This Is Really Happening...

It is about 30 minutes before we leave the hotel for the Civil Affairs Building to meet Anna. It is so hard to believe that this is actually happening, NOW! We are thrilled beyond words, mixed with a little nervousness.

My main concern is that she is not scared and she "likes" us. I am not worried about the "taking care" of her aspect, but rather her being afraid of me. I have loved her for a long, long time, but she has no idea that I even exist...but she will very shortly :-)

We are praying that God continues to be with us and will help us and Anna bond appropriately. We are so blessed to be where we are.

Boys,

It is almost time to get your sister. We can't wait to see her and can't wait for you to see her too. Talk to you in the morning! Much love, hugs and kisses.

Thanking God for bringing us this far and sending love to my Anna, Parker, Jacob and Carter

Our First Day in China...

Our first day in Guangzhou was quite an experience. We tried to sleep when we got in last night, thinking that we would sleep about all day...but we didn't. We were only able to sleep a few hours and was up at 5:30 am for the day.


We went to the hotel breakfast where I ate fried rice, fried noodles, fruit and a danish. I also had orange/mango juice and a coffee which was super strong, even for me. It was more like an espresso, but not. Rodney had fruit, cucumbers, danish, fried onion cake and orange juice.

We then tried to exchange some money for our adoption fees. Our hotel would only exchange $300 a day/room. So we had to find a bank. We found the Guangdong Development Bank and decided to give it a try. Thankfully everyone tries to be helpful. The guard got us our ticket for the window service and the teller at the window was more than helpful. We really are at their mercy right now. We don't know where we are, the proper processes and are just winging it. We got our needed fees exchanged and some spending money for the day.

We started walking around looking at some area shops. They are really wanting to sell their goods, but no one is rude, just persistent. We met a couple of shop owners that we especially nice and helpful. We saw one of the ladies later on in the day and she was excited to see us and waved. And no, we didn't buy anything from her, but she just seemed to have a sweetness about her.

If you know Rodney, this was just funny to me.

The weather here is thick! The temperature is not really that hot, but the air is so heavy and thick. The humidity has to be like 250% !!! By the time we walked around half the island and returned to the room, my shirt was sticking to my back. When you walk outside it is like walking into a sauna room. We started getting hungry, so we ventured back out for some food.

After walking around looking at several menus, we ended up back at the hotel in the restaurant. I had a club sandwich, which consisted of ham, lettuce, pickles and tomatoes, and fries. Rodney had a ham and cheese sandwich and fries. I know, it wasn't very adventurous but we just couldn't find anything that really appealed to us. Tomorrow we will have more guidance and hopefully find something that we like.

We went to Beatrices and a 7/11 store. We purchased total 3 bottles of water, a huge 2 gallon of water bottle, 2 - 2ltr Sodas (Coca-Cola and Sprite), bread, cheetos, snickers, cup of noodles all for about $6. We came back to the room and took a nap. I can't see blogger here, so I just hope things are formatting okay.

This is the scene from outside our bedroom window. We hear birds throughout the day. We call the birds "monster" pigeons. They are huge.

Tomorrow is the day. About 13 hours until we meet Anna. We are to meet Connie, our guide, in the hotel lobby at 2:00 and head for the Civil Affairs Building. She said that we would be there about 3 hours. It will be a long afternoon I am sure, but we are praying that God has prepared her for us and us for her. She has no idea what is in store for her tomorrow. Leaving everything that she has ever known, placed in the arms of complete strangers.

Carter, Jacob and Parker

We only have a couple channels here and the movie channel has shown Star Wars all day long. We haven't found the McDonald's or Pizza Hut yet, much to your daddy's disappointment. I hope that you all are having a good time. We posted some pictures of our day. We love you three very much and will talk to you soon!

Waiting for tomorrow and sending love to my Anna, Parker, Jacob and Carter

We Are Here...

We are finally in China!!!!

It was a long, long, long flight, but we finally made it to Guangzhou. We arrived about 10:00 pm (which was about 11 am for us). We zoomed right through customs and were taken to the Victory Hotel.

We are extremely tired and feeling a little out of sorts. My ears are not back to normal yet and my head is a little "swimmy". Rodney didn't sleep much on the plane, so he is really tired. Thankfully I was able to nap - a lot :-)

Tomorrow is a free day, which we will need I am sure to catch up on sleep, get somewhat used to the time change and familiarize ourselves with the area. We are so thankful to have arrived safely and only 37 hours until we have our baby girl, Anna Mei Yi.

