12 hours left

Well Morgan and I are here at the computer not able to sleep. She just came up to me and said that she didn't think she would be able to sleep tonight either. Poor Joe is upstairs in bed withe the stomach flu, perfect timing... We've got less than 12 hours left before we leave for the 20 + hour journey to Beijing. We leave on Wednesday the 26th and get there on Thursday night the 27th, crazy! Our first full day in China will be spent adjusting to the time and culture change and touring the Great Wall of China and the Hutongs. We also plan on going by the Olympic Stadium area. Then we have to wait until Sunday to actually meet Claire. We will wait patiently:-) --- Melissa

Morgan says: Hi to all my family and friends. I am so excited to be going to China and I will bring back souvenirs for all of you :-) . And I am gonna miss you all. It stinks that dad doesn't feel too good. But I think he is feeling a little better. Anyway I can't fall asleep but daddy fell asleep 2 hours ago.
Me and mom are all ready to go. But the thing that stinks is I'm going to miss some birthdays.
I hope you have wonderful birthdays though. Morgan

First Post - 9 days left

OK, now we're down to the 9 days or less countdown before we leave for China. We started the International adoption process almost 2 years ago in April 2006. In December 2007 we found out who our daughter was in China and now we leave very soon to meet her. I can't believe how long we've waited but I know it will be worth the wait.

I decided to start this blog to "journal" our experience and share it with our friends and family back home. I hope it will be helpful to communicate with everyone all at the same time. When I'm in China, I will do my best to keep everyone up-to-date. (This will also help me when I have insomnia because I'm so excited to get to China and meet her, I can't sleep!)

For now, I'm posting some pictures of Ana Claire, our new 3 and half year old daughter. We will call her Claire. Her Chinese name, Shuang Qing, means "bright and clear" so we translated that into English and that's how we came up with Claire.

Tell others about this site so that they can keep up with the journey, as well. I'll post again soon.