He's offically ours!

Hey everyone!

We are doing great! Logan is a total riot! ALL boy. He is helping us to shatter most Chinese social norms. Going up the down escalator, swinging on those fancy red velvet ropes at the front desk and racing the kids everywhere. Look out Mali, Jake and Josiah! You guys are going to love his total lack of fear.

We went to the pool this afternoon, and little man just jumps right off the edge into the pool. Ok, I hear you....so? What's so great about that, he's six. Oh great, she's bragging already.(;

BUT... the kid has never been in a pool before! Thankfully he had on a swim vest, so he came back up and the look on his face was priceless. I had to turn around so he didn't see me laughing at him. Bart was right there, and just wanted Logan to see what happens when you just jump in.

Well, this morning started off early. We went to the Civil Affairs office at 8:30 to sign the official adoption paperwork, then we went to a dept. store to buy some smaller shorts and some smaller tennis shoes. No luck finding underpants....I don't think the kids wear them here. He didn't come with any, and I got funny looks when I asked for them. Actually, we are getting funny looks all over.

We were out for a walk this afternoon, and a woman with a baby came up to us. She spoke English very well, and said that she just had to ask if all of the kids were ours? We said yes, and she just laughed. Not sure it was a good laugh either.

But, Logan seems to be doing well. He is really into Michael and Bart. Ok with Livy and Mia, and not really into me at all. So, I am just taking things slow. I think I'm going to have a different attachment process this go. Mia is doing so well with this whole thing so far.
She has been such a trooper, very proud of her. I am sure she was made to be the littlest one, she even let Logan push her in the stroller today.

Well, I have a room full of hungry people. So, we are going to grab a cab and grab a bite.

Hope you enjoy the pictures, and hope all is well.

Love,
Claire and crew

We've got him!!!!

Wow. Where do I start?

Do ya'll remember when I said that Logan had the look of just bring me home old lady?

Well, he is a total keeper. Just amazing.

We first saw him when we were going into the civil affairs office. We were early, and saw him getting out of his van with his nanny. We rode the elevator together, just staring at each other. We smiled, he looked a little scared.

When the door opened, his nanny took him into another room for a few minutes, then brought him back out. He was so brave for a few minutes, but as he realized what was going on, he got really upset. We spent some time playing cars and coloring, but when it was time for the nanny to leave, he broke down. Bart had to hold him to keep him from running after her.

I was no help. My heart split in two. Our guide suggested that I stop crying, it might be making him nervous. Something silly about Logan reading our facial expressions for reassurance. Blah,blah,blah. We were taking him away from all that he knows and the fact that he was upset about it was fine with us.

So off we went, loaded into our van, and headed for the hotel. He was quiet, but very interested in what was going on. We showed him the room, and his clothes. He looked through some toys and just like his little sister.....he went right for his SHOES!!! Ripped off his pretty pink sandals and put on his Speed racer light ups. Then when the hat and the sun glasses. We got a thumbs up and a hint of a smile.

We headed off to bribe him with some McDonald's. He dove into his food and we got more smiles. We played with our food and straws and pretty much broke a few social norms. But Logan was having fun and that's all that mattered.

We came back to the room and guess what!!!! He started to straighten up!!! OHOHOHOH YEAH!! I finally got one like me!!! He also really started to warm up, laughing and playing.

Just killing time......

Hey there!

We are just about to head down for bkfast. Just killing time until we meet our guide in the lobby at 2 pm to go and get Logan at the civil affairs office!

We had a great day exploring around yesterday. Took the subway to the British version of Wal-Mart, had lunch out and about, then took an 8 hour nap. Yep, we all feel asleep @ 4 pm and woke up at midnight! We had a snack, chatted for about an hour, then went back to bed.

We are having a good time watching people try to figure us out. Mike was asked to do a video for a school project on speaking English to a tourist. He also discovered a very important sign in the subway.....read the second rule on the picture of subway no-no's.

Another funny thing is watching people's reaction when they hear Mia talk. Definitly not expecting English to come out of her mouth. If I didn't think I'd get arrested, I would take a picture of some of the expressions.

