This is the 12th installment in a series of columns I am devoting to the adoption journey my wife, Claudette, and I started in 2005. Hank Bond, publisher and editor of the Greenup Beacon, asked that we share our story with you. Maybe you have an interest in adoption or know someone who does. If so, I hope this information is helpful.

In a Jan. 31, 2007, entry in our blog titled “Our Wednesday with Josie” while we were still in Nanjing (Jiangsu province), China:

“Josie Claire Siyan Hapney came out of her shell today! While she has been fairly quiet for the first two days we have had her, she is in full force now! She has laughed a lot today, "chatted" a lot," and acted silly a lot! She prances around like she's number one and wants everyone to know it! We sincerely cannot wait until the day we see her lay down the law to Brock and Blake. That should be interesting for sure.”

“Josie is running around the room after Claudette gave her a bath. She is wound up!  No more Kit Kat candy bars today; that's for sure. She is Mommy's shadow, and likes when Daddy holds her up in the air and brings her down to the bed, back and forth. She's had a blast with her toys this evening.”

“We toured a silk factory today, bought seven hand-made silk quilts from the factory outlet store, and bought some silk covers for the quilts. We then had lunch at yet another authentic Chinese restaurant. It was a very beautiful spot. Claudette wasn't too up on the selection. It was sweet and sour fish, custard, rice, green beans (Claudette said she has no idea what they were), and what looked like raw shrimp (which we gave to our guide to give to our driver. I told John (our guide) that I cannot eat shrimp because I've fished with it so many times during the past at the Beach in North Carolina.”

“After lunch we toured one of China's most famous gardens.  It was beautiful and tranquil.”

“That's all for now.  I'm still battling what Claudette had a couple of weeks ago--sore throat and headache.  I've had no fever and am taking my antibiotic regularly (in addition to Tylenol). I'm enjoying some hot tea right now, and boy does it feel great.  I told Claudette I bet the Chinese people we encounter all talk about that American man with the beard and glasses who smells funny! I've practically bought half of the Hall's cough drops company!”

“Hope you enjoy today's photos.  I plan to post our adoption story (the history of how we decided to adopt), hopefully tomorrow.  So ‘stay tuned!’”

“By the way, it is now 11:30 p.m. and Josie is still wide awake and getting into everything! I guess now that we're officially her Mommy and Daddy she's going to start acting like she's officially our daughter! My gray hair is going to get even grayer (but I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything in the world.)!”

Terry L. Hapney, Jr., Ph.D., is a professor in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Marshall University, and an eastern Greenup County native. He may be reached at hapney@marshall.edu.



Josie is getting ready to get out of the minivan after touring Nanjing.

Employees of the silk factory pull the silk to make a silk quilt. I got some video of Claudette helping them. After Claudette was finished, one of the women tapped Claudette on the shoulder, pointed at Josie, and gave Claudette a thumbs up!

Here's Josie Claire Siyan Hapney in our hotel room in Nanjing.