Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Long time.
It took a really, really long time to get here. But, here we are. In a hotel in Beijing, China. After 3 flights and 26 hours in transit, we got to our hotel around 8pm. I am about to crash. In the morning we get our free breakfast {actually the hotel was free too}, and then our guide, Leo, will pick us up to take us to the train station. The train will take us to Tianjin and to Asher! We will have Asher by the time you people get up tomorrow morning!
Monday, February 14, 2011
2 hours
That's how long I wish it was to China! But, no. That is how much sleep I got last night. It was 2 hours more than Paul got, though.
I am sitting in the airport in Atlanta now. We have a connection to Korea at 11:55 this morning. That flight will take somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 hours! On a plane. 13 hours!
Then we have a 2 hour layover before we catch our flight to Beijing. I plan to blog while in China, but some others have had trouble with that recently. If I have trouble then my back-up plan is to email my updates to my niece, Brianna and have her do it for me. Only, she doesn't know that yet.....'cause I forgot to let her in on that detail.
That just means that you will be at the mercy of her teenage schedule for updates!
So, here's praying that I can do the updates myself.
Well, we are about to board our bus, so I'm going to get off here. But, I did want to leave you with a prayer request. I'm {hopefully} getting over a cold and am still congested. My ears were bothering me on the decent into Atlanta this morning and I could not get the left one to pop open. It's fine now, but It hurt for a little while. I would really rather not bust an eardrum on this next flight! Also, if you would lift up my girls. They were pretty weepy when I put them to bed last night and Isabel insisted on getting up at 4am and riding to the airport when my dad took us. She was crying big ole tears as she waved out the window when the car pulled away from the curb. Talk about breaking a mama's heart!
I am sitting in the airport in Atlanta now. We have a connection to Korea at 11:55 this morning. That flight will take somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 hours! On a plane. 13 hours!
Then we have a 2 hour layover before we catch our flight to Beijing. I plan to blog while in China, but some others have had trouble with that recently. If I have trouble then my back-up plan is to email my updates to my niece, Brianna and have her do it for me. Only, she doesn't know that yet.....'cause I forgot to let her in on that detail.
That just means that you will be at the mercy of her teenage schedule for updates!
So, here's praying that I can do the updates myself.
Well, we are about to board our bus, so I'm going to get off here. But, I did want to leave you with a prayer request. I'm {hopefully} getting over a cold and am still congested. My ears were bothering me on the decent into Atlanta this morning and I could not get the left one to pop open. It's fine now, but It hurt for a little while. I would really rather not bust an eardrum on this next flight! Also, if you would lift up my girls. They were pretty weepy when I put them to bed last night and Isabel insisted on getting up at 4am and riding to the airport when my dad took us. She was crying big ole tears as she waved out the window when the car pulled away from the curb. Talk about breaking a mama's heart!
This will be our bus over the pond....or the Artic Circle. Not sure which way we are going this time! Note the double decker windows. This is a Whale of an airplane!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Dodging!
Dodged a bullet today. Yes we did! We got an email {in the middle of the night} from China this morning. From Donna. Donna is our Chinese adoption travel agent. She booked all our adoption appointments and then told us when to book our international flights. Which we did. Last week. Book our flights and all. All, being that we also booked an in-country flight and four hotels that we will be staying in for a total of 19 nights. All booked.
What did her email say?
Oh, just that the orphanage had called and there may be "a small change" to our schedule.
What?
What does that mean? Small change? How small? How small is small change? Small change like can you come a few hours earlier/later than planned? Or small change like we are quarantined for illness, come back another day? HELLO! I need answers.
But, I wasn't going to get them quick, because by the time I got the email, Donna would have been off to dream land.
That's right. 13 hour difference, y'all!
And her email ended by letting me know she would confirm things tomorrow and get back to me. Great. Thank goodness for a great prayer team, because otherwise, I may have lost my mind today.
After waiting all day....and then some more, we finally got the email. And it's official! We are going to China and it's all good! The orphanage wanted to delay us by one day. One day would delay our passport being ready on time for us to make our Guangzhou flight. Donna, told them that was not acceptable. I like this Donna woman! So the orphanage agrees that we can get Asher on the 16th as planned!
