One Hour to Go!!!

It's 8:30 AM on Monday, May 31st. We meet Jacob/Jingxin in an hour!!

So exciting!!!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

It's 4:30 AM on Monday, May 31st. We get Jingxin today. I went to bed at 7 PM last night; Tom went even earlier. Five hours until we meet our little boy. It's so exciting and slightly nerve-wracking (for Tom at least; so far, my nerves are fine).

We had a wonderful lunch yesterday wit our guide, Michelle, and the other family in our group. We ate at a dumpling place and it was FABULOUS. Then we shopped for some essentials (bottled water, snacks), then back to the room to pack Jingxin's bag and unpack ours.

We have done a lot of walking and some sightseeing. On the agenda for today: At 9 AM, we meet in the lobby and head to the Civil Affairs office, where we will meet our son. We spend quite a bit of time there with the orphanage workers, so we can ask questions about his everyday life. Then we do some shopping for him, now that we know his size. Tomorrow, after Michelle does the paperwork with the civil affairs office, we visit the museum and Russian style church in the city. The next day we visit the zoo. The day after that, we get Jingxin's passport and fly to Guangzhou for the American part of the process.

Harbin City holds a snow and ice festival each year, which we of course miss because it's spring. The photos of it are amazing. If you want to see what it looks like up here in the winter, google Harbin Snow & Ice Festival images. This is a medium sized city by Chinese standards - about 9 million people.

I'm off to make sure I have all my questions for the orphanage personnel written down. More later...

Photos

Uploading to Blogger is almost impossible here in China, so I'm going to link to photobucket. Click here to see our photos.

We're having a nice time so far, although I had no idea that they smoke ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE here. We got our room in Harbin and we had to immediately ask for another one; I felt like we were sleeping in an ashtray; the entire room reeked. The new room is nice, but you still get the smell of smoke through the vents.

Tom is exhausted; he's hardly gotten any sleep over the past couple of days. He's sleeping right now (6 PM) and I'm trying to keep myself busy without making too much noise, since this might be our last chance to sleep for a while. We pick up Jingxin tomorrow and we can only hope that he adjusts well to us.

We're Here!!

We go in last night. We're exhausted from the flight. Tom is sleeping right now, but I can't.

Today, we tour the Great Wall, The Forbidden City and Tianamen Square. Got the camera all charged and raring to go.

I'll post some photos later.

Diane

I'm Leavin' On A Jetplane...

We leave today for China. It's raining out; hopefully it doesn't delay our flight.

Stay tuned for posts and pictures from China!!!

Two Days!!

We leave in TWO DAYS!!! I've been telling everyone that it still doesn't seem real yet. Maybe by the time we're on the plane it'll start sinking in.

I have the "gift" suitcase packed - all the stuff we're bringing to gift to the orphanage personnel, the local officials, the children at the orphanage and Jacob.
I still have to pack my clothes, do some laundry (now that the washing machine is fixed), take my mom to the doctor, take Spooky to the vet, clean a little, lots of stuff to do.

In 6 days we meet our boy.

Six Days & Counting!!!

We leave in SIX DAYS!!! It's hard to believe that, after all that waiting, we're leaving to meet our boy in less than a week!

I ran around like a nut today:

- Visited a day care center
- Went to the bank on another crisp money run
- Went to K-Mart and got a bunch of stuff to bring on the plane and to the orphanage
- Picked out paint for the bathroom remodels that are being done while we're gone
- Took mom to Wal-Mart and got more stuff to bring with us to China
- Typed up the list of items for the bathroom contractor
- Got the suitcases out of the basement
- Met the contractors to finalize bathroom plans
- Cleaned the house

I'm tired. I want to sit somewhere quiet, have a drink and be served.

This Just In...

We got an update on Jacob. Here's what the update says:

Height: 34.28 inches
Weight: 26.4 pounds
Head circumference: 18.52 inches
Chest circumference: 18.91 inches
Foot length: 5.52 inches
Teeth: 20

Now he is sleeping in his own crib and he loves to play cars,
slides and games with other children. He really is a lovely boy!

Here are his latest photos:

Official Travel Date Received!!!

It's official.

We leave for Beijing on May 27th.
Gotcha Day is May 31st in Harbin.
Consulate Appointment is June 9th in Guangzhou.
We come home June 11th with Jacob.

The bright shining light at the end of the very long tunnel is our son.

Travel Date Changed

We just heard from our agency. The original American Consulate appointment is not available, so it now looks like we're going to be leaving on May 27th, instead of May 20th and we have a June 9 Consulate Appointment, instead of June 2.

It's a double-edged sword. I'm happy to be able to get more done, especially losing a week in the hospital, but I want to go get my son now.