Two days and then China here we come!

We have only two days left and we are leaving for China!!!!!  I am overwhelmed right now with the planning.  My emotions are all over the map and I can’t focus on anything.  I am really excited because I can’t wait to meet him and have him a part of our family!  We leave 6am Wednesday morning!  It can’t get here fast enough yet it is getting here too fast.  I wanted to share what hotels we will be staying at for those interested.  In Beijing we will be staying at the Double Happiness Courtyard.  It is located in a Hutong which is an old neighborhood.  Here is a description of it:

Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel is located in age-old city zone. The guests enjoy fast and easy access to all of Beijing's major attractions. It has a long bystreet behind the hotel. The native people live here and enjoy the wonderful life. The country yard of the hotel has 250 years history. It is said Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel was a Chinese famous scholar Ji Xiaolan’s former residence during the period of Qing dynasty. The yard is filled with various plants and flowers. Guests can enjoy different views with four seasons. It is featured by unique decoration of the guest rooms. It owns special design with modern facilities in every guest room. People can enjoy different styles and Chinese cultural atmosphere. The hotel will leave every guest a good remembrance.

You can also go here and look at more pictures.  http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/LocationPhotos-g294212-d813642-w5-Double_Happiness_Courtyard_Hotel-Beijing.html  We are really excited to be staying here!

While in Nanchang we will be at the Galactic Peace Hotel.  I have heard good things about this hotel so I am looking forward to staying here and the girls are looking forward to swimming in the pool under the stars:)

You can go here if you want more info.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297446-d651294-Reviews-Galactic_Peace_International_Hotel-Nanchang_Jiangxi.html

And then the last place we are staying at is the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou.

And here is the website if you want to check it out more.  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g298555-d308431-Reviews-The_Garden_Hotel_Guangzhou-Guangzhou_Guangdong.html

Now I must go eat lunch, finish packing, clean house, go get my hair cut and eyebrows done (must look good for pictures) and get the girls hair cut!  Whew I pray we get it all done!

Adoption Shower!!!!

I have to share what a blessing my family was this last Sunday.  They threw me an adoption shower.  In paticular my cousin Jen (left in picture) and Mom (right in the picture) was such a blessing.  It made my heart feel so good knowing they would be accepting Cole into the family and that they are looking forward to it.  My Mom is my inspiration for adopting a boy who is cleft lip/palate.  She was born cleft lip/palate and she is the most beautiful, strongest woman I know!  She is going to be such a blessing in Cole's life knowing that he is not too different or in thinking something is wrong with him.  She is already being great in giving me pointers that I did not think about on my own.  One of them was to get button up shirts becaue she hated having shirts pulled over her head after she had surgury. 

Here is the sign that says it all!

No one had to be here and I know everybody has  busy schedules, so I really appreciated all who showed up to show support and love!  And thanks to my Mom who let us use the restaurant Jersey's Cafe.

One of the party goers could not handle anymore fun!

Some good friends who I did not tell the shower about until the last minute and they still came:)  I forgot to tell them sooner.  I am really loosing my mind!

We decided to open gifts as a family because we are adopting as a family and we are traveling together as a family.  This is very much a family event.  The girls were just as excited to see what he was getting and they are really looking forward to having a baby brother.

I am trying out my Ergo with my very unhappy nephew.  I am a little nervous trying this out with a two year old but in my research it is supposed to be great for bonding and attachement.

I can't thank everyone enough for what they did!!!!!!!!!!  I love you all and pray the Lord blesses you greatly.  Also, to those who were not able to make it, we appreciate your thoughts and prayers and all assistance you have already given.  Plus, we would like to publicly thank Rose and Roy (Dan's parents) for their very generous gift.  I would post more pictures and tell more of the story but my very impatient husband is wanting to eat dinner:)

We have dates and plane tickets!

Oh wow, I can’t believe it but we are heading to China!!!!  We are leaving May 2^nd at 6am and getting back May 19^th at 11:47pm.  My stomach is all messed up and I still can’t think straight.  I keep thinking of All the things that need to get done (which is a lot).  We are leaving in two weeks and I don’t even have hotels booked!  I am just trusting God to work it all out.  Our Gotcha day is going to be May 7^th.  I can’t wait to meet him!  So here are our plans thus far:

May 2^nd:   Leave Indianapolis airport at 6am.