We are heading out. We will post all about Logan as soon as we can. Thank you all for the prayers, we can really feel them. Things are going great here, and we are feeling great and enjoying the trip.

Love,
Claire and crew

We are here!

Good morning from Guangzhou!

What a wild 28 hours, a total blur now, but we are here and doing great. Got in very late,@ 1am here. Grabbed a bite,showered and went to bed.

The flights were long, but everyone did really well. Even me!!! I didn't beg to be pushed out over the Pacific Ocean this time. Mia did great, just a little scared when we hit some serious turbulence for awhile on the way to Tokyo.

Mike got to spend a few moments in Japan, got the shirt to prove it, but no Japanese cars to be seen from the airport.

When we went through customs in China, Mia looked at the officer and then at me, and asked," Is that Logan!?" He did resemble him a little, it was pretty funny.

Ok, tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!! We will have gotcha day Monday afternoon at the Civil Affairs office. Our guide told us that Logan knows we are coming and what is going on. She said that they prepare the older children pretty well. Today is the last day without him,WAHOO!!!!!!!!

So, today we are going to head out and do some exploring, buy some munchies for the room and xerox some last minute paper work for tomorrow.

Hope all is well back home. We will post some photos when we find the transfer cable.(:

Love ya'll,

Claire and crew

A year and a half

What a blessing she is!! I was checking my calender for last minute travel things, and I realized that today is our 18 month anniversary with Mia!

I really could go on for hours about how wonderful she is, how funny, smart and loving she is. She is truly our Angel baby.

She has come so far in this time. When we first met, she was so scared, so quiet and just trying to understand what was going on. Those eyes just searched for something familiar, and when it wasn't found, she would put her thumb into her mouth and hide her face. But day by day she came to know and trust us. Fears faded, smiles came and she turned out to be a MAJOR snuggle bunny. Today, Mia is a happy,healthy, wild and wonderful toddler.

She loves to ride her bike, jump on the trampoline, swim, swing,and shop for shoes (:

I think Mike summed it up best a few months ago. We were just hanging out, and he asked, what did we do before Mia? We were really missing something.

Happy 18 months peanut, we love you more then life.

Yi huir jian!!! ( see you later!)

I think we are almost done packing! We are outta here on Friday! After plane changes in Detroit and Tokyo, we will arrive in Guangzhou, China some 30 plus hours later. Better not forget those toothbrushes in our carry ons!

We will have about a day and a half to get settled in before Logan becomes forever ours. Our gotcha day is June 16th. Monday for us, late Sunday night for ya'll.

The kids are excited to grab some Starbucks from the shop in our hotel, and take a ride on the Chinese subway. Hopefully we will meet a wonderful person who speaks English so we don't get lost.....this time. (:

Love,

Claire

Almost summer vacation!!!

One day of school to go, and 8 days until we leave for China!!

We don't have our in-country schedule yet, so we don't know our exact gotcha day date. It will probably be the 16th or 17th.

We are just SOOOO ready to go and to love on our little man. We have been praying that Logan has been told that his forever family is coming soon. And, that he will feel safe and comfortable with us. What a brave little man he is to be willing to leave all that he knows and start on this new life journey.

So in the mix of packing and preparing for travel, the kids are winding up their school year. Livy came away with an award for all A's all year, and Mike's school's ROTC unit competed at the all county ROTC exhibition. They came in 1st in many individual events, and 2nd place over all. It was amazing to see all of these young men and women so motivated and disciplined. Hard to believe that is my baby boy looking so grown up!

And to top off the week, we got a visit from a few of the kids cousins...Grace, Hannah,Phoebe and Aunt Lynn. Missed you Daniel and Uncle Danny!

Oh! Can't forget to brag about the baby! Mia has been doing a great job of using the potty this week. Out of nowhere, she has decided that she is ready. I was waiting until we returned from China before I even started this process, but we'll just go with the flow. No pun intended.(:

Love,
Claire