9 Planes and a Train

Hello All!

We have started our journey and so far, so good. The picture above is when we first began at the Tallahassee airport. We had the nicest American Airlines person assisting us. We were even able to scan our passports right at a kiosk and we have our boarding passes all the way to Beijing. We were the only people in line, and I guess that is why she was able to spend so much time with us and help us out. We were grateful.

Packing was challenging. I don't normally worry about losing luggage while traveling. But considering that we are literally going to be on 9 different planes by the time we return home from this special journey, I was a bit nervous about checking any luggage. Believe it or not, I was able to pack for 5 people in 2 carry-on suitcases plus our individual carry-ons. The boys have their backpacks and their special pillow friends (or C-pillows as they call them). Dave has a backpack and I have our old diaper bag (those Skip Hop bags ROCK!) and travel purse. I was thinking of my friend Julie Guyot the whole time, as she encouraged me to attempt this international travel with just carry-ons. I did it, Julie. I did it!

This picture is of Alex and Nathan on the flight to Chicago. I am blogging to you from a food court in Chicago O'hare. 2 flights down and only 7 to go. LOL!

We hope all is well with you, and please keep us in your thoughts as often as you can. But I thought I would take this time in the beginning of our journey to let you know that we are all doing splendidly. Let's hope the boys sleep on the way over to China!!!

A difference in personalities

Hi

I just thought I would share this little story to help you understand the difference between the two personalities of my twin boys.

If I ask them the same question, these are always their individual replies:

Me to Alex: Who loves you, Alex?

Alex: You do, Mommy.

Me to Nathan: Who loves you, Nathan?

Nathan: EVERYBODY in the whole world!

Guess which one is Nathan in the frames above.

Like my new blog design??

Isn't it P*R*E*T*T*Y...??

Diana of Custom Blog Designs did it for me and I am just thrilled. I wanted to do a shout-out to her to thank her for sharing her talent and this lovely design. She is very quick, a great communicator and generous with her creativity.

I highly recommend her if you are needing help designing your blog.

Can anyone guess the connection between the new design and my daughter?

Post your guesses.....

New Pics and Travel Updates

Hello Friends-

After receiving TA, our adoption facilitator in China asked Jade-Rose's SWI more questions about her. One of them was "Does she have a nickname?"

It is Jie Jie. Her Chinese name is Lu Chen Jie.

Jie Jie is very cute, and I like how the two "J's" of Jie Jie and Jade-Rose go together.

They also sent us more pictures.

Check out the water fountain on top of her head! I love how the pony tail on top keeps getting bigger and bigger with each new set of pictures that I receive.

I also love these pictures of her eating rice with a friend. (By the way, if you are an adoptive parent, and recognize that friend in the pic as your daughter, please let me know. I have many pictures of her. She is in many of the same pictures that I have of Jade-Rose, and I would be happy to share.)

As far as Travel Updates....

We have our flights booked going and coming. What a whole new concept in the adoption process to stress over!!!

Summer time is the most expensive time to fly to China (take heed all of you AP's out there). Our travel agent Sue Sorrels said that she had never seen prices as high as they had been for this summer. Don't be misled by Sue's very simple landing page at her website. She is an expert in her field and very highly recommended in the adoption community. We tried figuring out our own flight plans, but nothing we came up with worked as well as what Sue came up for us.

Because Tallahassee only has a regional airport, it's hard to get flights in or out of here without a bunch of layovers. We are flying on August 18th Tallahassee>>Miami>>Chicago>>Beijing.

Our Gotcha Day is August 23 and we leave China on September 4th

Hong Kong>>San Francisco>>Chicago>>Miami>>Tallahassee.

We still have to book our in-country flights from Beijing to Hefei and then Hefei to Guangzhou.

We have Chinese travel agents booking our hotels in China, and the train we will need from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. We know where we are staying in Hefei (the capitol of Anhui Province, where they will bring Jie Jie to us). We also know where we are staying in Guangzhou (where most of the adoption requirements take place). We have asked the travel agents what they recommend for Beijing, but we haven't heard back yet. There really is SO MUCH to coordinate for a trip like this, and I thought the stress from the paper chase was bad...

WE GOT TA!!!

