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.