WE LEAVE IN ONLY 9 DAYS!!

My friend Melanie made me laugh so hard the other day! She sent an email that said "Only 11 days....PUSH!" Urgh! Can you imagine being in labor for 11 days? I would have to be knocked out! Ha ha! Melanie, wish you were coming with us! Love you!

OUR ITINERARY IN CHINA!

Here is our day by day itinerary while in China!

Sep.11th: By CZ328 arrive Guangzhou. The guide will meet them in Guangzhou airport. Transfer to hotel. (WS Hotel)
Sep.12th: Meet child in Civil Affairs at 14:30. Sign agreement.
Sep.13th: 09:00 go to Civil Affairs for registration.
Sep.14th: Take registration certificate. Notary and apply passport.
Sep.15th: One day rest.
Sep.16th: Six Banyan temple
Sep.17th-19th: Rest.
Sep.20th: Take passport in the afternoon.
Sep.21st: Medical and take child’s photo.
Sep.22nd: Rest.
Sep.23rd: Safari Park. (Safari?? didn't know there were wild animals in these parts! :)
Sep.24th: 10:30 visa appointment. River Cruise. (with other CHI families)
Sep.25th: 16:00 take visa in the afternoon.
Leave Guangzhou-home by CZ327 at 21:00.

PREPARATION!

Hi Everyone:

Some think doing all the paperwork, finger printing, homestudy interviews and authentications is the hard part of adoption. WRONG!! It's actually getting everything packed and ready to go to China. Ericka and I now officially have our money, bags partially packed, medical supplies (Airborne, Imodium AD, Pepto Bismol, ladie's supplies, Tums, toiletries, antibiotics, Advil, nasal spray, eye drops) and more...ready to go! I have made all my hotel and airline arrangements; accidentally ordered multiple entry Visas good for multiple entries to China for one year (I can move there!); received our airline tickets; freaked out when I didn't receive Abbie's ticket and then realized hers is an e-ticket (phew); printed the e-ticket; registered our trip with the U.S. Department of State so the U.S. knows we are leaving and China knows we are coming; purchased travel insurance for the three of us; made double copies of every document; and have pulled all my hair out. Okay, now I am ready to go to China. :)

NEW PICTURES OF ABBIE!!

I love nothing more than to receive new pictures of our Abbie! A family just traveled to Shantou to pick up their lovely daughter and posted on the Shantoukids blog that two children (a boy and a girl) are going to be adopted next month. They took pictures of the two children and noted that the little girl "was very social!" Yep, you guessed it! Little Miss Social is our Abbie! She looks very happy and healthy. Enjoy the pictures! Hopefully, the next pictures I post will be with her in my arms!

WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!

We have our Consulate Appointment and Travel Dates to get Abbie!!!! We leave Salt Lake City on 9/9 to Los Angeles, then hop on a red-eye flight to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. We will arrive in China on 9/11. I am not sure what day we will get Abbie, but if it is anything like Lucy's adoption, it will be the minute we get off the airplane! Ha ha! Our Consulate Appointment is the last thing we do before we bring Abbie home and it is scheduled on 9/24. We will return to the U.S. the afternoon of 9/26! We are trying to schedule a day to visit Abbie's orphanage in Shantou. I would like to take her to the South China Sea and look at the ocean so far away from where her new home will be.

READY OR NOT ABBIE, HERE WE COME!!!!! Love, Your Forever and Ever Family! XOXOXO

More Goofy Girls to Pass the Time Away!!

Best friends, but someone is missing...Abbie!!

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE!!!! OUR TA IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! Just received this FABULOUS message from our agency:

"I anticipate we will have your TA's tomorrow. They were sent from China on 8/16 so here they come. If you have not completed and returned the attached Consulate request for please do that ASAP so we can ask for a Consulate appointment for you. Are you EVER SO READY to have these here? PHEW! Now we just wait for the Consulate and then, THEN, THEN you can actually plan your travel.
--
Stefani Ellison
China Program Coordinator
Children’s House Inernational"

Abbie, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Mommy, Daddy, Kyle, Ericka, Gracie, Lucy, Nibbles and your entire family!!!!!

OKAY, I WAS HOLDING BACK ON YOU ALL! HERE'S ONE MORE!!

Don't worry Abbie! Mommy had absolutely nothing to do with that lovely outfit you were wearing! Wait until you see what is in my suitcase for you!! :)

OKAY, JUST A COUPLE MORE TO ENJOY! :)

Abbie's sweet little friends. Can't wait to see you hold hands with your sisters Lucy and Gracie!

I AM SO EXCITED!!

Unfortunately, we don't have our travel approval yet, but I did receive some new pictures of our beautiful Abbie from two friends with daughters from the same Social Welfare Institute as Abbie! I can't wait to get her home and chubby up those skinny little cheeks, legs and arms!

Where, Oh Where is that TA?

...Still waiting for our TA. Should be any day now!

Hee Hee Hee! My New Sister is Coming Home Soon!!

Consulates, Passports and Visas, Oh My!

Howdy! Today I sent the documentation, money orders, checks, pictures, passports and other paraphernalia required to order the Chinese Visas for Ericka and I. Good thing too! When I got back to work, I had a message from our agency that they are expecting our Travel Approval in the next batch they receive. I had to fill out a Consulate Appointment Request form, selecting three optional dates for our appointment. It's starting to get awfully real now!!! :)

Reality Check

Things are starting to really sink in that soon, Ericka and I will be on a plane to bring home our precious Abbie. I must admit, I am praying for the best, but expecting this to be a difficult adoption. Think about it...Abbie has lived in the Shantou Social Welfare Institute since she was three days old. She is now 2 1/2. We are about to take her from the only family she has ever known and loved...and who have loved her. You can just feel her grief, and how scared she will be. This hurts my heart. I hope and pray that God prepares her little heart now, so when I hold her in my arms, she will immediately feel the love of her mommy. The mommy who will love her always, heal her wounds, be there when her first boyfriend breaks her heart, cry when she leaves for college and rejoices the day she holds her grandchild. I love Abbie with all my heart, but my heart aches for this child who does not speak our language and has so much to learn, who has never enjoyed the pleasure of eating fruit snacks and riding a tricycle around the block with her sisters. Imagine the joy (and terror) she will experience on her first airplane ride...her first ride in the bike trailer...even the first time I strap her into a car seat! I am scared to death of how to feed her and take care of her. Having no experience with cleft palate, I pray that God will guide me on how to do this. Better yet, Abbie, please guide me yourself! I pray that when I take her for her first of what is sure to be many, many surgeries, that she will not hate me and will realize that I am doing this for her, with love in my heart, so she may have everything available to her in life. Abbie, my baby, the world is your oyster and rejoice and be joyful! You will learn from your family and we will learn so much from you. Mostly, we will all learn to love as a family of seven! We love you and will see you very soon. Promise!

p.s. I love all the pictures I have posted on this blog, but what I will love the most is seeing my five children smiling and being silly together! I can't wait to post a picture of all of them!

With love always, Mommy XOXOXO