Packing Her Things: As a Dad

In seven generations down my father's line, there is only one girl: my cousin. I have a brother. J and I have three sons. Girl stuff is pretty foreign to me.

Last night we spread out our luggage and started to pack her things. We sorted through generous gifts of clothes and picked outfits we think may best suit her during her remaining days in China. Outfits.

For myself, I will bring a couple pairs of shorts and a variety of shirts that will all pretty much go with either pair of shorts. For our daughter, we're bringing "outfits." I can't even imagine getting her into these things. Straps, buttons, clips, snaps. It all seems so complicated.

But it was fun. It was fun sitting in her pink bedroom. It was fun imagining her in these outfits. It was fun seeing J's smile as she arranged everything, trying to figure out what would fit and what would still be too big. There was a sense of amazing joy. We can't believe this is actually happening!

Hi From the Dad

Hi. We're late-comers to this blogging-the-adoption scene. We probably should have started almost two years ago. We didn't. But you'll probably like this better, because we skipped over all the really mundane details of paperwork and waiting. You're joining us when things get really fun and exciting.

Now, we still have a couple of large hurdles (IE, we don't have our visas yet), but aside from that small detail, things are really starting to move. We'll try to keep you up-to-date on all the craziness of the final weeks before we shove off. Then, there's the trip itself.

Last night, we changed our plans and decided to bring along the lap-top. We're doing this partially so we can Skype with the boys while we're gone, partially to better keep you, dear reader, abreast of all the latest happenings in adoption land, and mostly so we can better journal this experience for our daughter to read some day.

J has graciously allowed me to participate in this blog. We'll see how that goes. If I write too much or too often and steal her thunder, she might just ban me. But hopefully you (and our daughter) will appreciate this from both points of view. Welcome and Enjoy!

New Picture!

Today we received a new picture of Hui Hui. (R has yet to call her M as he is sentimental about saying it first to her. :-) ) We hadn't expected to see any more. She's got quite the interesting haircut...nothing a little love can't grow back, though! Still have yet to see any smile...if our boys can't get a smile of her, nothing will! We're bringing lots of treats with us. Her new paperwork says she loves candy. As a great author says, "there's a reason kids love Santa Claus...and it isn't the beard!"

China Here We Come!

Time to get our blog up and running! Yesterday we received the invitation to purchase our airline tickets! We will travel from Hartford to Beijing (with a few stops in between) on September 7th. It now feels real...finally!

R is unable to sleep and I (J) am having trouble concentrating on anything! We keep picturing our little peanut in southern China and wondering if she even knows what is about to happen.

Gotcha Day will be on 9/11. New meaning to a hard day for so many.

The last thing we're waiting on is receiving our visas. Lord, please bring them soon!