Welcome to Beijing

After 4 flights and 2 days, we made it safely to Beijing. The flights were uneventful (fortunately) and the final flight was over 12 hours long, but it wasn't as bad as expected. We were able to get some rest, as much as you can get on a plane. It was getting dark when we landed and by the time we met up with our coordinator, Lina, and the other families that arrived today it was dark out, so no pictures of Beijing yet. Tomorrow we go to Tian An Men Square, the Forbidden City and then the Great Wall. It will be a full day.

While we have no sightseeing pictures we were surprised to get updated pictures of Nina. I believe they were taken this week. Even though we will see her in a couple of days, we are thrilled to get new pictures! She is just so beautiful we can't wait for her to be our daughter!!

Finally Able To Say "Tomorrow"

It seemed like it would never get here at times, but we are now able to say we leave for China tomorrow. Not in a few months, not next week, but tomorrow! When you begin an adoption journey you often times wonder if it will work out. We went down several paths that did not work out, but finally found the one we were destined to be on. And once you realize that you are on the right path, you always know, somewhere in the back of your mind, that you will get your child one day. It is very difficult to see through all of the paperwork and waiting, but you know at the end of the journey that a child is there for you and will become part of your family.

So it is the end of the beginning part of our journey and the beginning of the BEST part of our journey when all of the paperwork and waiting pays off and we get to travel to China to see our daughter. It will be an incredible few days just to get to her and I can't even begin to imagine how we will feel once we are able to hold her for real.

So join us on the last leg of this journey and the first leg of our journey as a family.

Reality Hits

We received the itinerary for our stay inside China. We will be staying at the Radisson SAS in Beijing and will visit TianAnMen Square, the Forbidden City & the Great Wall on Saturday, December 1. Wow! Sounds like a jammed-packed day of sight seeing. But I'm glad we will be able to see some of Beijing. Who knows when we might return.

We travel to Chongqing early on Sunday will be staying at the InterContinental Hotel. Surprisingly will meet Nina that afternoon! We thought the meeting would not be until Monday. One day earlier is even better. The adoption will be official on Monday and then we have a free day Tuesday and will go to the zoo (pandas!) on Wednesday and Ci Qi Kou Ancient Town on Thursday. More paperwork on Friday and then off to Guangzhou on Saturday. We will have some time during the week to explore on our own and of course do some shopping.

In Guangzhou we stay at the Garden Hotel and only have a few appointments during the 5 days that we are there: a medical exam, a consualte appointment and then taking an oath at the consulate and getting Nina's visa. The rest of the time we will be free to shop (do you sense a trend here?) and do some sightseeing.

It seems more real to me everyday that I will have a daughter soon. We leave in just over two weeks. Yesterday we were organizing her room after getting a new rug installed and I was sorting through her clothes and it struck me that soon she will actually be WEARING those clothes, they won't just be hanging in her closet! I was also thinking about Christmas the other day and realized that it won't just be Tim and me for Christmas this year. We will have Nina too! It will be an adjustment for all of us and we can't wait for it to happen!

Welcome November

Am I ever happy to see November! I am not usually one that likes to rush through October, since it is my favorite holiday Halloween (and this year our 10th anniversary) and Nina's birthday (although this year we celebrated seperately), but it feels really good to see November on the calendar, in particular November 29! Just 4 more weeks until we leave for China. It is certainly time to start getting REALLY prepared, making sure we have everything we need, sorting through all the clothes we have and deciding what we will bring and if we need to buy any more, getting all the paperwork together that we will need (that's a big chore in itself) and getting all of the other little details taken care of. I am not someone that packs weeks before a trip, so I will probably leave most of that until a few days before. But I would like to at least gather everything in one spot.

We have been reading a blog of a couple that is in Chongqing right now adopting their 2 1/2 year old daughter and it is so neat to be able to say that we will be there shortly! They have taken very detailed pictures and it is a great site for reference, especially since we will be leaving soon. Hope you all take the journey with us too!