December 11, 2002 Update

Hi everyone. I am currently typing from the business center of the Lake View Hotel in Nanchang, China. We left San Francisco on Thursday, arrived in Beijing on Friday, went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square on Saturday, and flew to Nanchang on Sunday. I had big plans to videotape the exact moment when we got Emily. However, I was caught by surprise. As we were walking into the lobby of the hotel on Sunday, Emily was already there (with the orphanage director and a caregiver) sitting in a sofa just a few feet from the hotel entrance. Before I had a chance to dig out my videocamera, our adoption agency guide was introducing us to the orphanage director while simultaneously the caregiving was handing off Emily to Susan. Within a minute, the guide was urging me to check into the hotel. As I was busy filing out the hotel registration information, Susan had Emily in her arms playing with her. I have some tape of the initial 5 minutes of the meeting however it was less than I hoped for.

I’ll post more details later. But it’s been an interesting few days.

I can say that it has been a fascinating trip. China is a fascinating country. I really wish I could have spent more than one full day in Beijing.

I’ll post pictures when I get a chance.