Itinerary

I am sitting here on the night before we leave for this much anticipated trip and this moment I am exhausted.  It is 9:15 and the bags are packed and in the car.  I finally have a minute to sit and relax.  I am thrilled that everything is done since I haven't been to bed before midnight since we received our Travel Approval 7 days ago.  I am sure that we brought too much.  I am sure that we forgot something important.  But it is what it is and we will be just fine.  I am done obsessing about it all.  Oh boy are we nervous about the flight with Tai.  He is such an amazing kid, but boy he CAN NOT sit still.....uggg.  Please pray for us as we will be stuck on "the tube" as Jason now calls it for 18 hours!

I have been filled with so much emotion these past few days.  I am nervous and anxious and excited about our trip. I am scared for my Tai guy.  His world is about to changed forever and I wonder how he will handle all the changes.  I know we will have some hard times these next few weeks. However, he is the sweetest and kindest child and I know he will be an amazing big brother.  I also wonder how he will react to being in China.  What kind of emotions and feelings and memories will he have?  I feel like we have prepared him but I have no idea how he will react to being there.... in his first home... in his birth country.  Please pray for my Tai guy as I know this trip will be hard for him too, emotionally and physically.

When I think of my sweet daughter I can not  help but cry for her.  We have been praying and preparing for her.  We have fallen in love.  She however has not.  She doesn't know who we are.  She has no idea what is about to happen to her.  She is about to leave the only world she has ever known.  We are forever grateful that she is in foster care as she has learned how to love and to bond!  Sadly, she will be leaving the only family she has ever known.  She has lived with foster mama and baba and 2 brothers since she was 2 months old.  I can not even imagine the pain and the loss that she is about to experience.   My heart aches for her right now.  When we think of our Alice we picture this adorable chinese american with her pink frilly dresses and bows in her hair.  But right now she is living her life and she is Shu Feng.  She lives, most likely, in a very simple home.  It is most likely very small and has none of the luxuries that we American's have.  Some people say that she is very lucky to be coming home to America.  And in a way she is.  But she also has no idea what she is missing. She is happy and she is loved and she is well cared for.  Her world will change forever in just a few short days.  Please pray for my sweet baby girl.  Pray that the transition will go smoothly.  Please pray that her heart is prepared for us.  Pray that she will love us just as  much as we love her.  She will grieve hard and we know it.

Most of all I miss my mother.  Very very much.  So many times I have wanted to pick up the phone and tell her something about our trip or our daughter. I know she is watching over me, but still I want to call her so badly.  None of this would be possible without her.  Her very last wish for Jason and I was to bring our Alice home.

Now for the itinerary....
August 1 - leave KC
August 2 - arrive in Hong Kong
August 3 - 1/2 day tour of HK - including Victoria's Peak, Stanley Market, Aberdeen Fishing Village
August 4 - Disney World
August 5 - Fly to Nanning, Guangxi (Alice's province)
August 6 - 2:30 pm GOTCHA DAY
August 7 - Civil affairs office to do adoption registration and notary
August 8 - tour Qing Xiu mountain
August 9 - Shopping for child
August 10 - sightseeing tour Renmin park, get Ali's passport, fly to Guangzhou
August 11 - Take visa picture, do medical exam and TB test
August 12 - tour Chen Family Temple ( we have done this before so may skip out and go to Safari park instead)
August 13 - get TB test result and otherwise free day
August 14 - Consulate Appointment
August 15 - pick up Visa for Ali and take train back to Hong  Kong
August 16 - leave for home!!!!!!  We arrive back in KC around 4:40 pm on the 16th

I am sad that our orphanage visit was denied.  Also sad that Nanning is about 3 hours away from the city where she was found and the orphanage.  My agency says we can not go to her finding spot.  This makes me very sad.  We have however been in contact with Grace and Hope, which is the organization that sponsors her foster care.  They are sending a representative to our hotel in Nanning to meet with us and bring us information (pictures and quarterly reports) about our daughter!  We are thrilled about this!  We would really love to meet her foster family.  I doubt this is possible, but I will keep hoping.  You never know!

Thanks for following along,
Heidi

She has a room!

Finally our sweet girl's room is finished.  Whew!  Nothing like the last minute.  I love her little owl theme but Jason is afraid she will be scared of the owls. Hmmm... guess we will see about that.  My wonderful and handy father in law is making her a bookshelf that will look like a doll house and I am so excited for that to be done.  It is going to be adorable!!!

Travel Approval

Today was an exciting day for us!  We finally received our long-awaited and much anticipated Travel Approval.  This is the final step in this very long process to bring our daughter home.  China has finally given us the "thumbs up" to come on over and get our daughter!!!!  It has been such a long journey so far and I never imagined it would take this long.  We first saw Ali's beautiful face and fell head over heels in love nearly 10 months ago.  We have watched her grow, in the few picutres we have received, from a cute as a button baby into a chubby cheeked and oh so adorabel toddler! Our love for her has grown and grown and we are more than ready to have her in our arms.  Well, I should say emotionally we are ready but physically we have a lot to do!  What in the world have we been doing for 10 months?  Why the heck are we not prepared?  Oh, how much we have to do.  I am going to be one busy mama the next few days!

So what is next?  Well, our agency gave us some options of dates and we chose to leave NEXT WEEK on  August 2nd, with a Consulate Appointment around Aug. 14th.  That is the last step in our adoption trip and our entire trip is based around that date.  It will take a few days for them to confirm with the Chinese consulate so we won't know for a few more days when exactly we are leaving.   Tai starts Kindergarten on August 14th and if we leave ASAP then he will only miss a few days of school.   We would really like for him to not miss too much school.

For now, I have a million errands to run, phone calls to make, and laundry to do!  I will continue to post on my blog so everyone knows the latest news.  Thank you for following our journey to our sweet daughter!!!!!