The Fairy Godmother

There are a lot of unknowns on an adoption trip. Taking the whole family will be a wonderful experience, but the responsibility of helping Little Weed #4 transition into our family in those first days trumps all other parenting obligations. Add to that the small chance of illness in any one of our crew and you've just given yourself a very strong argument for taking along an extra adult. Enter (drumroll, please...) the Fairy Godmother.

My dear sister is godmother to all three of our current children. We occasionally refer to her as the Fairy Godmother, hence the nickname. The Fairy Godmother is always up for an adventure and offered her services to accompany us to China as aunt extraordinaire. She has been through an international adoption herself and already understands all the boundaries and dynamics involved in the initial bonding experience between Little Weed #4 and his brand new parents. She will be there to help our oldest three in any way needed, act as an extra hand (Sticks is referring to her as "the maidservant"), and add a little extra dose of fun and laughter to the whole trip.

We are so grateful that her family was gung ho about supporting our family in this way. She will be sorely missed at home and will have to hear about her daughter's first day of kindergarten via Skype. We'll do our best to make sure she and her travel mate, Flat Yoda (a distant relative of Flat Stanley), enjoy their first trip to China. All while being sure that she will be keeping her trusty fairy godmother eye on the kids.