So, I better get packing! I'll post an updated schedule and more information tomorrow.
Whew! Dodged that bullet.
What did her email say?
Oh, just that the orphanage had called and there may be "a small change" to our schedule.
What?
What does that mean? Small change? How small? How small is small change? Small change like can you come a few hours earlier/later than planned? Or small change like we are quarantined for illness, come back another day? HELLO! I need answers.
But, I wasn't going to get them quick, because by the time I got the email, Donna would have been off to dream land.
That's right. 13 hour difference, y'all!
And her email ended by letting me know she would confirm things tomorrow and get back to me. Great. Thank goodness for a great prayer team, because otherwise, I may have lost my mind today.
After waiting all day....and then some more, we finally got the email. And it's official! We are going to China and it's all good! The orphanage wanted to delay us by one day. One day would delay our passport being ready on time for us to make our Guangzhou flight. Donna, told them that was not acceptable. I like this Donna woman! So the orphanage agrees that we can get Asher on the 16th as planned!
So, I better get packing! I'll post an updated schedule and more information tomorrow.
Whew! Dodged that bullet.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Countdown
The countdown is on.....literally. It's ON my blog. Check the top right corner, under the collage of Asher. See? Yep. There it is. 8 days, 12 hours, 6 minutes, 5 seconds....4 seconds....3 seconds....2 seconds....
I'M GOING TO CHINA TO GET MY BOY! But, I'm never going to get everything done in time. Never!
Of course it doesn't help that I woke up to this today. Yeah. That would be a croupy, snotty little girl.
I'M GOING TO CHINA TO GET MY BOY! But, I'm never going to get everything done in time. Never!
Of course it doesn't help that I woke up to this today. Yeah. That would be a croupy, snotty little girl.
And, she isn't particularly happy about it either.
We spent some time in a steamy bathroom this morning.
With the Vicks. We are currently watching her favorite movie - Toy Story 3.
Pray for her! She doesn't get sick often, but this is twice in six months.
Okay, she's watching it, I'm balling like a baby. Who knew a kids movie could be so emotional!? That scene near the end when Andy's mom is standing in his room after it's all packed up for him to go to college.....yeah, it gets me every time! You would think I was pregnant.
That is not a hint of things to come. I am not pregnant!
I'M JUST GOING TO CHINA TO GET MY BOY!
But first? First I need to make more lesson plans for all the kids, make lesson plans for the classes I teach at our homeschool co-op, stock the pantry, freeze some meals, write out schedules for the kids, print maps of where they need to go, finish planning the Father-Daughter-Dance, do the laundry, clean the house, wash the dogs, clean out the van and PACK.
Oh, and raise $4000.
I have to say, we have been so blessed! In the last four weeks $12,000 has been provided for us! We have some very sweet and very generous friends. We could not have gotten this far without prayers and support. Thank you and keep it coming y'all. I see the light at the end of the tunnel.....but, y'all, I've only got 8 days, 11 hours, 28 minutes, 30 seconds.....31 seconds....32 seconds...33 seconds...
I've gotta get out of the this bed and on my list!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Craziness!
I sat on pins and needles all weekend, waiting and hoping for our travel itinerary to come from the agency in China that books adoption appointments for our agency here in the US, Madison. When I opened my email first thing this morning, there it was! Finally.
But, what a cold splash in the face it was! Our emailed itinerary wasn't at all what we expected. Asher is in Tianjin. This is the same city, same welfare institute, that Claire was from. Naturally, we expected things to be similar.
Nope.
Tianjin has decided not to expedite passports so that you can come in on a Monday and leave on Friday. It will now take 7 full days to get a child's passport so that threw everything off.
The email we got this morning, asked us to be in China on the 15th of February. Go check your calendar. Do you see what I see? Yeah. To be in China on the 15th means to leave the US on the 14th. TWO weeks from now.
