April 23, 2011 Guangzhou Medical Exam

We went and had Clara's Chinese medical exam done which is required for the US VISA to get her back to the States.  The exam would not have won any medical awards but it was a required step.....

April 23, 2011

Finally, we are in Guangzhou.  It is a much more modern and western oriented (we now have a good Internet connection so enjoy the pictures).

As we mentioned earlier on Wednesday April 20, 20111 we were given a huge exception to standard policy and given full access to the orphanage in Xiu Shan.

This is a little village outside of Xiushan

We were met at the interstate exit of Xiushan by a large entourage of cars and people from the orphanage which was quite surprising and somewhat intimidating.  We were then taken to the most famous restaurant in Xiushan for lunch with the leadership of the orphanage.  We dined on grilled duck tongue, goat stew and rabbit....and washed it all down with peanut juice.  It was all very good.

 We were finally brought to the orphanage after lunch and were happy and sad at what we saw.  The staff generally seemed to to care about the children.  The orphanage was dirty but US standards but is considered quite good from a Chinese perspective.

Below is a picture of the main entrance to the orphanage with the Senior Director:

This is a picture of Clara's crib (on the left) and ultimately her home for the first eight months of her life.  We noticed that Clara and the other three children all tend to scratch things with their fingers and were saddened to see the cribs were up against the walls which are likely coated with lead paint (so we be getting Clara tested when we get back to the states).

The orphanage was kind enough to drive us to each of the finding sites (where the girls were abandoned).  Clara was left outside the Songbo Orthopedics Hospital.  There is a 24hour guard stationed at the gate of the hospital so Clara's biological parents wanted to make sure she was found immediately and near a safe place (we are very thankful for this and can only imagine how this has changed their lives).

One last picture to advocate what can be achieved with effective multi-tasking.

April 20, 2011 Trip to Clara's orphanage in Xiu Shan

On April 20th the men in the group were given special permission to make the 11 trip to Xiu Shan to see the actual orphanage were Clara and her sisters were placed until we got them this week.  This was a very unlikely scenario as most people are not allowed to visit the orphanage.  After several days of working with the government to get approval we made the trip and were given unimagined access to the entire orphanage.

OK--the internet connection in Chongqing is to slow to upload the pictures--we leave for Guangzhou today and expect to have a more stable to connection.

April 19, 2011 Official Swearing In Process

A little piece of home while we are in Chongqing, a city of 32 million non-english speaking people, it has been quite a different experience than Beijing.

Finger Printing for China Civil Affairs Office April

The photo above is the swearing in process to make the adoption official in China.  We still need to file additional documents and work through the US requirements in China before we go home. 

This is our official photo of the adoption from the Chinese government

Gotcha Day April 18, 2011 Clara Mae Witt

After six years of waiting we finally got our Clara.  Clara and her sisters had to take a seven hour train ride from Xiu Shan to Chongqing but everything worked out perfectly in the end.  Clara is very curious and is starting to find her voice.  She is beautiful and healthy and just like her big sister in that she does not like to go to bed.  We cannot wait to get home on the 27th of April and introduce Clara to her family and friends.  More pics to come later.

Love Melissa and Tim

Clara Mae's adoption notification photo

Monday April 11, 2011

It is 11:44pm on Monday and I just setup this blog to help document our trip to bring Clara home.  It has been six years since we started our process and we can not wait to get our little girl.