Gotcha day!!!

Line up for tickets








I will post more about this awesome day later. Everyone is tired and hungry.
We jumped on the plane with our travel group to Nanchang and left at 8:40 am. We arrived around 11 am. It is raining quite a bit, but not really cold.
We jumped in a van and had a 40 minute drive to the hotel, we were told the babies were AT THE HOTEL and waiting for us. We literally walked into the hotel and rode up to the 3rd floor to get the babies, didn't check in, didn't care, we were on a mission, so clear the path!

I saw Julia right away, even though there were just 3 families in our group, it was still pretty chaotic connecting, getting our girls, trying to get info from the director. They were all hungry and needing baths, and hugs and kisses and they got the latter and some food, but we only had an hour to go to our room, find food for her, get going and 1:30 we started the paper trail.

Julia has been soaking this whole thing in, she is very tuned in to watching, she has great eye contact, particularly with mom, and Cara has made her laugh.We haven't had any major melt down yet, but it will come, she is delightful.

She is developmentally behind(this is no surprise,we knew this going in, and know she will make great strides when cared for and given exercise etc) she is cooing and giggling and will grab a toy, but doesn't hold on yet, she will stay limp in your arms, making you feel all 20 lbs of her LOL. We expect in a couple weeks we will see changes in this and her grab more.She has 6 teeth.She enjoyed her first bath with us.She is attentive and beautiful.

It has been such a whirlwind that processing and feelings are still catching up. I got a bit teary as we headed towards the room with them in it, and then teared up holding her at the adoption office,it is just surreal having her,such an amazing gift.

The director invited us to come to the orphanage, which we jumped on, we just have to work out details, so you can pray for that to come together, rides here are nuts, we have seen a couple accidents and people just about run over...more to come!!!!

1:45pm alberta time...add 6-7 hours and we will have her

It is 4:30 am on the 13th, in 6-7 hours, give or take we will have her in our arms...now to lug luggage downstairs and "get on the bus"(Doodlebops song, Katies favorite show, is running thru my head...ARRRGH ;0 )

We are in Beijing

We have made it. flight was an hour longer than we planned. There was a problem passenger who ,we think, was refusing to turn off their computer prior to take off, so we are out on the runway and had to come back. Security escorted them out, then we had to wait for the bags to be taken out. When we landed in Vancouver we had to get towed in as a hydrolic line burst, so the plane had no power steering, but we will made the connecting flight with time to spare. Backs are sore from sitting so long,but flight, otherwise went well, and our room is excellent, nonsmoking floor. The drive in defies description there are no perceived traffic laws, cars all over the place, pedestrians stepping out in front of the cars, insane, but we were too tired to care so it was all good LOL. Tomorrow we wake up early to fly to get our girl!!!!!!!!!!Tomorrow is forever family day!

in vancouver

we made it and ready to board to Beijing!!!!

Can't....believe....it...is...going....to ....happen....

It has become real, we got the suitcases shut and the pile of papers assembled and are chilling with family getting Katie settled. I am SOOOOOO thankful for family to care for my little girl at home. As excited as I am about getting my Julia, man it is hard leaving her. I know it is the best thing, but UGH!!!!

Friends have been awesome, from surprise gifts, visits, airport send offs, support, help, house cleaning, grocery buying, covering work stuff and more, they are gifts!

Tomorrow at this time we will be in air on our way...CRAZY!!!! Bring it on!!!

Can't believe it is happening!

One sleep then we begin...

Get Katie settled with family for a day, then off and flying. WOW!

cool in China, warming up here...Nanchang 5 celcius, Beijing 0, burning through the to do lists here, keeping it hot-2 days to go!

Got our TA and passports/Visas back yesterday afternoon. Today is paper push day, filling out the rest of the forms, getting the papers we need copied. Cara is working on packing, called in some friends to help distract Katie, so productive can increase.

I have had 2 great nights of sleep, which at this point is reminding me how nice it is to have sleep and that I want more of it :). Only couple more days of that, and then it will be a whole new ball game with baby :)!

