Preparing to travel

We have been given dates for travel, we will be leaving for Beijing October 7th, visiting New Hope October 9th and meeting HiaYang October 10th. We are spending the 1st two days in Beijing, to give us the opportunity to visit New hope, then will be going to Zhengzhou for 5 or 6 days and finally we will go to Guangzhou for the remainder of the trip and for the all important Consulate appointment.

We are all very excited and a bit nervous. There is still much to do, typical me I wait until the last minute to finish things. I have sorted all of Lucie and Tessie's old clothes and recently found out that HaiYang is a size 4 - perfect -that is the size I started saving for her. Oh, we also found out that she is NOT potty trained - bummer!!!!! It should be interesting trying to potty train with the language barrier. I doubt I'll even try, when it happens it happens.

Well as I said, much to do so I better take advantage of the girls being in school and having the house to myself. Thank you all for your support since we started this journey, we are so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends. We have truly been blessed.

TA!!!

We have finally received Travel Approval!!! Unfortunately, due to the Chinese holiday, we will not be able to schedule our appointments until October. We are hoping to travel the first few weeks of the month with our first stop in Beijing for a visit to New Hope Foundation. We are so looking forward to seeing where HaiYang spent most of her time and to meet those who have so lovingly cared for her. Hopefully with her leaving, another child-in-need will be able to take her place. If you would like more information on New Hope Foundation there is a link to the left of this page. Their work is truly amazing!!!

Testing

This is just a test to see if I can post to blogger from PRC. 

Good News

We received word that HaiYang has been moved to her original orphanage to prepare for adoption. This can only mean that our travel approval is out there somewhere. I am hoping it will arrive today or at least sometime this week. The 1st week of October is a Chinese Holiday so it would be best if we could travel in September.
Keep your fingers crossed for us and prayers for HaiYang, this has to be a difficult and frightening time for her.

Summer Fun

Tessie really loved the Hermit Crabs, maybe next year.

Once again I have no news on the adoption front other than we are still waiting..... it is starting to get a little embarassing too. For those of you who have been here, you know what I am talking about. Sixteen months ago we announced that we would be adding to our family just one more time. Then we thought the journey would be complete around Feb. or March, then we thought end of spring, then beginning of summer and so on. So here we are, after we have told everyone we know, and many people we barely know, saying "well it shouldn't be long now". It is just too embarassing to commit to a time of travel, after already using up all of the seasons, with no adoption. I have a feeling some people think we just said we were adopting but are not really doing so. Some think we should be pushed ahead since we already have 2 kids from China, if that were the case there would be a whole lot of happy families moving to the front of the line. So although I do think it will be soon, I am not going to predict a month or even a season but I assure you our adoption is still in the works and HaiYang is eventually going to officially become part of our family.
Saldy, summer is coming to an end as much as we all protest in this house. It is been a super, fun-filled, summer, busy and a little crazy at times but much fun. I am including some of our hi-lights. Wishing you all a fun last few days off and a great school year ahead.

Oops the pictures were supposed to show up at the end not the beginning.