Hong Kong, day 1 continued...

We are just about ready for bed, but we had a wonderful day here in Hong Kong. We are staying at the Regal Riverside Hotel, which is on the Shing Mun River. This morning we woke up, the kids, Bob and I ate breakfast, as my parents were still sleeping. Once we were all awake, we went for a walk near the river. We were still exhausted from the trip so the kids, Bob and I took a nap, which lasted for 5 hours. After our nap, we took a cab to "The Peak" where we are dinner and saw a wonderful view of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong, Day 1

Just a quick post to let you all know tht we made it to Hong Kong! It was a long flight. Garrett did great on the long flight. He took a nap, ate and then slept for seven hours! That was from Detroit to Tokyo. It was wonderful! Now the Tokyo to Hong Kong leg was a different story, as we were all ready to be off the plane. Eighteen hours of flying is too much for anyone. Garrett was loopy and noisy and we were all ready to be at the hotel. Caelan rode wonderfully, as expected:)

We are going to take it easy today and then tomorrow we are going to Disneyland. I will try to post pictures soon.

In Detroit

Well, the first part of our journey is complete:) We are in Detroit, waiting for my dad to get home from work so that we can head out to the airport. We will leave here in 45 minutes and our plane takes off at 3:30pm. Next stop, HONG KONG!!

Cookies

For my friends who are waiting for LOA's, PA's, and referrals, this is for you:



I can't wait to hear all of the good news when we get back!

Tap and Ballet Rehearsal

I am trying to figure out how to load video, so I will start with Caelan's practice tap and ballet routines.

You Know You’re an Adoptive Parent if…

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love & family.
3. You can’t watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. You spend your free time surfing blogs about families who’ve experienced the blessing of adoption.
5. It drives you crazy when people ask you about your adopted child’s “real” parents.
6. You’ve taken an airplane half-way around the world with a child you just met.
7. You believe that God has a heart for adoption.
8. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
9. You know what the word “Dossier” means, and you can actually pronounce it correctly.
10. You’ve welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
11. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well that you are the blessed one to have him/her in your life.

(Anonymous)

More Pictures!!!

I got the rest of the pictures:) Here are a few!

The Countdown is On!!

I just adjusted the time zone in my ticker so that it shows China time!! One less day of waiting- WOW!

New Pictures!!!!!!!!

The woman who visited Lia's SWI last week emailed me eight photos this morning. I am going to include a few here. She said that she has some others as well! What a wonderful morning!

A Gift

We have just received the most precious gift. A family traveled this past week to Lia's SWI. I got the following email from her this morning:

"we saw your daughter and got loads of photos of her. i'll try to send a few in the next day or two. she's very sweet. she was quiet when we saw her - but all the kids were very subdued. she has a lovely smile. you're very lucky to have such a gorgeous wee girl and it's fantastic that she'll soon have a family. the swi made us very welcome and it was so rewarding to go there"

I will post new pictures as soon as I receive them!

Tickets!

We have booked our tickets. Our trip will be a little longer than we expected because we got a later consulate date. We are all leaving on Tuesday, April 29th. We will arrive in Hong Kong on the 30th at 11pm. We will rest up, sightsee and go to Hong Kong Disney before going to Guangzhou on Sunday, May 4th. Lia Day will still be on May 5th. Caelan and my parents are coming back on Tuesday, May 13th, but the rest of us have to stay until Saturday the 17th. Caelan is coming home early so that she will not miss her recital, and we will be able to go on Sunday, though we will miss the Saturday performance.

One Step Closer!

Hooray! We got a call from our agency this morning! Our TA is on its way. They expect that they will have it before Friday and are planning on us getting Lia on May 5th. We will likely leave On April 29th or 30th and spend a couple of days in Hong Kong before heading to Guangzhou to finalize the adoption. We are still hoping to be back home in time for Caelan's dance recital on May 17/18. YEAH!!

UPDATE: Our agency has our TA!!!

Waiting, still

No word on our TA. I am hoping this week, though the time keeps dragging on and on. Spring break was restful, as we spent the entire time taking care of two very sick kids. They both are feeling better now, though I am going to double check things with Garrett's ped today. Caelan will be back at school this morning.

Sigh...

Our bags are packed. Yes. I am ready!

Is today going to be the day?

UPDATE: We did not get our TA today. I am very disappointed, but our agency is hopeful that we may get it later this week or next.

Come on TA....

We will be at home all day today, as Caelan and Garrett are sick with a stomach bug. What a fun way for Caelan to spend her spring break:(

I am hoping that we will hear something today about our TA and will be able to start planning our trip!

Very Funny

I love The Office. This is too funny. And for all of you (Mom and Julie, especially!) who don't think the show is hilarious, maybe this will change your mind!

Check out this video: The Office: Top 10 Jim and Dwight moments



Add to My Profile More Videos

Still Waiting...

There is a good possibility that our TA is on its way- maybe we will hear something on Monday! I am still not sure what this means for our travel plans, but I would love to go in April. When we get our TA, our agency will discuss possible travel dates and then try to get our Consulate Appointment. Then tickets will be purchased! Yeah! We are so ready to bring Lia home!

In the meantime, here is a picture of Garrett pushing his friend Amelia around on his green tractor. They go to preschool together, and are just so adorable!


Here are a couple of Easter Egg hunt pictures of Caelan and Garrett.

St. Patrick's Day/ Tea Party/ State Project

I have some pictures. The first couple are from the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Bay City. I had to work, so I wasn't there. Garrett has little tolerance for waiting, and they stayed for only about 30 minutes of the parade. I am pretty sure that the plane ride to China will be fun.




Superman, I mean Garrett, and I have been having frequent tea parties. We have to refill the tiny tea pot 20 times before we actually consume a cup of tea.


Caelan did a project for school on Illinios. I am pretty proud of her. She completed the poster and then went over everything on the poster in front of the class. She also read Shel Silversteins poem "Sick" since he is also from Illinois. She wanted to bring in a treat for her friends, and as we were going over food from Illinois, I read "Twinkies." My poor, deprived child (hee hee) had never heard of a Twinkie, so even though I am pretty good about not allowing much junk, I did let her bring Twinkies in for her class. Every child should have a Twinkie at some point, right? Well maybe not.

Waiting for TA

Still waiting. I really don't expect to get our travel advisory until next week or later. I can't wait to find out when we will be leaving! I know that it won't be until May, but I am still hoping that somehow we will be there in April.

Letter of Acceptance

I am shocked to be posting this, but we just got our Letter of Acceptance today. The CCAA has accepted us as Ji Xiang Wan's family. I can't even describe how exciting this is, or how unexpected this is, as I didn't think that we would hear anything for another month. Next step is that we will be issued a travel advisory, and we can then begin making travel arrangements. The TA should be here in 2-3 weeks! Wow! What an exciting day!

And here she is again, our sweet girl, soon to be Lia Xiang Wan.

39 Days

It has been 39 days since our Letter of Intent was mailed to China. It has been 44 days since we first saw Lia's picture. Looking at how quickly people from our agency seem to travel, I suspect that we could be in China as early as late April or as late as mid-June. There are some people who travel more quickly and quite a few who have waited close to 6 months for travel. I hope that things move quickly. I am planning (and praying) for May travel.