Pics from Beijing!!

Yesterday we did the forbidden city and Tiananmen square. Today we saw the Great Wall and we will go see an acrobat show later. Here are some pics!! Tomorrow we travel to Zhengzhou.

Travel!

So we finally made it to Beijing. Travel was tiring and very overwhelming because of how long it took. Our guide picked us up at the airport- and he is great!!! He is very nice and is showing us the sights around Beijing tomorrow.

I have never taken such a long flight before! We were about 14 hours in the air. The plane was so large that there was no turbulence and you could not even feel it banking when turning. I got to watch movies that were PG 13 instead of G lol!! We lucked out and some families that we know we're on our flight! We sat right behind my friend Gwen and her family- and they are also with CCAI so we will be together just about the whole trip!

I am so happy to be in this country of Claire's birth. I can't wait to see more of it tomorrow! It was dark when we arrived. Oh and the smog is not too terrible. Brandi- yes it smells like China!!!!

Well off to bed!!!

We are going to China- on Wednesday!!!

We got our travel invite. Our appointment has been made at the consulate in China. The flights are booked. The bags are half packed (but it is weird bc the suitcase is 3/4 full....). So here we go!! Our travel plans are as follows.


We (my dad and I)leave Wednesday morning and fly to Atlanta. 2 of the adoptive moms I met through Facebook are on our same flight leaving Altanta. Squealing will be heard at the gate when we meet up!

We leave Atlanta at noon to Korea. We arrive in Korea at 5pm on Thursday. Yep. Gotta love the time difference.

We leave Korea at 7pm and get to Beijing about 8pm and we will crash at the hotel.

We tour in Beijing (where I will freeze ) and fly to Zhenzhou on Sunday.

On Monday the 21st we get Claire!!! We have lots of paperwork and have to wait for her passport to be issued.

On Saturday I will fly to Ghuangzhou with Claire, and my dad will fly home. Scott meets me there Monday. We will have Claire's medical exam which is required for her visa into the US. Our consulate appointment where they approve all the immigration paperwork is Thursday, the 31st. We will get her visa on Friday and begin the trek home!

We will fly out of Hong Kong at 1am sat morning. Arrive in Korea at 5am. Leave Korea for Atlanta at 10am. We arrive in Atlanta sat am at 9. Yep, we get to Atlanta an hour before we leave Korea!!! Crazy!!! We clear customs and immigration and Claire becomes a US citizen!! We have a long layover because our first choice flight home was full- but this gives us the chance to see Scott's brother and his family!! And they get to meet Claire!

We will arrive home at 2:55(ish)pm. All are invited to greet us at the airport!! We will be the exhausted travelers with a wailing toddler. Should be easy to spot!!


WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!!!!!

The wait is hard-but this helped!

For part of my Christmas gift (the main one being china!!), Scott gave me some money for a charm of Claire's Chinese name. So I ordered it today! I got it from www.jiayindesigns.com (Facebook- www.facebook.com/jiayindesigns). I can't wait to get it. Most of you know that I wear birthstones for my boys everyday. Claire shares a birth month and stone with Noah- so I wanted something different. I love her Chinese name-Yu Ting, and we are keeping it for her middle. Her nannies call her Ting Ting. I am excited that I will have a beautiful charm of her name.

This journey has seemed so long. We are now only waiting on that travel invite from China. There is a rumor that our agency will get some tomorrow. I pray ours is in the envelope!! If so we will leave the 16th. I could be getting on a plane in one week and one day. If so, we will get Claire 1-21. That date has special meaning anyway because on that date in 1994 (19!!! Years ago) that Scott and I started dating!!

I will update with travel plans very soon I hope!!

It's the little things

I have been happily overwhelmed this week. My sweet Noah turned 6. Putting Claire's name on our Christmas ornament. Buying girl clothes. Beginning to pack for China.

We also got an update that most likely Claire's palate has been repaired. That means one less surgery!!

Still so muc to do before travel!! We will begin the wait for the travel approval on 12-21. I would love for it to come before tNew Year's!!!

More pictures of Claire

 One of my friends was looking at the foster home site and immediately let me know that she thought she found more pics of Claire when she was looking for pics of her son. And she was right.  I love that the nannies are in a lot of the pics because they have taken such wonderful care of her- and my gratefulness cannot be expressed in words. I pray that we will be able to get in touch with them after the adoption is final, and that we will be able to take Claire to visit them when she is older.

 Here is sweet claire after arriving at the foster home, sleeping with her nanny. They loved her already!!!!

 

Here she is smiling. In so many of the pics she is so happy. I think this is in Nov 2011 right before her lip repair.

 

 This one is I think January this year- she seems so content.

 This one is from this summer- August maybe. She is the cutie on the back!

Playing with a toy and standing in her crib.  Her hair is growing. Hmmmm methinks I need more hairbows (those who have seen my hairbow collection- don't laugh. A girl cannot have too many!)

In other news, I am frantically trying to get things I will need to travel. Snacks and hats and socks and gifts and hairbows ;)

So what's next?

I think most of you know that we got our LOA last Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If not- you must be under a rock because we all (including Noah) were shouting it from the rooftops!!  This means we should travel in 10ish weeks.  Why does it take so long? Well there are a few more steps of paperwork to complete.  This is what happens next!

1. Our 800 paperwork is filed with USCIS. This is the paperwork that requests immigration to approve Claire specifically for us to adopt and bring into the US. This takes about 2-3 weeks. They grant a pre-approval.
2. The pre-approval goes to the National Visa Center (NVC) who generate a paper that will allow Claire to be granted a visa into the US. This takes about a week (so total 3-4 weeks so far).
3. The paper from the NVC and Claire's actual Visa application go to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China. They will grant what is called an Article 5- which states they will give her a visa when we get her there. This takes 2 weeks at the embassy and a few days for our agency to get the paperwork there. (so 5.5-6.5 weeks total).
4. The article 5 is sent to Beijing to the CCCWA (China's version of family services) and they invite us to travel. This is called the Travel Approval (TA) and takes 2-3 weeks.  ( so 7.5-8.5 weeks total)
5. Our agency then has to secure our consulate appointment (to pick up that visa for Claire so she can enter the US) and plans our travel around that. Most people leave a week to 3 weeks after TA. (so 8.5-11.5 weeks).

I would love things to move fast and we travel in 8 weeks, but 9-10 is most likely!!

The next question is what does the travel trip look like?

 We will probably fly out of the US on a Wednesday and arrive in Beijing on Friday. Our agency rep will show us around Beijing Friday and Saturday to get over the jet lag. (China is 12 hours ahead of us basically). Sunday we fly to Zhengzhou, Henan (the capital city of Claire's home province in China). Monday- they bring us Claire and we get her forever!!! Tuesday-Saturday is in Henan doing paperwork, bonding, and touring. (it takes that long because they issue her passport in province and that is how long it takes). Sunday we fly to Guangzhou which is where the US embassy is in China. Monday we have a medical appointment, and then on Wednsday or Thursday is the consulate appointment and they issue Claire's visa. Then we can leave and fly home!!!  I will post a final itinerary when we get one.

We are also working on paperwork for our visas to enter China.

I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by what we still need to get for Claire (carseat, diapers, wipes, food and bottles for China, clothes, oh my!!!), by the packing lists, and gift list for the officials, and the paperwork we must bring list.

But it will all be ok because WE ARE ALMOST TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!