We made it home!

Sorry for the delayed post. After 96 hours of traveling, four car rides, three plane rides, a canceled flight and a few other mishaps we have arrived home safe and sound. We feel so blessed to welcome this beautiful boy into our family and into our home and are filled with such joy each time we see his smiling face. Thanks to those who traveled near and far to meet us at the airport and we apologize to those who didn't get the message that the plane was delayed. Oh how we wanted Sean to meet his aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and all our amazing friends, but know that in time he will love each of you as much as we do. Thank you to all those who helped us while we were in China: grocery shoppers, snow shovelers, guest teachers, dog sitters, house cleaners, blog posters, and DPHHS staffers. We are so grateful for the love that has been shared with our beautiful Sean and our family.

As you can imagine we are all still adjusting to the time difference and life as a new family in our home. Oh, it feels so good to sleep in our own bed. Grandpa Hugh made Sean some delicious rice congee, so he has been a happy boy. Day by day we introduce new foods and his palate is slowly adjusting. Murphy and Sean have become fast friends. Murphy even decided to start sleeping in Sean's room at night (which by Sean's morning giggles, we assume he adores). You may be wondering how the car seat is going. Well Amy's (Joslyn's Sistner In-Law) parents picked us up from the airport (thanks for the ride Bill and Marsha) and after a few squacks he was pleased to be zooming around America. I guess there was nothing to worry about.



As many of you know, my brother H.J. (Hugh) lives in Denver so it was a perfect place for a stop over. However, H.J had made a trip to Montana to meet Mr. Sean and to celebrate the marriage of a dear friend. Lucky for us Aunt Amy stayed in Denver and she got to spend a few days getting to know Sean. Thanks for playing with us at 2 a.m. Amy, as we adjust to the time change. While we were in Denver we also got to see some of our best friends: Lyssa, Matt, Michelle and Roger. Thanks for cooking us dinner and playing games. Sean especially loved Uncle Rogers sound effects.



Sean has loved meeting his Uncle Hugh (thanks for holding my hand and playing airplane), Grandma Kris (thanks for reading with me) and Papa Hugh (thanks for the good cooking)! He can't wait to spend more time with everyone. Here are a few pictures of his first encounters.

Monday!

Looks like now Jim, Joslyn and Sean won't be arriving back in Helena until Monday. When they know more they will update everyone.

A minor delay

Jim sent me a text just a bit ago asking me to post that as of now their flight from Denver to Helena is cancelled for tonight.
They will keep us updated as they know more!

Sean and His Parents are on the Way Home!

We had our visa appointment at the US consulate today and were officially accepted by the US Government to be Sean's parents. Yippee! He will become a US citizen when we land in San Francisco on Feb. 25th, 2012.

Today was our best day yet with Sean. We've been trying to figure out the dance of parenting, in a foreign country, in a hotel room, with a little one who has experienced a lot in the first 21 months of his life. We only had one total melt down that was followed by an afternoon of giggles and playing. Oh, it is so amazing to be parents.

After retuning back from the consulate Sean took a two hour nap (as did his mom and dad), woke up happy and ate without fuss. We through him in our backpack and jetted off to the park with another family. Upon our return, we jumped onto the floor and built a few more towers. Next, many of the families we've been traveling with gathered for Chinese take out on the patio/playground.

After dinner we told Sean that we were leaving for the U.S. tomorrow and that we would like him to come with us. We explained that we will pack our bags tomorrow, take a three hour "NASCAR" van ride to Hong Kong, spend the night in yet another hotel, get up in the morning, fly for 12 hours to San Francisco, get off the plane, immigrate into the U.S. (we can go to the foreigner line or U.S. whichever one is faster), enjoy a 4 hour layover, board another plane, fly to Denver, then run to catch our final flight to Helena, and finally arrive in Helena at 8:47 p.m. on Saturday. I know this is a marathon sentence; however we are anticipating a marathon of a day.

You can be the judge of how he took the news. He said he would let us know first thing in the morning!

This will be our last post until we return home. Thanks for all the support throughout our journey.

Picture Day

The past couple of days were spent touring the city on our own. We have been relaxing and helping Sean to adjust to his crazy parents. He is definitely a child who knows what he wants, but it is often still a mystery to us.

Here are two pictures from picture day. It was during Sean's nap time and we decided not to wake him up for the event.

The group picture is of all of the families who are here in China this week from our agency. The children range in age from 12 months to 12 years old and include both boys and girls. It is amazing to watch all of the kiddos warm up to their new families.

We have 3 more days here in Guangzhou and then will begin our journey home.

Getting Closer to Home

Yesterday we filled out our final round of paperwork for the U.S. Consulate. Yippee!!! Sean has already received his Chinese passport, so we made a request for a visa into the U.S. for Sean. Thursday is our Consulate appointment. On Friday, we will receive his visa. Then we depart for Hong Kong and begin our journey home to everyone! We are overwhelmed with the joy of having Sean enter our family and cannot wait for each of you to meet him and see his smiling face.

In addition to the mounds of paperwork, we ventured out to see Temple of the Six Banyan Trees. Jim and Sean walked the grounds, listened to monks chant, and gazed high into the sky to see the Buddha and Pagoda. This was truly one of the most beautiful temples that we’ve seen in all of China.

After the temple we zoomed, in the tour bus (which Sean loves), to see the Old Chen family house. Sean was way more interested in all the kids riding bikes and running throughout the plaza, but enjoyed mommy carrying him through the gardens as he ate his morning snack. So fun!

We dined in and enjoyed some play time with a few other toddlers, jumped in the bath and off to bed we went.

More Travels and Paperwork!

We have successfully conquered our first plane ride. We won't comment on the preflight. Let's just say we know Sean's lungs are healthy. Once we were on the plane, we looked out the window, watched the bags go on the plane and cooed as the buses zoomed by. As we mentioned in an earlier post, he loves riding in vehicles: planes, trains and automobiles make him very happy.

We arrived in Guangzhou late last night and promptly this morning we were bused to the Guangzhou Center of Disease control. More papers were signed and stamped with the official red seal as we were rushed between three examination rooms: ears/nose/throat, height/weight and surgery/major medical. Considering all the poking and prodding Sean was a rock star.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know all the things Sean loves: building towers, reading books, snuggling his teddy which he affectionately calls Mao Mao, taking baths, walking, walking and walking more, playing on the playground and eating (I'm sure our grocery bill is going to double).

Tomorrow will be filled with site seeing and more paperwork for our Consulate appointment on Monday.