CHINESE ADOPTION FINALIZED

Today we completed the Chinese adoption process! We started our day by going to a government building to have our adoption paperwork reviwed and notarized. Notarazition of documents in the US is different than here. We met with a government employee involved in processing adoptions and she reviewed documents, filled out additional documents and nquired about our willingness and desire to adopt. After the interrogation was complete we signed the documents and placed our thumb pring in ink over our signature and then we placed Mackenzie's footrint on her adoption form.
After completing the notary requirments we returned to the civil affairs building (they call it a hotel but it is government offices in the areas we were in) where we picked up Mackenzie yesterday. Today we had to meet with a civil affairs person who had additional questions about our desire and willingness to adopt and then we signed more paperwork. After signing we returned to our holding room and each set of adopting parents were presented with their offical Chinese adoption certificate. As of today we have officially and legally adopted Mackenzie in China under Chinese law.
We do not have any scheduled activities tomorrow. We are maybe going to fo to the park or other local activity. Our next officail activity is we need to start processing paperwork to obtain a Chinese passport and US visa for Mackenzie. We will work on obtaining passport before leaving Nanning. We will complete visa application and other US Government related paperwork in Guangzhou next week.
The picture of Mackenzie and Lisa was taken early this morning after Mackenzie got up.

Mackenzie and Lisa

Here is one of the first pictures of Mackenzie and Lisa. It did not take too long to get Mackenzie to warm up to Lisa and I. Here is one of the pictures of Lisa and Mackenzie. I will try and upload one or two more, but the process to get photos up is hard because of internet restricions.

We Have Mackenzie

We have returned t our hotel and we have Mackenzie with us now. We have a couple of activities that we need to do with the adoption group. I will try and put photos up in the next couple of hours.
Mackenzie is precious and is very tiny. She is wearing a carter outfit that is size 3-6 months and it is big on her. She is long and thin. She does not appear to be able to stand on her own. She does not want to be put down and likes going back and forth between the tow of us. She is very calm and is inquisitive as to her surrondings.
We will post more later.
Thank you to everyone for all of their love and support over the past 4 1/2 years and expecially over the past few weeks.

We Are On Our Way To Get Mackenzie

We are just getting ready to leave our hotel room to go get Mackenzie.
We are going to the Lottery Hotel which is about a fifteen minute drive from our hotel. Anticipation and excitment are mounting and nerves are on end as this important time comes.
We will update as soon as we can after we return with Mackenzie.

Nanning China GOTCHA Day has arrived

We arrived in Nanning China last night. The feeling is much different than Hong Kong. The city is much different and not near as cosmopolitan as Hong Kong and the military style and presence is definately felt.
We are to go down and do some paperwork later this morning and then we are going as a group by bus to Wal-Mart to pick up any incidental items.
Today is Gotcha Day - the day we pick up Mackenzie. We are to go to a different hotel at 300PM (1AM Denver) to pick up Mackenzie and then we will have her FOREEVER!
We are very excited and the anticipation is killing us (and the rest of our group).
Internet connection and getting information out is harder from here and people in the group are having problems accessing certain sites and sending and receiveing communication. With that in mind we will do our best to keep the blog up but we may not be able to update as frequently as we would like.
We are scheduled to be here in Nanning until July 2 and then we travel to Guangzhou.
We hope to update later today and post pictures and information about our precious Mackenzie.

At Hong Kong Airport

We are at the Hong Kong Airport waiting to board our flight to Nanning, China. We are super excited about getting to Nanning and knowing that tomorrow we will be getting Mackenzie. You can feel the excitment in our adoption group as we all have been thru a similar wait and knowing that the wait is about over and our lives with our new baby is about to begin.
We will post more tomorrow.

Our Day in Hong Kong

We started our day by gathering in the lobby of our hotel to go on an organized sight seeing tour of Hong Kong. This gave us an opportunity to meet the other 7 famalies that are adopting with us.
There has been constant rain and fog today. We drove into the old town area that was popular with navy sailors when they were in port. We then drove to a traditional open market popular with tourists and looked around. Real estate here is very expensive making shops and housing very small. An apartment for an average family is less than 500 square feet and many are as small as 200 square feet. Some of the shops are smaller than 100 square feet.
After shopping we went down to the harbor where the local fisherman work and live on their sanpan boats. The harbor is interesting as it is lined with numerous mega yachts tied up on nice docks at the edge of the harbor and then the center of the harbor has lots of fishing boats and sandpans tied together. We were told that most of the fishing boats were in the harbor because fishing is not allowed in June or July for coservation purposes.
We took a sandpan into the harbor and around this famous floating restaurant. The restaurant is very large and seats nearly 6000 people. The picture shows the floating restaurant with a small portion of the Hong Kong skyline in the background. We are told the food is just okay. We then went into the harbor area where the fisherman live. It was interesting to see this 60-75 square foot sanpan that houses a family that they will spend their entire life on.
We were then taken to a jewelry factory famous for their jade jewelry and jade carvings. There were some very ornate carvings and beautiful jewelry pieces with some display pieces from $100,000 - $1,000,000 US.
We then drove up the mountainside to see Hong Kong from the hillside. We were kept from reaching the top due to dense fog. We drove past some very expensive houses with some on the hillside selling for as much as 60 Million US in the past couple of years. Condos in the new high rise building go for several million dollars.
We then went to lunch at a traditional chinese restaurant and had dim sum. The food was alittle different then we are used to, but it was very good.
After lunch we returned to our hotel and had afternoon of free time.
Tomorrow we fly to Nanning where we weill prepare to meet and pick up Mackenzie on Monday afternoon. We are looking forward to getting to Nanning as we will be so much closer to having our hands on Mackenzie.
Bye for now!

