We're Home!

They are home! They arrived in Lubbock at 8 PM...right on time despite bad weather! Shane entertained everyone on the flight from Houston to Lubbock. They all said how cute he was! He was very happy to see us, and so were Christi and mama! There were several friends there at the airport to welcome Shane home. Hope was very excited to see her mom and brother.

Shane really liked the balloons we had for him too, but the trip home was a bit too much for him...he fell asleep! This was a much different experience from when we brought Hope home. She cried all the way home! He also got to open some of his presents when we got to mama's house. He really liked the farm animal magnets and the candy his uncle Blake got for him! He only got a little bit fussy with all these new people he met tonight. He is just such a happy little guy!

I imagine that they will all sleep well tonight. They have been up for 29 hours now, Shane too. He only took a 2 1/2 hour nap on the flight from Tokyo to Houston.

Here are some photos of when they arrived in Lubbock.

Flight Delayed

Christi called early this morning and said that their flight from Tokyo to San Francisco had been cancelled. Someone in Seattle was sick or something, so the entire flight was cancelled. This is a real disappointment for everyone! They will leave tomorrow and fly from Tokyo to Houston, then on to Lubbock. They will arrive at 8 pm in Lubbock. They will be flying Continental Airlines all the way home.

She said they had to stand in line for 5 hours to get their flights changed, and they allowed them a 3 minute phone call to let us know about the change in plans. It was a very long day she said.

Needless to say, Hope is a little sad. She was so excited last night that it was hard for her to get to sleep, so I am sure we will have another night of excitement with her!

I will keep you posted of any further changes - HOPEFULLY there won't be anymore!!

The Journey Home

Well, they are getting ready to make the journey home. Today was a day of rest for them. They were going to finish their shopping and try to get their airline seats together on the way from Tokyo to San Francisco. They are really tired and ready to get home. Christi has lost her voice and is coughing some, so she has started her antibiotics. Judy is feeling fine, and Shane has finished his antibiotics, so he is feeling pretty good.

They take the train to Hong Kong early in the morning, which will be tonight for us here in Texas.

Christi and Judy are ready to have a coke with ice, so that will be the first order of business when they get to San Francisco! They will correspond through email for the rest of the trip - we had our last skype session last night. They will call us when they get to Dallas on Saturday...they have a 6 hour lay-over there, so they might try to get an earlier flight to Lubbock.

Some folks have expressed an interest in being at the airport when they arrive in Lubbock - the more the merrier I say! I will keep everyone posted about the arrival time!

Shane Got His VIsa

Shane now has his visa. So now they have everything they need to get him home. Christi had to take some kind of oath for Shane today at the US Consulate - I'm guessing the oath for citizenship? She didn't say what the oath was.

They will have a free day tomorrow so they can rest and get ready to come home. I think they have finished with their shopping too. We will skype again tomorrow night. That will be the last one for us.

Everyone please be praying that little Shane will do well on the trip home. Christi says he doesn't like to get out of his routine, so this could really be a problem on the way home.

It's Hot!

We skyped last night, and they say it is EXTREMELY HOT & HUMID in Guangzhou! Little Shane doen't like the heat either!

They did go to the safari park, and they saw lots of animals and took lots of pictures. One of the main animals they saw was a panda - I think that would be a pretty neat thing to see!

Shane is very busy and into everything Christi says. He got pretty quiet while we skyped last night and mama looked to see what he was up to. I heard her say "you don't need that!" He had found the little chocolate candy they leave on your pillow and he was eating it!

We will skype again on Wednesday night. We will correspond via email after that because they will be traveling to get home. They will leave Friday morning and go to Hong Kong by train. Then that evening, they will go to Tokyo, and from there, San Francisco where Shane will become and official US citizen!

We are all so anxious for them to be home! Hope especially wants them to get home! She seems to be doing fine, but she has been pretty quiet the last few days, and that is not usual for her.

Will post again soon.

Update

We skyped with Christi, Judy and Shane last night. Shane was very happy! They said it is very hot over there, and they were scheduled to go to a safari park as an excursion.

