Beijing!

 

Ya think the Olympics are coming?!!

Well, we have had a full day touring Beijing. We met our travel partners, Cheri and Greg Knorr at breakfast this morning, and then headed out for 12 hours of touring. We hit the Temple of Heaven, Tianneman Square, the Forbidden City, the Hutong area of Beijing, and the Chinese Acrobatic Show. Quite a full day! It's pretty bad when you are so tired you are falling asleep during an exciting acrobatic show! I'm so exhausted I really need to get to bed since we are doing the Great Wall tomorrow. I'll try and write more tomorrow about these places. In the meantime, check out our photos. Click below on the picture to visit our Picasa web album

Beijing day 1

We're here!!

Well, we arrived in Beijing around 4 pm local time, 4 am home time. We had a 2 hour delay on the ground before take-off because our plane's satellite system wasn't working, which meant that the airline had to re-route to China and couldn't go over the north pole which is a bit faster than the other way. So, bottom line, we were delayed about 3 hours, making our 13 hour flight longer than we had hoped for. But the good part was that our flight attendant moved us to business class because she wanted our seats for the flight crew! Woo hoo! Can we say LEG ROOM??? I appreciated the extra space.

Our guide in Beijing, William, picked us up at the airport, and after an hour in traffic reminiscent of DC area rush hour, we arrived at our Holiday Inn. It's very nice, doesn't remind me at all of most Holiday Inns in the states. The bed is a BRICK, however. We are missing our Select Comfort mattress!! Praying for a good night's (morning's?) sleep!

Tonight we went out to dinner at a dumpling restaurant and sampled the local cuisine. It was excellent. William was quite bent on getting us to try the local liquor, so I gave it a try. You drink it in these tiny champagne glasses and it BURNS all the way down. Pretty gross stuff! Cleans out the sinuses! The Chinese beer was much better.

Anyway, we are back in our hotel for the evening (which is morning in Virginia) and praying fervently that we will get some good sleep. I'll post more tomorrow after we see some sights!

We are leaving today!

 

Here are my saintly parents-in-law, Ruth and Chuck, who are watching our children for two weeks!

 

Our last dinner together before our trip.

Well, we are finally leaving. The bags are packed and by the front door, hopefully not too many things have been forgotten. Everyone is asleep except the family insomniac--me!! I did get about 5 hours of sleep which for me is pretty good on the eve of a big trip. Hopefully, I will sleep on the plane.

In the last 5 days, we have had quite a bit going on- a family wedding (hi, Jessie and Elliot, you newlyweds, you!), houseguests-my sister Alison, husband Jimmy, and their 4 kids, a birthday party for 5 of my kids (the 4 September kids and my poor little February boy who didn't get a party this year...), baseball tryouts, and who knows, I'm probably forgetting something, but you get the picture...

I would just like to thank all the wonderful people who helped make this adoption happen--our homestudy agency, Forever Families, our adoption agency, Small World, our great church family who gave us close to $6000 towards Josiah's adoption, my stepfather, Phil, who also helped us financially (and, Phil, we WILL buy a car one of these days...), and finally, Ruth and Chuck and my mom and stepdad who are taking care of our kids while we are away. Not to mention the assortment of friends and neighbors who will be shuttling my kids around and having them over for playdates to give Ruth and Chuck a break!

Our last photo as a family of 9...

We took this at church this morning. Our next family photo will have one more "blessing" in it!

Did some serious packing today, but still have a ways to go. My wardrobe isn't large enough for me to pack the clothes I need in China and leave them in the suitcase till we leave!

My friend Martha who lives in the same town as we do (and is also a homeschooler, which is how we know each other), arrived in China yesterday. This is their second adoption from China. They are adopting a 6 year old boy. Her blog is www.findingruth.blogspot.com. She has a wonderful video on her blog that shows her family (and others in their travel group) receiving their daughter from China. For anyone wondering what it's like when you receive your child, this is a great video to watch.

And I thought USCIS was a pain...

Until I tried to wire my in-China fees using Western Union!

