)

Jian has found his calling... he is an awesome big brother! He's even worked in a little time to play with the locals. 

Thank you al for all of the thoughts and prayers.  So far the process has gone smoothly.  Connie, our guide from BOIT, has been great and, Stefani, I did give her a big hug from you and told her about Lan' s surgery.  

To all the expectant adoptive parents out there... I hope everone's PA and TA's happen soon so you can experience this as well!

Bryon and I will keep updating!

Frances

Gotcha, Clara Grace!

We have a new daughter!

After traveling to the Civil Affairs office in Guangzhou, we first spied our new daughter as the Director and Nanny of the Social Welfare Institute (SWI) came in the front door. They were holding a little, black haired girl in a bright yellow suite... Just a glimpse, but it was enough to see that she is BEAUTIFUL.

After a short wait, we were called to the center of the floor and... there she was... our beautiful daughter... screaming.

It was the most beautiful sound in the world!

And, immediately, Jian was there with a toy bus as an offering. He was not deterred even when Clara Grace pushed his gift aside. Jian rose to the occasion and has shown his innate brotherly ability.

I'll blog more later with more pictures but for now we are exhausted.

Bryon

Gotcha Day

Well, we were up at 5:30am... our meeting with Connie, the person who will introduce us to Claragrace, is scheduled for 11:30am. Our Gotcha TIME is at 3:30pm this afternoon.

We took a walk around the island and excercised with the locals in the park until 7am when we could join the other families with their new adopted youngster in the restaurant for breakfast.

That took a whole hour...

A walk?... nope... it's raining (again)

Back in the hotel room, Francie is "nesting"... re-arranging the room and Clara's stuff for the umpteenth time. I have tried to do a little work writing a script... well... I seem to have some difficulty concentrating.

So.. I blog... I think I play a little guitar or "G-tar" as the locals say.

So long for now

Bryon

Day one in Guangzhou

Well, as promised, I have taken the blogging reins from Frances... so here goes.
We have arrived. The journey was long... VERY long. We had a two hour delay in Tokyo... so four hours in a Japanese airport was somewhat taxing. Jian seemed to fair pretty well, though. He was content to play a matching video game in the children's lounge.

We got to the hotel and crashed! Waking around 2:pm local time. 

We have the day off so we just walked around Shaiman Island. We had "lunch" about 4pm at "Lucy's"... one of the few restaurants with american cuisine. 

Jain and Mama "cheesed it up" a little for the camera.

 We visited the White Swan hotel "our old stomping grounds". 

Jian doesn't seem to remember being there. I guess that's just as well.

We made the pilgrimage to a department store called Carrefour... apparently one of the "Wally world" equivalents in China.

Mama and Jian got a massage at a little booth in the store. Mama was very "impressed"... We bought a unit.

We are to get Clara Grace tomorrow at 2:30pm. We can hardly wait!

Bryon

His world is going to turn upside down!

Our 5 y.o. son does not know what is going to hit him!
He is excited about the trip to China to pick up his sister, but, his little world is about to turn upside down! He has all these people supporting him and waiting for Clara to get here! We are one very fortunate family!
Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers!
Love,
Francie

Counting Down!

We are leaving for China in four sleeps! This is how our 5 yo is counting down the days!
We are so excited! Let the packing begin!

Pictures of Clara Grace's Birthday

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Because we could not be there for her birthday in person, we decided to be their for her birthday in heart and spirit!

The Harvey family and our family sent our girls a joint birthday party. Clara is the my beautiful girl who is wearing the pink birthday crown and Hazel An is the beautiful little girl with the red birthday crown! We all were very pleased with the party and so excited to get pictures! I called my great adoption pal "Jane Harvey" at 0630 in the morning, when I recieved the pictures! It looks like they had some fun! The cake was big enough to allow the other children to party too!

It was wonderful seeing the photos!