When I actually stop to think about it, I get butterflies, I WILL be holding my Julia, oh so soon. I am trying to be at rest with the idea that I simply am not going to be productive to any degree at work and to just let it be, get the basics done and consider it a success. My brain goes from numb, to empty, to sleepy, to repeat cycle, with momentary moments of clarity and wild excitement.

Our suitcases look like they were an a roller coaster and have thrown up their contents, making me wonder how we are going to:
1. Get it all in there.
2. Carry all this stuff.

Still some misc. stuff to get, seems every day we run out of something or discover something else to get, methinks we are going to have to do some prioritizing and leave some stuff...but we will see what the Weigh scale says, it will be our judge :)!

Also looking forward to connecting face to face with our travel group, should be fun.

Our plan is to post to the blog general updates and summary of days, and use Facebook for quicker updates etc.

13-20 in nanchang, 3 in Beijing,-9 in GP, Monday is photocopy day...and yes I need more sleep LOL

Still warm in Nanchang, getting colder in Beijing, above average in GP weather wise and our passports and TA should arrive by Monday, so then make the required photocopies final packing of stuff then relax(yeah right).

Insane weekend this weekend. I have 2 birthday magic shows today followed by a church Christmas party to attend tonite. Church tomorrow another party then a meeting in the evening. Tuesday and Wednesday night have meetings(doing some magic on the Wednesday also, which will be fun for my grade 5-6 groups Christmas party.)

Although tight time wise it is all good stuff that I am thankful for.

Caught Katie hugging the fridge yesterday only to discover she was hugging the picture of Julia, giving it kisses, trying to give it her sippy cup to drink. She was accurately kissing the lips on the picture and positioning the sippy cup at the mouth. SOOOOOO cute.

Last minute purchase of a better snugglie, the one we had wasn't great for front holding, it was better at the side, and even then would cut into the neck muscles a bit, which is no fun.

Probably pick up some other dry food ideas like oatmeal etc for the food stash, then it will be the dreaded weigh in to insure we meet airlines luggage weight restrictions.

Well off to pack up the magic show are get ready for the day before the girls wake up.

Last puzzle piece

We got good news that our TA(Travel Approval) is in Alberta and is being couriered to us today. Our passports arrived and are at the post office for pick up, so after that, it is just photocopy everything 16 times and then we are good to go. YAHOOOOOOO!!!!

8 days til we travel, 12 days until she is ours

Okay, December is officially here, and I have had a couple moments of sheer anxiety, along with some moments of sheer excitement that the day is getting closer. We got the basement set up for my mom and cousin who will be coming up right after we  get home to meet Julia and celebrate Christmas with us. bought the turkey yesterday(had to store it at my church as Cara has made up meals in advance, as well as Christmas baking and our deep freeze is full). Knowing December was going to be Baby month it pushed us to have Christmas prepped early. I like that, we can do that every year :). We did, sadly, weigh in more heavily on the gift card side of things, due to space limitations with traveling and all, but it is so exciting to have our baby coming in a season where we Celebrate the best baby ever coming, Jesus. I am still tapping my foot worried about our TA, we need this piece of paper to travel and get Julia, and with 8 days til we fly...needless to say I will feel relieved to have that final piece in hand. I have had to make 5 trips to the bank so far to ensure we have crisp $100 bills to exchange once in China they  are REALLLLLLLY picky about stuff like that, no folds, bends or tears, so I have had to reorder money a bunch, but that is finally done. I head there today to send off some final money orders, then it will just be a visit before we go to pick up the cash that is in our safety deposit box for the trip. Suitcases are partially packed in the basement, and I am slowly and distractedly working on getting work stuff taken care of. Katie has moved from wanting to "hold Julia" to "go git Julia". Sooo cute.We had friends, who have adopted and know others who have, that their kids think that babies come from airplanes, LOL,so fun! We were blessed by an anonymous person who left use some money at work for us to use for the adoption. So cool. I find myself checking the weather in Nanchang and Beijing every morning, not even concerned over what the weather is doing at home. :) well the troops are starting to wake up here, so off to make up some breakfast,then off to work. My sweet Julia, the day is getting oh so close, know in your heart your daddy will be there soon!