Anniversary in Beijing

*written on Sat, finally able to catch up on Monday!*
Day 2 in Beijing found us celebrating our 17th anniversary at the Great Wall of China.  The traffic here is always in jams so it took us about an hour and a half to get to the section we were headed for.

  Time was passed by more  history and cultural lessons from our agency reps.   In an instant we were looking out at rugged mountains.  The wall seemed to just grow on them.  The path of the wall followed every bump and divet on the old land.  It was steep climbing that made me take it slow and pause often.  The trip down was no better on your knees from the aged stones being worn away here and there. 

  We had lunch as a big group and continue to get to know each other and enjoy everyone's company as we all anticipate getting our children.  Our new friends come from all over the US and there are a few children tagging along as well.

Our lunch was so big and late in the day,  we just weren't that hungry for dinner so we settled with a corn on the cob stick from the outdoor market and a yogurt drink and called it a night.  We have an early wake up call in the morning as we catch a flight to the center of China to "the biggest city you've never heard of" Chongqing.   It has 32 million people within its sprawling suburbs and one little person there holds a special place in our hearts!

In Chongqing!

We have arrived in the province which Maisie is. We feel kind of lonely after being around 12 other adopting families since we are the only ones that are in our area.  We will be glad to see all the families we have only known for 3 days next week when we reunite with all of our precious new children in hand.  

Tomorrow is our life changing day.  For us and for Maisie as we enter her little life for the first time.  We had a small hiccup in our logistics this afternoon and we will be moving to a new hotel tonight.  I am hopeful for a better internet connection to load up tomorrow's pictures for all to see.  Please continue to pray for a smooth transition as Maisie loses everything she has ever known and learns to accept us as her forever family.

Sightseeing

We arrived a little weary yesterday afternoon.  The time difference is exactly 12 hours ahead, but we were immediately meeting other adoptive families as we got off the  plane, so the excitement had surpassed the exhaustion as we chatted away. 

We finally checked into the hotel at 5, then out for a fast dinner, shower and a quick Skype with the kids before we sunk into bed.  By 5 am we were awake and ready to face a full day of taking culture and customs and sightseeing.

The breakfast buffet was huge and we easily got our fill while laughing at our first hours with some new friends.   We took a bus to walk Tian ' anmen Square and the Forbidden City which like an onion, its layers of walls and housings seemed endless.  We then took some rickshaws to the district of alleyways and had a late but scrumptious lunch in the private home of a family that are local prize winning pigeon racers.  -Who knew huh?  No pigeon was harmed for the preparation of our food.  

In the midst of all this, our 2 sweet agency guides answer all our cultural questions, teach us language phrases and fill our heads with the history of everything we are taking in.  

Tonight for dinner we roamed the local streets and saw things like scorpion on a stick ( fried or live), steaming dumplings, hard sugar glazed fruit and so many unidentifiable meats that overwhelmed the senses.  We wearily walked back to the hotel but stopped long enough to take in a Friday night dance party in a city square.  (Line dancing that is).  Interesting sights, smells and sounds.  Jet lag still hasn't fully let us go, we are getting to bed pretty early again.  Tomorrow is our last full day in Beijing then off to Maisie's province on Sunday.    

I am having a hard time connecting my pictures on to the blog for a few days.  Trying to get that worked out.  I will take some from my phone to put on tomorrow and keep seeing what I can do.

The day is here!   The suitcases have pretty much been packed for a few days now.  Just a couple rearrangements and last minute additions have been made.  

The past few days have been all about numbers in my head and I feel like Rain Man.

  2 more lunches to pack

36 hours until we get to Beijing

I'm missing 2 weeks of Lydia's preschool

We're waiting for the next flight to take us on a 15 hour trip, but that is one of the better numbers because that means I will be sleeping in the homeland of my baby girl in 24 hours from now.

  A few short days from now and we will finally have our Maisie in hand.

