The toy tester

Today we set all the baby stuff up including but not limited to the following: baby gates, baby clothes, baby car seats, baby stroller, baby changing table, baby diaper genie, baby kushions on sharp corners of furniture, baby high chair,baby swing and last but not least, baby toys. Several toys require batteries so they can light up and play music. JD appointed himself the official baby toy tester. And here he is --

And this is Bella's take on on the new baby stuff invading her space.

The best group ever and paperwork

I'll start with paperwork as that will be short and sweet. I pulled together all the paperwork, made a few copies and scanned them onto a thumb drive. Hopefully I'm really over prepared and not just filled with confidence of being prepared and I'm really not.

On to better things. On May 1, my Bunco group surprised me with a shower. They are just the sweetest group of people. Below are the pictures of the wonderful things I received. Thank you, God, for blessing me with such a great group of friends. Okay, enjoy the pictures.

Only fourteen sleeps left

There's only fourteen sleeps left until we leave for Beijing. Right now I'm feeling a sense of calm. I'm not really sure why as there is a mountain of tasks that need to be complete prior to our departure. However, I did pull all of the documents we need with the exception of our dossier together. I plan to make two copies of each tomorrow and if I have time and am really motivated, I'm going to save them to a thumbdrive that we'll take with us. I just learned there is free internet in our hotel in Jin Feng.
We went to our final travel meeting last night. It was so surreal. I did start to panic as I discovered that we have to have the correct change for several things and the money must be in pristine shape. When I ordered and collected our money in December I only requested all one hundred dollar bills. Today when I called my contact, she informed me that tens and fives are really hard to get now as they go fairly quickly at Christmas. I settled for twenties and ones. I am hopeful this will work out. If not, we could be leaving some fairly large tips.

Travel Itinerary

We received our travel itinerary yesterday.
We leave for Beijing on June 4. We arrive at 15:15 p.m. which is 3:15 in normal time on Friday the 5th.
June 6th will be spent visiting Tian An Square, the Forbidden City, the Olympic Park and the Great Wall.
June 7th -- we'll fly to Nangchang (land around 4:00 p.m.) and meet MeiLin that evening.
June 8th -- we have an appointment at the Civil Affairs office to do registration and the notary. After that is a bus trip to WalMart.
June 9 -- visit Tengwang Pavilion
June 10 -- Visit Anyi Ancient Village
June 11 -- Visit Renmin Park
June 12 -- Fly to Guangzhou -- we'll land around 7:30 p.m.
June 13 -- Medical appointment
June 14 -- Church and red couch group photo
June 15 -- Our guide will go to the US consulate for us
June 16 -- We take our oath at the consulate
June 17 -- fly home!!

We're getting closer!!

No news is good news

One of the families in our travel group contacted our travel coordinator last week. He confirmed that our travel was still a go. Our final travel meeting is this week. As of the writing of this post, travel is still a go.

AAaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!

That pretty much describes how I feel right now. A few weeks ago, a rumor popped up on a popular rumor site that TAs were being suspended because of Swine Flu. I was so upset. So much has/had happened during this journey and the road blocks just kept coming. Fast forward to this week -- we received our TA, CA and confirmed our travel plans. Now, there's a rumor that Jiangxi has stopped giving Civil Affairs appointments meaning that we wouldn't be able to complete our in province paperwork. I'm really hoping that this information is incorrect but there are some people who are emphatic that their contacts at their agencies are emphatic that this information is correct. And, of course, this information comes late on a Friday afternoon so I'll have all weekend to perseverate on it. Of course the flip side is that I also have all weekend to pray about it, too.
I recognize that the only two guarantees in life are death and taxes but we had always operated under the premise that the China adoption process was about as much as a guarantee as anything -- although I guess it's just like everything else in life -- you think you know where you're going and how and all of a sudden you're thrown a curve ball and have to find a different path whether it means paving a path, finding a different vehicle or both.
On a happy note, I have neglected to post what an awesome group of friends I have. They deserve their own post and my goal is to write that post this weekend along with pictures.

We're moving along quickly now!!

Well since the last time I posted (on Tuesday), the following has happened:
1. We received our visas.
2. We received our consulate appointment.
3. We received a proposed travel itinerary.
4. We've confirmed our travel itinerary.

Woohoo. We're leaving the 4th and our consulate appointment is the 15th and we'll be home on the 17th. I almost fell through the floor when I saw Mike's email today. He just requested our consulate appointment yesterday and had an answer by this morning. That is amazing -- he told us a few weeks ago that usually the US Consulate responds in about five business days. We weren't expecting to hear from him until at least Monday. This is too much fun!!

It looks like I'll be running out and buying a luggage scale this weekend so we can practice packing. Yeah!!

Travel Approval

Wooohoooooooo!!!!!! Our TAs arrived almost two weeks early. That is so fabulous!!! And while we cannot travel two weeks earlier than originally anticipated (due to the Dragon Boat Festival) we will get to leave one week earlier provided we can get a Consulate Appointment on the expected date. We'll know next week if we're leaving the 4th or 11th of June.
The CCAA also sent a letter that stated should an adoptive parent show signs of feeling ill they will be expected to go to the hospital and notify the CCAA since there is still concern about the Swine Flu. Scott and I debated about taking JD. There presently isn't a warning not to take children so as of today we plan on taking him.
We're expecting our visas later this week as well. Things are finally looking up!!