Bags Update

The gate agent gave me new receipts for the luggage.  They have been found, he said, and safely on the plane.

Next stop Seoul!

The Journey Begins

We have been meticulously planning this trip for the past year.  Last night at ten pm we were notified that American had canceled our 7 am flight to LA which is why I can not stand legacy airlines.

I was still awake in spite of a 4 am departure from home.

I immediately called American and a woman could not have been more service oriented and we rescheduled for a 555 am flight to Phoenix and then on to LA.

However they rewrote our ticket in such a way our bags could only be checked to Seoul Korea.

The young woman at Korean Air, April Joe, could not have been more helpful and they will track down our luggage and retag it to Beijing.  We will find out how successful they were at the gate as we our now eating lunch inside the International Terminal.

This is international travel and worth it.

Maddy is being Maddy and Alaine is being Alaine.  Both are great to travel with.

Neither has verbalized their emotions but both seem very excited.  We have a flight to Seoul and then on to Beijing with a short layover in Seoul.

I am not sure how much I can post in China but I will try.

We shall return

It has been 7 years since we got Madelyn and now we are returning to China so Alaine and Madelyn can experience their birth country.

I would like to update this blog so I am posting today from Broomfield as a test.

I will post some more before we leave on Saturday morning.

The truth be told!

It has been one month since "gotcha day" which seemed the appropriate day to update the blog. The girls are playing wonderfully upstairs right now, but on Tuesday we suspect that Alaine let just a little bit of the truth out.

Neither child was feeling that well on Tuesday and because Mom and Madelyn went downtown for lunch (skipping the much needed long nap) everyone was tired. Feeling just a bit crabby, Madelyn punched Alaine a couple times in the eye. Alaine feelings were hurt and, in my opinion, felt that things were just a little bit unfair.

After Madelyn went to bed, Alaine confided in her mom and me that she knew we really wanted a little sister for her, but if the truth be told, she never really did. She just didn't want to tell us, but now she had to.

We are pleased to report that all is well this morning. Both girls have or are getting over colds but are playing together as mentioned.

Marnie and Courtney had planned to come to Denver today, but unfortunately the weather in the East Coast denied us the chance. While Marnie was on the tarmac at JFK (Jetblue) for an hour or so yesterday she was not as unlucky as the passengers that were kept on a plane for eight hours. I simply prayed that they be kept safe. I am very sad they will not see there sister but both plan to come out in May. Picture to follow.

We are home!!

Yesterday at 8am San Francisco time, Madelyn became a US Citizen. Part of the process includes receiving a brown envelope from the US Consulate in Guangzhou which you are instructed fourteen times not to open as it is to be delivered unopen to the Immigration Officials at your first point of entry, San Francisco. Which is exactly what we did yesterday at 8AM. After Madelyn was allowed immigration into the US she became a US Citizen with all of the rights and responsibilities. It took two years but we made it.

As to be expected Carleen and I were awake at 4AM. Both of us are finding it difficult to find the words to say how happy we are today. Obviously, having Madelyn home is a relief. Having her home, healthy, safe and sound is huge. At 7:15 she is still asleep.

Madelyn was a doll on the plane and only protested a couple of times. We had an "infant lap" seat for her, so she spent twenty four hours in my arms. While that may seem like a burden to many, it was pure heaven for me. Suffice it to say Madelyn and I bonded over the two weeks. I still cherish the two weeks I spent with Alaine in China. Wow!

I did want to add a couple of comments as I close out the China part of this adventure:

This time I actually net Madelyn's foster mom and grandmother. I think Madelyn will appreciate that some day. During my discussions with them we found out that Madelyn had a "foster sister" for the past year, one day older than her. She was adopted last week as well. As irony would have it we met the new parents and Maya (?), who live in upstate New York. We actually saw them twice. Neither time did Madelyn acknowledge Maya's existence which may be explained by the profiles both parents were given which stated that Maya liked to pull Madelyn's hair, see my first blog.

Second, this is my fifth trip to China, eighth to Asia. Every time I get home I have the same impression which is that the Chinese are smart, hard working people who love their children and want the same things just like us. Growing up in the US you believe that this is the center of the World and perhaps the Universe. That may be true now, but wait twenty years.

Please forgive the typos, which I will attribute to jet lag and Chinese computers. I plan to update from time to time as we see the next chapters in this wonderful book of life.

Pictures

The above is Travel Group 1108 which spent two weeks together traveling throughout China, bonding with their babies and making life time friends.

The picture on the left is at the Nanning Airport showing our family group along with our wonderful guides, Michael and Belinda. Michael was our guide when picked up Alaine as well.

More pictures to follow.

The Physical

A quick update. The US Consulate requires all of the adoptees to have a physical, so it was Madelyn's turn at 4 yesterday. Seven girls were to get their exams at the same time. There are three stations, one for weight, height and temperature, ENT and then a full body exam. We weren't even inside the room for station number one (ENT for us) and she was screaming. This time she was mad and wasn't going to put up with it. But once again I have thirty years of training. By the time we were through station three Jason, our CCAI rep, didn't say we were finished but "you can go now". The room let out a collective sigh when we left.

But we heard today that all of our paper work is in order and we will get her visa at after her "oath" tomorrow at 4. Yippee!

We are having a quiet day today waiting for the Consulate to finish our paper work. Grandma, grandpa, mom, Alaine and baby are all doing great after a somewhat exhausting day yesterday.

We are told that Denver weather will be much improved on Thursday, so it would appear we are headed home.

The White Swan is great but, just like last week, it gets old. We are lucky that we have an adjoining room with Grandma and Grandpa so Madelyn can go to sleep while we unwind and, last night, after Alaine does a spectacular show. We are also then able to watch the incredible light show up and down the Pearl River each night. I haven't seen anything quite like it outside of Disneyland.

Fairwell for now.

Pictures on Thursday.