The week between

As mentioned in a previous post, there is always something you are waiting for in the course of adoption.  After we received the fabulous news that we had Travel Approval, we just had to wait on the confirmation that we had an appointment with the American Consulate in China.  Seems easy enough right?  I mean after all the paperwork and government documents we have filled out, to schedule an appointment with a fellow American couldn't be too hard.  It turned out to be a little more agonizing than we anticipated.  We had to wait 5 long days with emails and phone calls on our behalf by our agency.  By Wednesday morning I was getting unsure that we would be able to travel when we were hoping.  But, finally it came, we booked our tickets to fly out exactly a week later.  

Whoo-hoo!!  Three days from now we will be on our way to the other side of the world.

So, in this time, I have packed mine and Maisie's suitcase, 

notarized more forms to take to China, 

notarized forms to leave with grandparents for kids. 

 Cleaned out my closets, drawers, 

Washed my car interior and vacuumed (very important before leaving on a long trip - can we say "nesting").  Returned all the library books and videos (I can't take that $2.00 a day video fine).  

Shopping trips to Target, Wal-Mart, clothing stores, drug stores.  

Finished up all the work at hand with our Cub Scout pack, 

Attempted to finish my kids home school review (my appointment is the week after we return)

  Writing out all possible numbers of friends that will be helping out with the kids

  Writing out schedules and menus 

 I get a happy moment when my fellow adopting friends (that I have never met) message me about meeting up in China. 

In the chaos, I got to take in a few games in which it will be the last that I will get to watch my kids play their spring sports.  I will miss not being there for Caleb's last few games and about 1/4 of Alexia's softball season.   It's all good though and one week from tomorrow we will have our Maisie in hand and all the chaos will be worth it 100 fold. 

   

Early Mother's Day present

The day after I resolved to sit tight and wait a few more days before I started getting anxious again, it happened. I was in the grocery store and got a text from a friend in the same agency that she just received her TA.  I checked my emails.  

None for me yet. 

 Ugh.  

A second friend responded she did not have hers yet either.  Okay, that made me feel a little better.  I called Erik, on the verge of tears from excitement.  I was just excited that she had hers which meant they it had to be coming.  It was almost 45 minutes after her first notice that I finally got my email.  And just for the record, I had the phone in one hand while vacuuming with the other as I kept refreshing my inbox. 

CCAI- Travel Approvals Received- Please Read & Respond!

AHHH...That is a beautiful subject line.  

Read and respond we did.  We hope to travel in 11 days which lines up with some pretty cool happenings.

17th Wedding anniversary in Beijing

Maisie's Gotcha Day on Memorial Day

In China for their national holiday- Dragon Boat Festival 

Getting to be in Guangzhou with American friends from our hometown that live in China as they finish paperwork for their little girl they adopted!

You couldn't have planned all that to coordinate so nicely!

  

We are so excited.  Travel agents are being contacted today.  I am now in "full-on" mode.  No slowing down, we've got things to do, places to be, stuff to pack, papers to sign and a little girl to get!

Waiting

What time is it?  How much longer until we go?

     I hate not knowing what time it is.  I have to know how much time until things are going to happen.  Unfortunately I have passed this quirk on to my son.  He has to know what is happening, at exactly what time and how many more minutes are left, then he starts the verbal countdown (we have to leave in 10 minutes).
  Adoption is pretty much synonymous with waiting.  However, the difference is, you don't know where you are in the timing of the figurative adoption line.  It would be redundant to list all the processes you wait for again and again.   Right now, we are in the final phase of waiting (well, pre-China at least.)  Referral is secure, visas are issued, meds and shots are done and even packing has commenced.  We are waiting for China to give our agency the green light to send us over.   This is like being 40 weeks pregnant, going into labor, hospital bags are packed and everything is ready to go...but you have to get insurance approval before you leave for the hospital.  So, now you are on hold with someone in another country waiting for them to tell you when to go.  I know, that's a crazy analogy, but that's where I'm at.  I am half crazy myself because of all this waiting.  I have nested, shopped, cooked ahead and yesterday I busted my thigh tearing up the stairs to catch my phone hoping it was our agency calling.  (I've never been so disappointed to hear my sister's voice).  
   A friend yesterday told me this is her "building the ark" phase as she waits for the rain to come down.  I wish I had that grace.  Some days are better than others.  I am thankful for the time I have for a few more preparations here and there.  BUT, I'd just rather have Maisie home with us and get this family going.