We called home and the boys are doing great. They actually were more thrilled talking on the computer (skype is great) than they were talking to us...but nonetheless, I got to talk to my boys. I have a couple funny stories about the flight I will try to tell about later, right now I am going to wash my face, brush my teeth and go to bed.

Boys,

We didn't see Spiderman in Tokyo...sorry. We talked about you all a lot on the flight and are missing you like crazy already. We love you bunches, bunches, and bunches more.

Thankful to be in China and sending love to my Anna, Parker, Jacob and Carter.

Packed and Ready to Go...

It is about 2:00 am, all bags are packed, kids are asleep, including Rodney, and I am checking and double checking everything. I feel like I could pass out from exhaustion, but I am so nervously excited, I don't think I could fall asleep. We are packed and ready to go.

We spent the whole morning finishing up all the business we needed to attend before leaving for 2 weeks. The rest of the day was with the boys. We ate a combo of McDonald's and Los Mariachis. We have a burger, fry boy and a chicken fajita nacho boy. Parker, he will eat just about anything, tacos, burgers - today, was McDonald's. For the food? No. For the chance of getting another "Shrek baby". He is obsessed.

Then we were off to see Spiderman 3. Not to impressed with this one. It wasn't as kid-friendly and lots more violence. Didn't care for it. Kids - loved it, of course.

Now, I am just trying to finish up all loose ends that can be tied at this point. Thankfully, we have great friends and a wonderful family. They have all been so supportive and helpful. Willing to do whatever, but most importantly offering prayers while we are gone for us, Anna and the boys.

God is so good to us. We are so undeserving of any of the blessings that He has showered upon us. We have been given a wonderful life, filled with love, happiness, joy, and the laughter of children. And now, we are going to be blessed again.

I am so humbled that God is allowing me to experience the miracle of adoption. Many times, I feel so "unimportant". I am just a stay-at-home mom, nothing special. And yet, God has chosen me for this awesome experience and blessing. We have seen many miracles throughout this process and we are praying for many more to come. We are praying that everything goes smoothly with our travel, that Anna's transition is easy and that bonding begins to occur instantly, that we are protected and stay healthy, that our boys are safe while we are gone, and that we will return home safely and become a family of 6.

I will post again as soon as we get settled in our hotel. Love you guys!

Trying to believe this is finally happening and sending love to my Anna.

Final Itinerary...

Wow...I cannot believe I am writing this post - our Final Itinerary!

Leave our house at 5:30 am headed for Nashville, TN

Leave Nashville at 10:17 am on Friday, June 1

Arrive Guangzhou at 10:35 pm on Saturday, June 2

June 3 - Free

June 4 - "Gotcha Day" at 2:30 pm and sign adoption agreement at Civil Affairs Building

June 5 - 9:00 am for adoption registration and notarization at Civil Affairs Building

June 6 - Pick up adoption certificate and apply for Anna's passport

June 7 - Go to local department stores for needed items

June 8 - Electronics Market (Carter & Jacob are excited about potential PS2 games)

June 9 - Medical and Photo for passport

June 10 - Visit Foshan Nanhai SWI, Anna's orphanage. Visit Yuban Hospital Clinic, place where Anna was found. Shop in Foshan for a keepsake for Anna. Back to Guangzhou that afternoon.

June 11 - Visit Six Banyan Temple

June 12 - Pick up Anna's passport

June 13 - 9:00 am Visa appt. at US Consulate

June 14 - 4:00 pm pick up Visa at US Consulate

June 15 - Leave Guangzhou at 8:20 am for HOME!!!!

We are so excited and just can't believe this is all really happening. There are tons of last minute details that have to be done. But we are used to last minute things, its the way we operate :-)

I have the majority of our packing done and tomorrow is Boy Day! We have just a couple of things to do in the morning unexpected, which threw Rodney's work schedule off and then tomorrow afternoon is going to be devoted to the boys. They are wanting to see Spiderman 3, eat out (I can only imagine we will be dining at McDonalds) and then maybe go play "something". I know they have bowling in mind, but I cannot imagine Parker holding it together in a bowling alley. We'll see.

Regardless, I want to spend some fun time with the boys before we leave. This is the hardest part about leaving...knowing that our 3 boys will be so far away. I don't know what I'll do without my Parker sugar, Carter hugs and Jacob hanging on my waist :-(

Trying to fill up with Carter, Jacob and Parker "lovin'" and sending love to my Anna.

Busy, Busy Day...

Wow! What a Friday!

Finally, we got a confirmed Consulate Appointment (CA) for Wednesday, June 13. We leave Friday, June 1, our "Gotcha" Day is Monday, June 4 and we will be coming home Friday, June 15.

