This blog will document the tribulations and adventures my husband and I encounter while working towards adopting a baby girl from China.


McGurr.com

Site feed

 
More News
Last week marked two important events with regards to Maddie's adoption. First, was the anniversary of when Melanie met Maddie for the first time. It was the evening of Thursday September 16, 2005 when Melanie met Maddie and me at the airport. Melanie and I were crying while Maddie slept through the initial meeting. We ended up staying up most of the night fawning over Maddie and talking about the trip.

Also, last Thursday we had our final post-placement visit from a social worker. As part of the requirements of the Chinese adoption program, there are two mandatory visits at 6 months and 1 year. On Thursday, Jazmin came and spent about an hour looking around the house and talking to us about Maddie and her adjustment home. She'll write up a report that will be translated and forwarded to the Chinese government along with pictures that we took of Maddie and ourselves (I'll try to post some soon). While there is nothing that the Chinese government could do if they disapproved of the report, it is a courtesy to them and will hopefully keep the program strong and relationships between China and US positive.
posted by Sean McGurr at 8:55 AM

 
Gotcha Day Anniversary
On September 6, 2004, I met Maddie Wen for the first time. Labor Day will always be special because that is when I first held Maddie and she became part of our family.

Here she is on Labor Day 2005 (excited about wearing her Clifford sweatshirt complete with floppy ears).



And here she was in China last year.




Keep reading the Ladies McGurr for more photos and stories about Maddie and her sister Bettie June.
posted by Sean McGurr at 8:51 AM

 
One Year Since Referral
It was on July 30, 2004 that we received our referral of Jiang Wen Zhi. The little girl in that picture hardly looks like our Maddie Wen of today.

In honor of Maddie's referral day and also the day we found out that Melanie was definitely pregnant with Bettie, we celebrated Girls Day last weekend. Melanie has posted a write up and pictures at the Ladies McGurr. Since Melanie and I both have summer birthdays and we didn't want the girls birthdays to get lost so close to Christmas, we decided to have a celebration for them every July 30.
posted by Sean McGurr at 7:00 AM

 
Site Feed
This blog, along with all other blogs on McGurr.com, now has a site feed. Be sure to subscribe here.
posted by Sean McGurr at 2:51 PM

 
Overdue Update
It's been an eventful seven months since this blog has been updated. Maddie turned 1 and is now 18 months old. She walks, runs, and is doing great overall. Her sister Elizabeth June (Bettie) was born in January. We've moved from the Columbus, Ohio area to Urbana where Melanie took a job at the University.

For those interested in the adoption process, since we last updated we had our six-month post-placement visit. This is a requirement that the Chinese government has for all families who have adopted. While the Chinese government has no more authority over the girls once they have been adopted, this is a courtesy so that the government knows that the children are being well taken care of.

The post-placement visit involved a social worker coming out and talking with us for about an hour about Maddie's adjustment and current life with us. We also had to take about 10 pictures of Maddie with us and alone. Our doctor had to fill out a health report and Melanie and I also had to fill out a report. Our agency had all this information translated and sent to China. We are currently scheduling the one-year post-placement visit with all the same requirements. That will be in September. Hard to believe that we've had Maddie for over 10 months already.

This blog will probably not be updated very often. Melanie has started a new blog, The Ladies McGurr, which will have frequent updates and pictures of both Maddie and Bettie. We'll look for you there.
posted by Sean McGurr at 11:00 AM

 
Holiday Season
As we enter Maddie's first holiday season, all sorts of exciting events are happening. We took Maddie to Slippery Rock for Thanksgiving. There she met and was reintroduced to Melanie's family. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner and relaxing time with friends and family. Maddie also experienced the Grove City Prime Outlets. While the four-hour car ride wasn't much fun, Maddie agrees it was better than the 17-hours of flying back from China.

This past weekend, we dressed Maddie up in a Christmas outfit and took some pictures:




Then we went to the Central Ohio Chapter of Families with Children from China holiday party. Melanie made a great mandarin orange salad and we helped ourselves to some good food. Maddie was probably the youngest girl there and got lots of attention and compliments on her outfit. She also met Santa for the first time, although she fell asleep while waiting in line to see him, so probably didn't get the full affect.


posted by Sean McGurr at 1:04 PM

 
More Pictures of Maddie
More visitors and trick or treating highlight these pictures of Maddie. First up is a fun visit from Donna:


Then there is a cool visit with Uncle Chris and almost Aunt Sarah:


Here are Maddie and Sarah at the Easton Halloween Mutt March. This was Maddie's third or fourth trip to Easton in the two months that she's been back:


Finally, from yesterday's Beggar's Night festivities, our little pumpkin, Maddie Wen:

posted by Sean McGurr at 10:28 PM

 
We Made It Home
But as you can imagine, things have been busy at our house. Recovering from jet lag took about a week. Getting Maddie on a schedule a bit longer than that. Then between work and taking care of her, posting on the Web hasn't been a high priority. Uploading pictures has been even less of one, but finally some new pictures of Maddie (without the comb-over):






posted by Sean McGurr at 4:07 PM