See what I mean about the grin...

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Critical Update

There is no chai tea latte at the Starbucks in Shanghai. This is very distressing when you don't drink coffee, still have jet lag, and must keep up with your new toddler. That is all. 

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Update from Shanghai

I got to meet Beckett first since after we signed our paperwork,  I went with the translator to the office to pay our various fees. He was waiting in there with one of his nannies and another young child who was being adopted by an Italian couple. What was really awesome was the Canadian couple that had two Chinese daughters at home and had brought their 12 year old son adopted from Haiti to meet his new 10 year old brother who was adopted today. Even though they don't yet speak the same language,  they were already playing and laughing together. 

So speaking of laughing, Beckett has a laugh that is just as infectious as Miranda's with a grin to match. We are going to have some serious giggling matches. So far the transition is going well.  We found a good restaurant with an English menu on the same block as our hotel but Miranda was exhibiting her American taste buds so we took Beckett for his first Tex-Mex.  He loved the refried beans, but after that diaper I just changed, we may not be doing that again for a while.  We had a 24 hour transitional custody of him that ended today when we finalized the adoption. 

More photos to come later. Mostly without me, or after I've been able to photo shop them. My friends from China kept telling me that it would be cold in Shanghai and that the winter heat would not be on yet. Well, the lows are only in the 50s and the winter heat is on with no A/C option. So we are sleeping with the windows open. And now I have a gigantic mosquito bite on my forehead for all our photos. Sigh. 

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Good Morning Shanghai

It is 8 am in Shanghai. We've been up for 3.5 hours already. I've cleaned up and arranged the room. We've showered, dressed, gone down stairs for breakfast.  Miranda has completex both her math and reading homework for the day.  The backpack has been packed with everything fo Rd this morning. Our driver picks us up in another hour and fifteen minutes.  So now we are just waiting...

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we're here!

We made it to Shanghai and all is well. The wifi is a bit slow and I can't connect to Facebook so unless that changes I will just be sending updates here via email. We meet Beckett tomorrow around 10am which is 8pm Sunday in Texas.

First Grade Picture

If you are on the VIP list, a print of this may be coming your way around Christmas. 

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This is a test....

This is only a test. A real blog post would have adorable pictures of my children. 

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