LEAVIN' ON A JET PLANE!

WE ARE HEADED TO CHINA BABY!

This is a what my sister & I call a WOO HOA moment - WOW it is finally here....can you believe it....what a life changing & amazing journey we've been on....we can't wait to kiss our sweet one's face.

We will receive our full travel itinerary within China from our agency tomorrow.

This was a whirlwind of a day. I decided to contact our agency as I had not heard back from them as to whether we landed our US Consulate appointment prior to booking our tickets for a Jan 8 departure. The emails of confirmation & travel instructions were going to my office email that I wont' be reading until January 2 - yikes. I have had my tail on fire all afternoon getting our tickets booked and emailing the US government office as the Consulate office in China said that they had not received our updated fingerprints..what...double yikes! I'm working on that one, but believe it will all workout.....especially since I'm holding the official document that has valid prints w/an expiration date of 2010.

We depart for Beijing on January 8th @ 1pm...make a stop in Tokyo and then arrive on January 9th @ 9:40 pm. We will head for home on January 23 @ 8:30 am (with THE BEST SOUVENIR EVER) and arrive back home on the same day @ 6:55 am.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Santa says our Christmas present is waiting for us in China!
This will be our last Christmas picture with just the 2 of us. We had a lovely day with our friends. We canceled our Christmas trip to CA to see family because of our impending travel to China. Our next family trip we'll be bringing a new family member with us!!!!! We have to introduce her to "In & Out"...that's on her daddy's top things to do while in California - TRADITION. This is where we had our first "unofficial" date.
We are still waiting to hear back from the US Consulate with a confirmed appointment. Hopefully, that will be coming any day now and we can leave on January 8th.

A Sweet Gift

How excited were we this morning to receive a picture of Liliah sitting with her foster dad at the Yulin Orphanage. She is in the front row, first child on the left....turned around looking at those behind her. Oh, she looks like a busy and social one - yeah!
(click on picture to enlarge)

This is a picture of all of the children with their foster parents after receiving a Christmas gift from the orphanage. I believe the man standing in the back on the left is the director.

We are about 21 days away from meeting Liliah!!!!!!!

THE ROAD TO CHINA

We received a call from Melissa @ America World today @ 9:15 AM informing us our TA (Travel Approval ) arrived today from China granting us permission to enter the country! We waited 5 weeks for this last call and how excited were we to both be home when the call came in. We have a tentative departure date of Thursday, January 8th. Once our appointment is confirmed with the US Consulate in Guangzhou, we can book our travel. Stay tuned for our itinerary!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Care package sent to Liliah this week. You can't send a boat load of things, just simple stuff along with a camera to capture some pics of her and a letter of thanks to the orphanage

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

Sunday brunch anyone?

Such a beautiful sight (click on to make larger & you can see the mountains)

Not a creature was stirring.......

Okay...except for this one! She was giving me the come on Mom, let's play look

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.....Proverbs 25:25

Future gardener @ 15 months

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play @ 14 months

My cute little cubby @ 11 months

Sweet face @ 10 months

This week has seemed REALLY long as we continue to wait to receive that final call from China allowing us to come see this beautiful land and bring home our girl! Tonight we took a walk before dinner with our black lab, Maddy and enjoyed the Christmas lights. We were just saying how we are soooo done with the waiting.......

I was BEYOND SURPRISED and ECSTATIC when I received an email tonight from Ann @ Red Thread China with updated information and pictures of Liliah - WOW. I ordered a care package from them that had some sweet things in it for Liliah, the Director/nannies & children as well as a throw-away camera & a letter of thanks. I didn't know she could get any information like this for me! Not only that, but I now know that Liliah has been living with a foster family - yeah!

Liliah looks likes she is standing well, maybe she is walking too. She currently weighs 17 lbs and is 28" tall and has 7 teeth

Beddy Bye & Dreaming of You

Today our agency asked that we send our visa apps & passports to take to the Chinese Embassy in D.C. We are getting SO CLOSE to THAT last call we are waiting for to come to China.


You are in our dreams Liliah and soon we will snuggle, love and tuck you in @ night.