TOMORROW!

This will be my last post till we are in China! We leave tomorrow morning. It is kind of surreal for me today. I feel like I have been waiting for this day a long time. It has taken us over a year to get to this point. I have been telling everyone soon and the time would get pushed back for some reason. I really thought we would have had Ren home for a long time by now, but God knows best.



We will be united with Ren next Monday, so look for posts Monday morning EST. We will try and post pictures and or video! Thank you to all of you who have wished us well and have been praying for us! Your prayers are much appreciated but don't stop yet, LOL! I am praying that we all stay well, kick our colds, and a smooth transition for Ren.

TA DA!

TA DAaaa! We did it! We got all our stuff in the above 3 suitcases! Whooo! Thanks to load master Mark who can pack anything! We are taking these 3 (above) with a back pack each. We may have to do laundry one or two times while in China but that's OK. It was a little challenging this time because we will be in 3 different places with different weather conditions. It could be in the 30's and 40's to the high 80's! I'm hoping for more moderate weather, 50's to the 80's, but I wanted to be prepared. We even packed bathing suits! Unfortunately for me I could not find my bikini (maybe on purpose ;-)). Oh well, I will enjoy watching Mark and the kids swim while I soak up the sun.

3 MORE DAYS TO GO!!!!

Getting Ready

Five days to go! The reality is really setting in and the count down has started! We have been packing our suitcases and checking off lists. Funny thing is I keep adding to my list!! I realized the other day that we will return right before Easter weekend! So Mark and I ran out and bought TWO Easter baskets and goodies! How fun was that?!!

We are taking 2 big suitcases and 1 small one for 4 people, for 2 weeks in a foreign country, and we are trying to keep each suitcase under 40 pounds, AHHHH ha ha ha ha ha!! Not sure if this is gonna happen. We have to include entertainment for a 5 year old and 3 year old (who doesn't speak English yet) for a 14 hour airplane ride home. I could take a suitcase just for this stuff!! Maybe they will sleep on the flight home....well one can wish can't they?? ;-)

RIP Bob

Loyal companion, foot warmer, a good friend, my buddy. Bob would sing (howl) to me every morning. He was a good dog. A lot of you knew Bob and were generally entertained by him. Bob had a ruptured disc in his neck and other serious problems. Bob will be greatly missed.

ONE WEEK

ONE WEEK!

'Nuf said.

Where Will We Be?

A lot of you have wondered where we are going in our travels. Mark suggested I post a map of our trip here on our blog.

March 26th we will land in Beijing and stay and tour for a couple days. We will be going to the Great Wall while we are there. This gives us a great opportunity to get acclimated to the 12 hour difference in time zones for us before we get Ren.

Our next stop is in the Province of Jiangsu. We will be in the capital city of Nanjing (see pic above). You can see that this is near the East coast of China right above Shanghai. This is where Ren is!!! We will be united with him on the 30th of March!! Ren actually lives about 2 hours to the East of Nanjing toward the coast. When ever you are adopting a child in China you always receive your child in the Capital City. We will stay here and finalize our adoption and complete some paperwork while we enjoy this city.

Then we fly to Guangzhou. This is a very tropical city in the South. We will enjoy our stay at the infamous White Swan Hotel on historical Shamian Island. I hope to enjoy nice warm weather while we are there. Everyone who is adopting must go to Guangzhou for their American Consulate appointment. Guangzhou was once occupied by the British and has a very interesting mixture of Chinese and British architecture set amid tropical palms and greenery! After our stay there we will fly back home through Beijing and be home on April 9th!

HERE WE GO!

We know when we are leaving for China!! We've made our plane reservations and are packing our bags! Our itinerary looks like this.

Departure for Beijing China: March 25th!!!

Tour Beijing get used to time zone

Depart Beijing and fly to Nanjing: March 29th

Try to actually sleep

Gotcha Day!!!: March 30th

Meet Ren for the first time

Paperwork and meetings

Sight see in Nanjing

Celebrate Mark's birthday in China: April 2nd

Depart Nanjing and fly to Guangzhou: April 4th

Consulate appointment: April 7th

Enjoy Guangzhou

Depart Guangzhou fly home!: April 9th

This is 2 and a half weeks away! We are shocked and amazed at how good God is to us. This journey took a lot longer than we had anticipated but all the pieces are falling perfectly into place. We will be gone over Eden's Spring break so she will miss less school than I thought! This is a great blessing! On another note we were supposed to go house hunting over Spring break. It will be interesting to see how God works this out and finds us a house. He already knows where we will be living and how we will find our home!

We are blessed to be traveling with 7 other families! How fun is that!? I have had the pleasure of getting to know 4 of these moms, so I am traveling with very good friends! In the adoption world there has been a tradition to give your group a name. That's what happens when you have too much time on your hands. We have been dubbed The Posse. We are moms on a mission. I can't decide if I should work on a gang sign for us or maybe cowboy hats. What do you think?

Thank you for all the congratulations and good wishes everyone! I love reading your comments and e-mails! We will be posting from China and hopefully adding lots of pictures and videos to this blog. Please keep posting while we are in China! You can leave comments by clicking on the comment link below my posts or in the Guest book link on the right hand side of blog.

Did I tell you I'm excited?

TA!!!!!!! WOOOooo HOOOooo!!!

We got the call that we received our Travel approval yesterday!!! We are sooooo excited!! We are hoping to leave for China in a few weeks and be home before the trade fair in Guangzhou. The next few weeks will be spent getting our American Consulate appointment which determines the exact time we need to be in China, buying plane tickets, arranging hotels, travel, and PACKING!!

Here we come Ren! Time to Rock and Roll!

All Good Things Come To Those That Wait

Well we are WAITING to hear something any day now. Does DHL make deliveries on Presidents Day? Ahhhhh *sigh*. I am not going to predict when we will travel to China, I have done that already and here we are in February and still WAITING.

Our big news is that we are going to be moving back "home". We will be moving back to Ohio this Spring! Yay! When are we moving you ask?? We are WAITING to hear. Did I tell you I don't like WAITING? We have to buy a house before we move. That will probably be sometime after we get Ren. I hope to look for a house over our Spring break unless we are in China then, of course I don't know that yet. Can someone give me a "L", give me an "I", give me a "M", give me a "B", and a "O"!!!!!!!! What does that spell???.... Me!! LOL!! I am making fun of myself. I have not been real patient lately, but if these things are problems then they are good problems to have :-). Can't wait to spend time with all our family in Ohio again!

Meanwhile we are packing our suitcases and planning for our trip. Here is a picture of my new toy I will be taking with me to China. It is so tiny it will fit in my purse! It is a mini laptop, Asus Eee, to keep in touch with you all while in China. I took a picture of it next to a paperback to put it in perspective.

Here is Ren's suit case packed.

Who said boys clothes aren't cute! Here is Ren's Adoption Day outfit ready to go! This would look cute with a pair of Chucks, black or red? Note to self: iron that shirt before we go!

Soon

Dark hair, silky or coarse

Little fingers, what will be the shape of his nails

Fiery or gentle

Snuggly or constant motion

Serious or funny

Shy or outgoing

Loud or quiet

Easy or stubborn

Kisses or hugs

Who will he be

Mine