They have decided that they will not come home early because it would be difficult to rearrange everything long distance and via email. They want to make sure they get home with no problems. Their guide is trying to get their seats rearranged from Tokyo to San Francisco so they can all sit together on the way home. Right now they have only 2 together and need to get Shane's with theirs.

Christi sent a few more pictures.

Passed the Medical Exam

Shane passed his medical exam today with flying colors! He is now 19.3 pounds! Now they will start getting his visa paperwork done.

They are to go to the Safari Park tomorrow. I'm sure that will be fun!

We will Skype again tonight, so be expecting another post today.

Arrived in Guangzhou

Just got an email from Christi. They are now in Guangzhou. She said that Shane was pretty fussy on the flight because he didn't know what was going on and it was hot. He was pretty un-nerved all day yesterday because he knew something different was going on with the packing and getting ready to leave. He is now checking out the new hotel room.

They will go for his medical exam in the morning. Then he will get his visa at the US Consulate on the 14th.

We Skyped last night and everyone is doing well. Shane was very happy and talkative last night. Christi and Judy are ready to come home, and will see if they can change their flight to an earlier date. I will let ya'll know if that happens.

Hope and her puppies are still doing fine. She alternates between my house and Marjorie's everyday, and this is working out fine. We have had so much activity going on that I think it keeps Hope occupied and not thinking about her mama and granny being gone. All of the girls are staying with our good family friend, Margaret Sifford, this morning. The kids all have so much fun when they are with her, and as she has told us, "it takes a village to raise and take care of these kids!" Joel is staying with his Nana today. They all say they are ready for Christi, Granny and Shane to get home!

Got My Jeans On!

Here are some more photos for you! Christi said that the hotel they are staying in gave them a stroller for Shane. I think that was a nice thing for them to do, and it will be handy when they go shopping today!

FYI

I just realized that I forgot to post some important information, so here it is!

Christi spoke with the orphanage director and she said that Shane had been sick for the past week or so and had just started eating again. Christi weighed him, and he just weighs 16 pounds! But, it seems that he is filling out now!

Also, his little mouth still has a little hole in it up at the front from his cleft palate, so it looks like he has more surgery in store for him. Christi says that it does cause him some problems with his eating.

They leave for Guangzhou tomorrow where they will go to the U.S. Consulate to get his visa. This will be his first airplane ride, about a 2 hour flight. Pray that he does well, because he has another long flight ahead of him to get home.

My First Oreo

We skyped again tonight. Shane is doing so good and he is a very happy little guy! He waved at us and blew kisses! His whole face just lights up when he smiles! He even told us hi!

Christi said that he is getting used to them now and is very playful and happy. He also seems to be very affectionate with Christi and Judy. He has started pulling himself up on things too. He has also started to fill out his clothes - his face looks fuller.

Here is a picture of him eating his very first oreo and playing with his toys.

Skype This Morning

We skyped with Christi, Judy and Shane this morning. He seems to be getting used to Christi and Judy. He smiled some at us and was trying to talk, he was very happy. Christi said he is eating well and seems to have gained some weight.

They are scheduled to go to the the Confucius Temple today. They said that it has been raining the last couple of days.

We will skype again tonight at 8 pm our time...all of the kids were very tired this morning and didn't have much to say. We had a late night with the girls softball games and practices, but we have just 1 more week and then we are done!

Hope continues to do well, and she is excited to see her little brother. She looks at the picures of him a lot...I have them in my phone, so she is always asking for it!

Some Photos

Here are some photos of Christi, Judy and Shane. I think these may be from his adoption, but I'm not 100% sure.

Chinese Adoption Completed

Just received an email from Christi. The Chinese adoption has been completed. So he is now officially ours!

