The Journey to China begins....

We have completed the first leg of our long journey to China. We arrived in Houston around 7:00 p.m. tonight and will be staying overnight. Our flight for China departs at 6am tomorrow. It was, of course, a mad dash to the airport as both Keith and I were wrapping up last minute items before leaving. (It was actually more Keith than I). Leaving his business for 2 weeks has proven to take an enormous amount of forethought and planning on his part. He has been burning the midnight oil trying to take care of everything before we leave. My work was a little easier to wrap up, as I have several people both locally and in our corporate office that will pick up my slack while I am gone.

To our surprise, when we landed in Houston we received an email from our adoption agency with updated PICTURES and Information on Madelyn. Her pictures shows how much she has grown and how truly beautiful she is. (I think she looks like me - lol). The information was again very encouraging. She weighs 26 pounds and is 33 inches tall. The orphanage states the following:

- She has 16 teeth

- Her vocabulary consists of 50-60 words (This makes me nervous to think that she is speaking in short phrases and knows that many words in Chinese. I hope she can pick up our language quickly)

- She is potty trained and will ask to go to the bathroom unprompted, however, she has to be awaken at night and taken to potty.

- Her favorite foods is oranges and grapes. They also state that she is not a picky eater.

- She can feed herself with a spoon and drinks from a cup.

- She likes to play with others and does share both her food and toys.

- She can draw with a color or pencil but not in a straight line

- She follows directions from her caregivers without them having to point or gesture what they want her to do

- and much much more

This was a really good report that we received this time. It gave a lot of information that is relevant to us now that she will be coming home. I am not an expert in child development but in reading the information provided I am encouraged that she may not be too far behind the standard for her age.

I can't believe this is actually happening - that we are on this final leg of our journey. It all seems so surreal. I am getting VERY EXCITED now! Only a few more days and she will be in our arms!

Keith and I were just talking and commenting how wonderful our family and friends are. We love you all and appreciate your thoughts, prayers and offers of help while we are gone.

We will keep you posted. Tomorrow we fly all day and our next post will most likely be on Saturday.