Ni Hao, Maryn Zhang!

Sisters - a few minutes after they met


The McDonald family of four with Maryn's orphanage staff


Songs with daddy!

We have our sweet girl!!! She's already up from her 30-minute nap so this will be quick. Maryn is safe, happy and healthy. She's fascinated by every move Carlyn makes and enjoys listening to Baba's Irish songs. Her peach-fuzz hair is just like baby Carlyn's was. We are all simply mad about her!

3:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time

That's when we'll meet our baby girl! No time to post pictures this morning - we're off to the airport in 40 minutes for an early morning flight to Nanchang! Four of nine families will be in Nanchang with the rest in Shanghai or other provinces. Then we'll be reunited later this week in Guangzhou.
Feeling breathless!

Whirlwind!

It's been an amazing trip so far and the best is yet to come - in about 34 hours or less, in fact.
Our visit in Japan was amazing and the research went well. We arrived in Beijing on Thursday afternoon and spent yesterday on our own - walking around Tiananmen, saluting Chairman Mao, having lunch at a favorite neighborhood restaurant near the first place we stayed in Beijing in 2001, and going to the Summer Palace.
Today, we'll meet the 8 other families in our group and climb the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall - this is one we haven't visited before, which is very exciting.
And tomorrow morning, it's off to Nanchang where, after 4.5 years of waiting, we will meet our baby girl. We talk and think of her all the time, especially since arriving in China. Now we'll be together!
Near Red Bridge, Kiyosato, Japan.Carlyn is ready to board her ANA flight to China!

Captain Carlyn at the helm of her Summer Palace sloop.

On the eve of a new era

In the beginning, there was BC (Before Carlyn), followed by AC. And soon we'll enter the era to be known as AM.

And what does one do on the last day of the current era? We were up early to get Carlyn to her last day of school until late September. Thank goodness her school district views this as a special learning opportunity and we were only required to complete one form (well, there will be some homework, too).

Since then, there's been a lot of laundry, organizing, errands, list-making but no frenzy. We started early enough to avoid that. Tonight, amid final preparations, we'll enjoy a dinner of leftovers as we contemplate three weeks of restaurant food. Going out to eat sounds fabulous until you've done it two or three times a day over the course of a week or so.

We'll be up at 3 o'clock for our 6 a.m. flight and will eat breakfast with my nephew and niece-in-law during our 6-hour layover in Chicago.

From there, Tokyo, here we come.

And on Sunday, Maryn begins her last full week at her Social Welfare Institute. We know she'll miss her pals and nannies, but hope she adjusts quickly to her new family.

And when she comes home, she'll have a bright, happy room; a lively and affectionate big sister; and lots of kitties to entertain her.

Maryn's daddy, aunts and uncles, and big sister all slept in this crib.
Jie Jie on her first day of third grade.
Starlight and her son, Holstein. Just 40% of the available cats on the premises.

Testing, Testing

In preparation for posting from behind the Great Firewall of China, I've installed a Virtual Private Network, something I'd never heard of before last week. But in case the VPN doesn't work, I'll try to post via email. And if you're reading this, I was successful!

We're going to China! (and Japan)

After waiting for four years, suddenly, things are happening quickly! We received our consulate appointment two days ago, which meant we could go ahead and book tickets. It also meant that Andy & I needed to make up our minds about a quite-possibly-crazy idea we had: visiting Japan en route to China. This would be part-business, part-pleasure, the business part being that we need to do some research and interviews for the book we're writing.

To make a long story short, we're going to do it! Carlyn will be out of school for three weeks (not counting jet lag), but we hope her teacher and principal will agree that it's an important opportunity.

We'll leave on August 28th, spend nearly four days in Japan, then travel to Beijing on September 2nd. This puts us in Beijing a day and a half earlier than the other families in our travel group, to maximize our sightseeing possibilities. One priority is the Summer Palace; we didn't get a chance to take Carlyn to see it in 2007, and that needs to be remedied.

We will travel to Nanchang and meet Maryn either on Sunday, September 5th or Labor Day! Our littlest sweetheart has only 25 or 26 more nights at the Zhangshu Social Welfare Institute.

We'll be in Nanchang and Guangzhou until the 17th, and will fly out of Hong Kong on the 18th. There is a lot to do, but the 28th can't come soon enough!

We're Approved!

This morning, we received another magical phone call from our adoption agency reporting that our travel approval has arrived from China! This is at least one week earlier than expected!

By next week, we can expect to receive our consulate appointment - the date on which we'll go to the American consulate in Guangzhou, the final step that will allow Maryn to come home with us. And then, we book our flights! Our agency contact tells us that he anticipates departure on September 2nd. That would have us meeting Maryn on either the evening of the 5th or on the 6th. She will be just under six months old!

Now it's time to get really serious about my to-do list.

If you look up the definition of "tizzy," you'll see a picture of me!