The good news? Because there is some good news! The good news is that instead of getting Asher on the 21st, like we thought, we will get him on the 16th! The bad news. We still can't come home until March 5th. March 5th, y'all. That means almost three weeks in China.
Now, I love China. Don't get me wrong, I really do. But, three weeks? When five of my kids are on the other side of the world? Seems like a crazy long time to be away. I guess we will roll with it, right?
So, in all it's craziness, here is our itinerary!
2/14: Fly out of Charleston at some God Forsaken time in the morning!
2/15: Arrive in Beijing {after two connections in various cities and 24 hours travel time}
2/15: Go straight from airport to train station to Tianjin.
2/16: Meet Asher and tour orphanage
2/17: Go to Civil Affairs office to complete the adoption and then apply for Asher's passport
2/18: Free
2/19: Free
2/20: Visit Ancient Culture Street
2/21: Pick up adoption Certificate
2/22: Free
2/23: Free
2/24: Pick up Passport and leave for flight to Guangzhou
2/24: Arrive in Guangzhou
2/25: Free
2/26: Take Asher to have visa photo taken, take TB test and have medical exam
2/27: Visit Safari Park
2/28: Pick up TB test
3/1: Free
3/2: Visa Appointment at the Consulate and oath-taking ceremony.
3/3: Free
3/4: Pick up Asher's Visa in the late afternoon
3/5: Depart Guangzhou for home
3/5: We will arrive home the same day we leave China because of the time difference, however, we will have been in-route for 22 hours! Fun stuff.
Lots of free time in there to get into some international trouble.
Just kidding!
We will have to find something to do with a 3 year old, because I'm thinking that blogging in the hotel room is not going to be his favorite pastime.
Boy, when they say adoption isn't for the faint of heart....they are not kidding. Not one little bit!
But, what a cold splash in the face it was! Our emailed itinerary wasn't at all what we expected. Asher is in Tianjin. This is the same city, same welfare institute, that Claire was from. Naturally, we expected things to be similar.
Nope.
Tianjin has decided not to expedite passports so that you can come in on a Monday and leave on Friday. It will now take 7 full days to get a child's passport so that threw everything off.
The email we got this morning, asked us to be in China on the 15th of February. Go check your calendar. Do you see what I see? Yeah. To be in China on the 15th means to leave the US on the 14th. TWO weeks from now.
The good news? Because there is some good news! The good news is that instead of getting Asher on the 21st, like we thought, we will get him on the 16th! The bad news. We still can't come home until March 5th. March 5th, y'all. That means almost three weeks in China.
Now, I love China. Don't get me wrong, I really do. But, three weeks? When five of my kids are on the other side of the world? Seems like a crazy long time to be away. I guess we will roll with it, right?
So, in all it's craziness, here is our itinerary!
2/14: Fly out of Charleston at some God Forsaken time in the morning!
2/15: Arrive in Beijing {after two connections in various cities and 24 hours travel time}
2/15: Go straight from airport to train station to Tianjin.
2/16: Meet Asher and tour orphanage
2/17: Go to Civil Affairs office to complete the adoption and then apply for Asher's passport
2/18: Free
2/19: Free
2/20: Visit Ancient Culture Street
2/21: Pick up adoption Certificate
2/22: Free
2/23: Free
2/24: Pick up Passport and leave for flight to Guangzhou
2/24: Arrive in Guangzhou
2/25: Free
2/26: Take Asher to have visa photo taken, take TB test and have medical exam
2/27: Visit Safari Park
2/28: Pick up TB test
3/1: Free
3/2: Visa Appointment at the Consulate and oath-taking ceremony.
3/3: Free
3/4: Pick up Asher's Visa in the late afternoon
3/5: Depart Guangzhou for home
3/5: We will arrive home the same day we leave China because of the time difference, however, we will have been in-route for 22 hours! Fun stuff.
Lots of free time in there to get into some international trouble.
Just kidding!
We will have to find something to do with a 3 year old, because I'm thinking that blogging in the hotel room is not going to be his favorite pastime.
Boy, when they say adoption isn't for the faint of heart....they are not kidding. Not one little bit!
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