Hi to 5th Grade at St. Mary's

Hi to all at 5th grade! This is Jack. I have got my sister as you can see on this blog, and she is soooooo much fun!!!!!! But we all really know she looooooves to eat snacks. She has only cried once when we got her, but now she is not shy one bit and she is running alllll over the hotel. She also likes to shop. Just letting you know I could not of made it without your supports and blessings. THANK YOU 5th GRADE!!!!!

We are a Family of Four!

Hello all! I did a couple of posts yesterday and found out today they haven't showed up so let me try again.
It been fast and furious since arriving in Shenyang on Sunday afternoon. We flew here from Beijing- about an hour flight so not bad.
Monday was the big day. We met Clare at 9:00 am at Civil Affairs Office here in Shenyang. The orphange director brought her. She was very shy and tentative at first but warmed up after a bit. She immediately took to Jack- calling him guh-guh which is big brother in Chinese. There was lots of paperwork signing and then we came back to the hotel and went to the play room. Jack was such an awesome help. We couldn't have done it without him.
On Tuesday morning we did all kinds of stops to sign furhter paperwork. We had to go to numerous official offices to get things notarized, etc. We were totally clueless as everything was in Chinese. Jack wore shorts and caused quite a stir among the Chines people- they were all stopping and pointing and asking our guide about his shorts. It is the custom here to bundle kids up- and I do mean bundle. When we got Clare back to the hotel yesterday and changed her clothes she had three layers on including a pair of very thick wool long underwear. The high yesterday was probably about 58 or 59 degrees. Seems like she would have been roasting! No wonder everyone was staring at Jack in his shorts.

I am attaching some pictures from yesterday and today. Keep us in your prayers. There is some stress involved in staying at a hotel with a 4 yr. old who does not speak English. Wow, we are quite busy. Thank goodness Jack is here.

We'll post again soon.

Love Lynda, John and Jack and his new little sister Clare.

Touring Beijing

We had a full day of touring Beijing. As you can see from the pictures it was a cold damp, foggy day. Not great for long distance viewing at The Great Wall and also cold! But we still had a great day. Saw the ancient Forbidden City, Tiannamen Square, and climbed part of the Great Wall. We also had lunch out at a Chinese Restaurant and shared many wonderful dishes including Roast Duck.
Tomorrow we fly to Shenyang which is the city where we will stay for 9 days. It is in Northeast China. This is where Clare is and on Monday we will become a family of four. We are both excited and nervous. We are 12 hours ahead so by Monday morning, your time, Clare will be with us. We will post more then.
Lynda & John

Here we go!

It's 11:00 pm and believe it or not I think we're packed. I'm exhausted.

Started the day early(after a night of no sleep) going to Jack's school to pick up his school work to cover while he's gone. Thank you Sr. Marie Bernadette for getting everything ready. And thanks to all the Sisters for your words of encouragement and prayers. It means so much to us.

Well the good news is we're finally leaving. The bad news is that we found out today our flight home was re-arranged by Northwest Airlines and we do not get into Greenvilee until 10:00pm on Saturday April 12. Now it will be 26 hour trip home. Wow that's scary. Sisters AG, MB, JT, and ML please play hard on April 11 that we survive the trip.

Thank you to all. The next post will be from China.

Bon Voyage!

Travel Itinerary

Here are our official travel plans for our trip-

Wed. March 26- Flight leaves Greenville at 9:10 am to Detroit, then to Tokyo, Japan for a 4 hr. layover, then fly to Beijing. Arrive in Beijing at 9:30 pm on March 27. The time is 12 hours ahead so it will be 9:30 am on Thursday EST.

Friday March 28- Temple of Heaven tour in Beijing, lunch at Jai Dai Cun Restaurant, Chinese Acrobat Show in the afternoon.

Saturday March 29-Tour Beijing including Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City.

Sunday March 30- Fly to Shenyang City in the Liaoning Province. Clare's home city.

Monday March 31- This is it! The day we get Clare. Gotcha day.

Tuesday April 1- Complete official adoption paperwork.

Wed. April 2 to Sun April 6- Free days in Shenyang.

Monday April 7- Another paperwork day (hopefully not all day)

Tuesday April 8- Fly to Guangzhou, China. The American Consulate is located here.

Wednesday April 9- Medical exam and visa photos for Clare.

Thursday April 10- American Consulate Appt. at 9:00 am

Friday April 11- Take oath at American Consulate Office and farewell dinner

Saturday April 12- Flight to Home Sweet Home- Arrive in Greenville at 7:10 pm on Sat.
April 12, flight 3729 on NW airlines. It takes 24 hours to fly home
but we go backwards in time zone so we arrive home the same day.

We have travel dates

Finally as of Friday 2/29 we have our plane tickets for our trip to China to bring Clare home.
We are leaving on Wednesday March 26 at 9:10 in the morning and a mere 24 hour later, after a stop in Detroit and Tokyo, Japan we will arrive in Beijing! We will tour Beijing for a few days and on Sunday 3/30 we will fly to Shenyang, China where we will meet Clare on Monday 3/31. It's the Final 4 Championship Game Day- first time in over 20 years John and I will miss the final game! It will be our "Gotcha Day" as they call it in the adoption world.

We'll post further info on our itinerary in China in a day or two. We will post pictures and updates while we're in China on this site so stay tuned!