Can you believe it? A smidge faster than the present timeline schedule. Our agency rep figured it would be about August 5th, and we got it July 26. Yesterday actually. This is my first chance to get on the blog. Yesterday I was a bit numb from the news, and today I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Not this Chicken

Today's Run Around:

1. I had to Fed Ex our 4 Visa applications to Chicago. For those of you on this adoption process, we used Denise Hope in Illinois whose business name is There's Always Hope - document and visa courier. Our agency rep recommended her because she can go to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, where it is less busy and has a quick turn around time. Our visas should be back here by next week, August 5th.

2. Before sending off the Visas, all 4 of us had to get more passport photos taken. We went to Walgreens, and they all came out really nice. Dave and I both said we wish those pictures were the ones in our passports. Boy, do we have some unflattering shots in our passport books. I hope we don't scare anyone when they open them up at Immigration. :-0

3. After passport photos, we went to Dr. Ness's office. We were there just last week when Nathan was diagnosed with strep. But I was feeling poorly with a terrible ear ache, so we all went back to be tested for strep. Dave was the only one who tested + for strep. Dr. Ness thinks my ear pain was from an infection in my gums where I had a tooth extracted.

Lovely.

Anyway, 3 out of 4 of us are on Amoxicillin.

4. I finally finished the little photo album we made for Jade-Rose, and I really wanted to get it in the mail today so *HOPEFULLY* she will have it before we get to China. She has a couple of pictures of us now, that I sent last October, and tonight I will be sending some to our China Facilitator by e-mail who will send those on to her as well. I was procrastinating a bit with the photo album because I didn't expect TA so quickly. I think it came out really cute. Inside the album, on one side is a plastic sleeve for a picture, and on the opposite page a place for you to write things down. We typed in simple words in a Chinese translator, so the description, opposite the picture that I put in there, is in English, Chinese characters and Pin Yin.

I only took a picture of the cover of the album. I literally had to race to the post office before it closed by 5. The outside of the album has Disney Princesses on it, with a little plastic heart. Inside the heart are little tiny beads which move around. It's really sweet. Here's hoping it arrives before we do.

That's about it for today. I'll tell ya, it felt like alot.

Two New Pictures of Jade-Rose

A very nice adoptive parent sent me these latest pictures of Jade-Rose/Chenjie that she took when she was at her SWI. She looks so cute.

I heard from another Luan parent today as well who met Chenjie and said she was smart and happy and an expert at playing Legos. That will be a great activity for her to share with her brothers in China!

Here are two pics:

Made a new decision

Hello to anyone who is reading our adoption blog! (I hope someone is)

In previous posts, I have discussed how our wonderful friend Pam had offered to take care of our twin boys while Dave and I go to China to get Jade-Rose. For the longest time, we thought that decision had been made and decided, and that was that, and we felt blessed by her offer. However, after much discussion last week, Dave and I decided to bring the boys to China with us. SURPRISE! Well, it is a surprise for us.

So.. last week, we talked to our physician and he looked at our boys shot records (I do a much slower schedule than the standard AMA recommendation), and he felt the boys were covered for most everything. The only shot they received was for Hep. A. Dave and I finished up our rounds for Hep. A and B., which were the last ones that we needed before travel. Since I am not a vaccine lover, let's change the subject....

Dave called our agency today, because we still hadn't heard anything after our papers were delivered to the US Consulate in China. We were told they were going to picked up and delivered to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) next Monday. That is the last step before TA.

This could go on for a few more weeks. UGH.

However, Dave and I have written a letter which we are having translated into Chinese tomorrow. We are hoping, because Jade-Rose got accepted into the School of Arts and Sciences for August admission, that the officials at the CCAA will grant us a quicker travel approval for the sake of her education. That's what we are praying for anyway.

Since we have decided to bring the boys with us to China, so that the whole family can adopt Jade-Rose, and not just the parental figures, I thought I would post some pictures of the boys. They are very excited about having a sister and they cannot wait to teach her the ABC's and numbers! It is the opinion of many BTDT adoptive parents, that having children with you during the adoption process helps the new child to adjust easier within the family. It makes sense if you remember that for the last 5 years, she has been surrounded by children, living with children, eating and sleeping next to many children. I am hoping that with her new brothers there, she will feel less frightened then if it was just Dave and I. Two strangers that don't look like her or speak her language.

We are also thinking about our future as a family and family history and family memories. I think in the future it will be important to everyone, Jade-Rose and Alex and Nathan, that they were all together when our family of 4 became a family of 5.

Here are the world traveling 6 year olds...

Nathaniel

Alexander