               :   Arrive at Newark Liberty Airport (New Jersey) at 7:57am (love how they                      have the time down to the minute, do you think they actually will land at 7:57am on the nose?)

                :   Leave Newark at 11:55am and arrive in Beijing at 1:45pm on May 3^rd.  We lose a day here.

May 3^rd-  May 6^th:  Explore Beijing (We need a hotel and guide still)

May 6^th:  8:20am leave Beijing and fly to Nanchang where our little guy is.  We will arrive in Nanchang at 10:30am.

May 7^th:  Gotcha Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 8^th-May 11^th:  Explore Cole’s city and where he was born.   We hope to visit the orphanage and then there is paperwork and stuff to do.

May 11^th:   Fly out of Nanchang and go to Guangzhou (We don’t have these tickets yet and we are waiting for our in China coordinator to get back with us on these).

May 11^th-17^th:  Visit around Guangzhou and paperwork and doctor’s appointments.

May 17^th:  Our Consulate Appointment!   This is a biggie because it is the last step in this whole adoption. 

May 18^th:  The day they issue the visa and we can go home!

May 19^th:  10:30am leave Guangzhou and fly to Beijing.

                :    1:35pm arrive in Beijing

                :   6:25pm leave Beijing and fly home to the states!!!  Washington Dulles airport to                     be  exact.

                 :  8:02pm arrive at Washington D.C.   Look it is only a 2 hour flightJ

                 :  10:02pm:  Leave Washington D.C. for Indianapolis!!!!!

                 :  11:47pm:   Arrive in Indianapolis and probably crash due to exhaustion!

May 20^th:  Cole sees his home for the first time.  He gets to meet three cats and one dog.  I am tearing up as I write this. 

This whole thing has seemed so surreal up to now.    It really has been a smooth process as adoptions go.  I just pray that our trip is just as smooth and that our bonding and attachment is just as smooth!

Breathe!

Breathe!!  That is what I have to keep telling myself.  I received a phone call today from Nicole at AAC who is with our agency.  I was expecting her to say TA!  But instead she said she had a question for me.  Then I thought to myself darn no TA and asked her what her question was.  She wanted to know when we wanted to travel because we had received our Travel Approval!!!!!!!!!!!!   This was our last step before planning our trip to meet our new son.   I immediately called Dan and we both have been in dazed and confused land trying to think of everything we need to do before we go to China in less than a month!  We are thinking about leaving May 2^nd but it could be May 9^th.  As soon as I find out I will let you all know.  Our girls are excited and looking forward to the trip!   Talking about that, the girls have taken up a part time job so as to raise money for their trip to China.  They are now helping out at Jersey’s Café as bussers.  They get .50cents a table and any extra tips customers give them.  Both days they worked they had someone give them $20 to share for their trip.  Cali cracks me up because she talks to the customers and tells them about her upcoming adventure.  Here are some pictures of our new hardest workers.

Here is Donna Rose rolling silverware and she did a great job because we were completely out. 

And here is Cali cleaning off dishes before they get washed.  The best part was that they love doing it and have great attitudes. 

God is in Control!!!

I received confirmation that our Article 5 was picked up!  With the wait times I am seeing on some sites I belong to I am hoping to get TA by April 16^th.  Then I would ideally love to travel April 25 to May 9.  The reason is that he turns two on May 1 and as his Mom, I don’t want to miss it!  But God is in control and not I.  Plus, now that I am running the restaurant (my step father has had congestive heart failure and kidney failure) I have to take that into consideration, and honestly I have no idea how I am going to do this.  But again God is in control.  This is my mantra right now.   By the way, for those who have not seen the show that my parents restaurant Jersey’s Cafe was on Dinners, Drive ins, and Dives it is re-aring this Friday April 6 at 10:30pm.  This adds a whole new level of stress!  I just hope I don’t lose it and go crazy!  But God Is In Control!!!!