I spent the ENTIRE day trying to get travel arrangements ironed out, working with our agency and our travel agent (who has been awesome so far), Sue Sorrells. We had to finalize our itinerary so that I could send that information along with our hotel and guide requests to the China travel agency. Plus, we were working against the clock regarding the upcoming 3 day weekend. Everything needed to be done yesterday.

It was so surreal to be looking over the details of Anna's itinerary to confirm her plane ticket home. We are so thankful that this time has finally arrived.

As well, our TA was delivered. The FINAL piece of paper. It arrived at our agency on Tuesday, but it was delivered to our house yesterday. This little piece of paper, along with a mountains of other papers will be traveling, very close to my person, with us to China to confirm that we are who we say we are, we have done what we were suppose to do, China has approved us to adopt, that Hai Zhi Yi is our daughter, we have permission from China to take her out of the country and permission from the United States to bring her home. VERY IMPORTANT PAPERS!!

So the next few days, I will be finishing up our needed shopping for travel, getting everything in order for us to be gone for 2 weeks and trying very hard to focus on my boys. We want to spend as much quality time with them as possible before we leave. We probably need it more than they do, as they are pretty excited about a "2 week sleep-over".

They will be staying with my mother and my mother-in-law primarily and then my sister and 2 sister-in-laws as back up. Thankfully, they all live close to us, get along, and are willing to help out. They will be staying at home some as well, mainly for Parker's sake. He is finally sleeping in his own bed and I really don't want to get him out of that habit.

Thrilled to be getting ready for travel and sending love to my Anna.

We Are Coming Baby Girl...

Every time I have gotten a call from our agency with good news about our process, there was always something going on. But of course, a family of 5, there is always something going on, adoption agency calling or not :-)

So, I wake up Tuesday morning, May 22, feeling really bad. Parker and I have been sick for over 3 days now with some sort of coughing, congested, sinus junk going on. The schools are out because of elections in the state...however, my son, Carter has a field trip for conduct reward at his school. So I get up earlier than normal to get ready to take him to school, because after I drop him off, I am suppose to come home, get Parker and Jacob ready to go to my mother-in-law's work where they are having me a shower (so sweet - thank you ladies!) Then I have to go the bank and run to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items. Oh, did I mention it was also Carter's birthday?!?

We finally get to Wal-Mart and get inside and I decide to go ahead and pick up a few of the OTC meds we were going to be taking with us to China. While we were in the pharmacy section of the store, Parker is just showing himself...screaming, getting items out of the back of the shopping cart and throwing them on the floor - a real terror, however, I attribute it to him not feeling well and being spoiled absolutely rotten! I am trying to compare prices, because I am cheap-o, and my cell phone rings. It is our agency...we got our TA!!! I was so excited, my heart was pounding, I started crying, Parker throws another bottle of something in the floor, and Jacob backs into a rack on the end of the isle and razors are strewn across the floor. We were attracting quite a bit of attention and anyone that knows me - I hate public attention - especially public negative attention! But honestly, I really didn't care too much...I was so excited.

Our agency is trying to get a CA for 6/13 which would put us leaving on 6/1 - 9 days from now! They got some confirmed appointments today for those needing appointments on 6/18, so hopefully she will hear about ours tomorrow so we can start booking our plane tickets and hotel accommodations. I really don't want to have to wait all weekend long and try to get tickets on Monday for Friday! But it will work out as it should. Everything else has worked out perfectly and I expect the same for this.

I cannot express in words the emotions that I am having. I know Anna is our daughter, I know she is in China, I know that we have been approved to adopt her, I know that God has been in this whole process and I know that we are leaving very very very soon...but the reality of me getting on a plane, flying half across the world, landing in China, and finally holding my daughter - I just can't imagine. Rodney and I are both elated and the boys are just tickled...pink!

This really is the best time for us to be traveling. The boys got out of school today and we have a whole week together before we leave for China. My parents will be back in town Saturday night, so they have a week to rest up before they will be needed for watching the boys. And then when we return, we will have the rest of the summer break to spend with our 4 beautiful children!!! I love saying "4" children.

I can never thank God enough for what He has done for us. He lead us to adoption, He prepared the path, He walked us through obstacles, He moved mountains, He comforted us when we were struggling, He provided when it was needed, He is protecting her as she waits...I have to give Him praise for all He has done. Even though I would have loved for Anna to have been home with us back in November, this process has taught me so much and I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to walk this road and to be able to love this little girl as my own.

Thrilled beyond words and sending love to my Anna.