Meet Our Families.

Although we technically have seven families in our CCAI travel group, there are only four of us currently in Guangzhou, as the others are still in their respective provinces finalizing their provincial paperwork and getting acquainted with their babies. This has given us lots of opportunities to get to know our small group a little better. Having a small group also means things take less time when only four families are being processed (passport photos, doctor visits, etc).

Diane is seen here with her three-year-old daughter on Gotcha Day. I have never seen such a quick bond and this little girl, Jessica, is happy and playful as well as being a little pistol, just like any three-year-old. Diane's husband is at home in Boulder, CO with their seven-yr-old, but brought her good pal, Laura (a.k.a. Sherpa Laura). She is pictured with me in the red coat and is a perfect travel companion. While Diane is busy running around after Jessica, Laura is her support staff, laundry doer, stroller fixer, and all around good friend with a very positive attitude to boot.

Chris and Suzanne from Memphis are pictured here with their daughter, Abbie, who was adopted from Kazakhstan eight years ago, as well as their new addition, Emma. Abbie too is a wonderful travel companion for her parents as they all get to know their new family member. Emma doesn't think much of Dad yet, however, he has a fan in Marin and she flirts with him whenever she gets the chance.

Chris and Kristin, seen here soon after their Gotcha moment, have two boys at home in Colorado(ages 9 and 11). Their daughter, Jenae, also prefers mom but dad continues to bribe her with food... it will work eventually :)

And that brings us back around to us and Marin. She still isn't feeling well and appears to like the consistency of one person to cuddle all the time. So, you guessed it, Dad is not currently her favorite. The advantage for him is that gets to go to the bathroom by himself whereas Val has a little velcro attachment. Justin is taking it in stride and sometimes it seems like Marin is just experimenting with how far she can push her new Mommy. She is still coughing quite a bit and we may be on the verge on antibiotics with her worsening cold --although its likely a virus and we are trying to wait it out. Tonight she is resting soundly after her big day at the doctor's office for her visa physical. You can tell from the pic that she was having an off moment, but she managed to be back to her happy self after a nap. Yesterday we were beginning to wonder if she was just going to be quiet kiddo, but today she has turned on the charm and babbled our ears off. She has even said Mama and Dada in the past 24-hours, music to our ears!