Checking in from Jason – photo’s below

Checking in from Jason – photo’s below

Well, we are over the major hump of the adoption process and easing into life in Guangzhou in southern China, waiting for our US Embassy Visa appointment on Tuesday.  But it was quite the journey to get here!

His personality is really coming out.  He is really bonding surprisingly well, especially with “mama” which he quickly calls if she not around, and then he smiles or laughs.  The orphanage must have really prepared him for what a family means because he seems to just accept that this is what he was waiting for and now it’s here.  Joshua has also been amazing and has really played and been affectionate with Jonathan – what a great big brother.

We have been Skyping most days and Annabelle and Aleigha (both 7) can’t wait to meet him.  They think he is “sooo cute.”

Last week, after all the adoption proceedings, we had a day of rest on Thursday while we waited for paperwork to be delivered from Jack, our guide.  We were able to do some shopping and enjoy some of the lantern festival activities in Nanjing around our hotel.

On Friday after getting Jonathan’s Chinese passport, the group of three Madison families in Nanjing enjoyed some sightseeing around Nanjing on the way to the airport.  We saw one of the largest City walls in the world.  Even though it was a bit chilly and windy, we all enjoyed the tour.

Jonathan’s first flight was a breeze.  He played and chatted during the 2 hour flight which is like flying from Detroit to Orlando. 

After a small snafu with our room at the White Swan (our first room was tiny with one small rock hard bed because they were oversold) resulted in a free upgrade to a 2 room, 2 bath suite for the same price!  But because of this situation we got to sleep at 2:00 AM.

Guangzhou is tropical and a big contrast to Nanjing this time of year.  It is in the 70’s, humid, and we are on a small colonial style island in the middle of the city.  It’s very trendy with magazine model and wedding photo’s being taken on nearly every corner.  It has many nice small shop owners and we had all our laundry done by a local shop for about $25 USD.  A very comfortable and relaxing place.

On Saturday, we had Jonathan’s medical with the 8 other Madison families (as well as about 30 other families) who are here, many traveling from other provinces from last week.  He did well, but did not appreciate the TB test injection, but Angela had a sucker waiting and that helped ease the tears.

Sunday, while everyone in the US was sleeping, we visited a Safari Park (zoo) with the other Madison families.  A nice big bus took us all to the park.  Jonathan loved the animals and really enjoyed the bucket of toy animals he picked out.  He played and played back at the hotel room tonight.

The photo’s tell the story of the last 4 days so please enjoy.