First Skype with Shane

We just Skyped with Christi, Judy and Shane. Hope was very excited to see her mom and her new little brother! He seemed fascinated with the computer and almost smiled at us all. He is getting some more teeth in, and seems hungry all the time. He really likes those Cheerios! Christi says he has a bit of a temper too! He seems to maybe feel better too. He will turn his head some when Christi or Judy call his name. It appears that he is a little bit small for his age, and Christi had to switch out the clothes she brought for him with the ones she took as a gift for the orphanage because they were smaller. They are getting ready to go complete the adoption proceedings now.

We've Got Him!

They got him about 9:30 AM June 7th, China time, which was 8:30 PM June 6th for us. Isn't he just so sweet!

Christi said he spends a lot of time looking at them trying to figure out who they are. He has cried some. They decided to give him a bath in hopes that it would help him calm down, but he really didn't seem to like getting his bath.

He does like to play with his new toys, and he can walk with someone holding his hands. Christi says he is a skinny little guy and he sure likes to eat! He still has the eczema on his face and he seems to have a cold...congested and coughing, so they started him on the antibiotics the pediatrician sent with them, so he should start feeling better soon.

They are scheduled to do the Chinese adoption tomorrow morning. We will Skype again tonight, so be looking for another post soon!

Arrival in Nanjing

Christi emailed today. They arrived in Nanjing at 1:45 pm, China time. They are to get Shane at 9 am on Monday at the Jiangsu Civil Bureau. I would say that at the time of me posting this update, they probably have him already.

We are planning to Skype again sometime tomorrow night, and we will get to see the little guy. Hopefully Christi will be able to upload and email some photos to me so that I can post them. She did say that she is not able to access the blog at her hotel, but she is going to ask if they can help her look at it. There has been some uproar in China with bloggers and the Chinese governments censorship, so that may be the reason she can't access the blog.

Day of Sight Seeing

We skyped with Christi and Judy this morning. The hotel they are staying in has free internet service which is very nice!

They had a busy day sight seeing in Beijing, visiting the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. They also had to do some shopping because Christi forgot the gifts that she had bought for their guides and the people at the orphanage. She got them some tea, which is considered an acceptable gift. Christi said that it is hot over there, but not as hot as it is in Lubbock today...we hit 109 degrees! She also said there are so many people out and about over there, more than when she went to get Hope.

Tomorrow they will fly to Nanjing. This is where Shane is at. They are due to get him Monday morning, which will be Sunday night here in the US (13 hour time difference).

Hope is still doing fine. All the kids had fun at swimming parties today and playing the Wii! Hopefully Christi will have Shane the next time I post!

Arrived in China

I received an email from Christi this morning. They had a good flight and arrived in Beijing at 2 am our time, 3 pm Chinese time. They will be going sight seeing in the morning. We will plan on Skyping tomorrow morning sometime as well.

Hope is doing fine and is having alot of fun with her cousins. Will post again tomorrow sometime.

On Their Way

Christi just called from Chicago. They are tired because they had to get to the airport by 4:30 this morning, but they will have plenty of time to sleep on the flight to China! Christi was having problems with her email last night, but I think that Roger helped her get everything worked out. We also had success with our 1st Skype experience! Hope was able to see and talk with her mom last night, but I don't really think that it has sunk in very well with Hope how long her mama and granny will be gone...she thought they were already in China!

I will update again when I know they are in China.

Almost Time

This blog has been created to update friends and family about the adoption of Shane while Christi and Judy are in China.

We found out, we were going to be getting this handsome little boy in March of this year. He is what is called "a waiting child", which basically means he has some type of medical problems. His problem was a cleft palate and lip, which the Chinese have fixed for him. Christi was notified last Tuesday that it was time to go get him. Everyone is very anxious for his arrival here in Lubbock!

They will leave for China tomorrow (Wednesday 6/3/2010) at 5 pm. They will spend the night in Dallas and then Thursday morning they will fly to Chicago. From there, they will fly to Beijing, arriving there on Friday afternoon. They are to return to Lubbock on June 19th at 10 pm. They will be coming home through San Francisco.

The plan is for Christi to email me their information and I will post it on the blog to keep everyone updated.

Hope will be staying here in Lubbock with Marjorie and me.