Arrived In Hong Kong

We arrived in last night at about 6:30PM China Standard Time (430AM in Denver).
Our flight went well with no major problems as we flew over the pacific ocean. We did encounter a couple of storms and had several periods of having our seat belts on.
The Hong Kong airport is a newer modern airport that is very large and very clean.
Lisa and I did not have any trouble at the airport with immigration, customs or luggage.
We had about 45 minute drive from airport to hotel by bus with our representative from the adoption agency showing us a few things as we drove. Hong Kong is a very interesting city of zones of high skyscrapersin every direction you look. There is a definate Las Vegas/Times Square feel as lots of buildings have neon, lights and signs.
Our hotel is near the harbor (we are on opposite side from Hong Kong container terminal which we are told is the largest shipping container terminal in the world). We could see the terinal as we drove on the highway and bridge over the harbor. The shipping terminal was impressive as it just kept going and there were huge stacks of containers everywhere you looked.
Our hotel, the Regal Kowloon, is a very nice hotel in a busy district with several shops, hotels and restaurants nearby. As we walked the block last night after arriving we saw Outback Steakhouse, 7-11 (about the size of a hotdog stand), Ruth Chris's Steakhouse and what would a corner be without Starbucks.
Our Hotel room is very clean and contemporary (but very small by U.S. standards). A picture of Lisa on window seat bench is attached.
We are scheduled to go on a tour with our adoption group later today (it is 545AM and Lisa and I have been up for a while now) and see the sights of Hong Kong by day.
We will try and post again before leaving for Nanning tomorrow (Sunday).

One flight down six more to go!

We have arrived in San Fransico and have about a three hour layover here. Our flight is set to leave San Fransico at 1:10pm. We will hopefully update again in 14 hours when we arrive in Hong Kong.

Anticipation and Excitement

On July 19, 2005 Lisa and I were blessed with the birth of Zachary David. On that day we had no idea what was in store for us as a family or how much or lives were going to change as we began our journey as a family of three.

We made a decision to adopt a baby from China in November of 2005 and have been anxiously waiting ever since. During the wait we have had a wonderful time with Zachary and watching him learn, grow and develop his unique personality and character.

On June 14, 2009 an hours old baby girl was delivered to the Cangwu County Orphanage in the Guangxi Province of China and named Long Mei Ke by orphanage staff. Little do we know about such fateful day or her intervening time in the orphanage, but on May 11, 2010 we were informed that we were matched with Long Mei Ke and we were going to become a family of four with the addition of Mackenzie Marie Mei Ke Parker.
We have chosen the name Mackenzie Marie in honor and recognition of family and we included the name Mei Ke in recognition of her culture and heritage because we want Mackenzie to know how important family, culture and heritage are as she grows and matures.

Lisa and I are scheduled to depart Denver on June 24, 2010 at 8:00 AM and arrive in Hong Kong, China on the evening of June 25. On June 27 we will depart Hong Kong for Nanning, China, which is the capital city for the Guangxi Province. We do not expect to get any sleep on the night of June 27 as we lay awake in our hotel as we await the anticipated delivery of Mackenzie and are able to hold her for the first time on the afternoon of June 28.

We will remain in Nanning doing various administrative activities until July 2 and then will go to Guangzhou, China for additional administrative activities until July 10 when we depart Guangzhou for home. We are scheduled to arrive in Denver the afternoon of July 10.

As we proceed on this journey we look forward to including our friends and family as we document our activities and ultimately and most important we are elated to be able to introduce you to Mackenzie Marie Mei Ke Parker.

Right now we are experiencing excitement, nervous apprehension and fear of our road ahead while we currently also have a sense of being overwhelmed at what we need to accomplish prior to our departure, but don’t be worried as there is a Wal-Mart in Nanning.

Love to all!

David and Lisa