Marc and I spent two hours yesterday standing at our local Giant Food's service desk, trying to wire money to China. The poor guy at the desk tried his best, but the higher ups at Western Union sure made it hard. We were sent home twice for "documentation" including our social security cards (which we had to fax to the unknown agent!), passports, and adoption papers. This despite my phone call to WU two days ago asking EXACTLY what I would need to bring with me (and it didn't include my social security card or passport or adoption papers...) In the end, despite everything, we were denied services. Their reason? They think we are being scammed by our adoption agency! Never mind that we faxed them our Travel Approval from the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs), approving our adoption, telling us to come get our son! I'm still wondering what the social security card was necessary for if they thought we were being scammed by our agency. I guess maybe they thought we were terrorists or something first, then after they ruled that out they went for their next best option to deny us: Protect the poor idiot consumer who can't think for himself.

If my identity is stolen, I will know where to start looking...

I was so FURIOUS. Afterwards, I called and complained and got some woman who kept asking me questions like, "Have you ever actually MET someone from your adoption agency?" (Uh... they are on the West Coast, and we are on the East Coast, so the answer is NO...) and "Have you ever called Directory Assistance to see if your agency is listed?" (Uhhh..yes, in fact I did that at the Giant so I could give your agent their phone number so you could verify that A) they really are an adoption agency and B) we are their clients, but the Western Union agent wasn't interested in calling them. Not their job.

Less than 2 weeks till we leave!

13 days to be exact! But my sister Alison's family is coming next Friday (4 kids, two parents...we will have 15 people in our house!) to stay with us for our sister Jessica's wedding on the 25th, so we need to be completely packed and ready to go by next Thursday. We also need to keep our suitcases at 44 pounds or less which will be a challenge. I know when we traveled for Grace, our suitcases were 70 pounds each, which was OK because we had no in-China flights since we were in Guangzhou the whole time. Not so this time.

I had a dream about Josiah last night, that his cleft palate had been repaired in China. We were in a room in China, with his red-haired, American foster mother (!!!) and she had him open his mouth and show me. Pretty weird. Then I asked her if she spoke English to him, and she said no...end of dream...

Details, details...

16 days and counting!  My house is trashed, I haven't ordered homeschooling materials for the fall, I need to pack for China, I need to figure out how to use Skype to call home from China, I need to figure out how to post pics and text to my blog while in China, I need to write a master list of instructions for my poor in-laws (pray for them!) who are coming to watch the grandkids while we are gone...I think I may have a nervous breakdown.  I need a tetanus shot, antibiotics for Josiah, Marc and me, and who knows what else at this point.  Hopefully, no one will get sick before we leave (or after!). 

 

I am trying to set up some playdates for the boys while we are in China to give May May and Poppy a bit of a break.  My mom is taking the boys for a couple of nights, and then the girls for a couple of nights, so that should help too.  I need to come up with a backup plan if Poppy gets sick while we are away and they have to return to Ohio.  I think this part of adoption--getting ready to go and all the logistics with our large family--is by far and away the hardest part.  Well, except for dealing with USCIS, but don't get me going on that!   I'd rather work on my dossier anytime!

Back from Nationals, got our travel itinerary for China!

I got back from Nationals on Monday night. It was a great trip! I had so much fun, and ran my best times as an "old lady." Our 4x800 meter relay team set an age group (40-49) world record!

Our travel plans have come together really easily. We are leaving for China on August 29th, and return on September 12th. Only two weeks in China, including a 2 day tour of Beijing. Josiah joins our family on September 3rd. I can't wait!

Our daughter Trisha leaves on a mission trip this Friday to Mississippi, my sister Alison and her family arrive on Aug. 24 for my sister Jessica's wedding on the 25th, and we leave the 29th. It's going to be a busy 3 weeks...

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TA! TA!

We got TA (travel approval) yesterday! Still waiting for our Consulate Appointment to be confirmed. Our tentative travel plans are to leave on 8/29, with Family Day on 9/3. We are going to tour Beijing for a couple of days before we head to Wuhan.

We are so excited! I wish we could travel sooner, but we want to travel with another family from our agency, the Knorrs, and they have a work conflict. Plus, this way we won't miss my sister Jessica's wedding.

I am in Maine right now, competing in the Masters National Track Championships. I am so glad I have my laptop with me! I've had to work on travel plans in my spare time, but it's all coming together, and the distraction of planning our trip is helping me not be so nervous about competing! I got second in the 400 meters yesterday with a masters PR of 1:01.65, and today I have the 800. Tomorrow, I have 3 relays.