Monday, July 30, 2007

Announcing our baby daughter Grace Minshan Coombs

We got Gracie at about 3:30 p.m. today. Everything went very well. She's had a bath and is taking a bottle now. Here are some photos of her back in our room after her bath. I'll try to post more later from her actual Gotcha time later.

Enjoy, 'cause we are!


Sunday, July 29, 2007

Ni Hao from Chongqing!

We made it to Chongqing last night. The city is really beautiful. It's hilly like San Francisco, but humid and sticky like the tropics! Since we haven't had much time in our room up until now, it's been hard to blog. I think things will change today after we get Grace. We'll be in our room more, but don't know how much free time we'll have! We get her at around 3 p.m. our time, which is about 3 a.m. back home. Pretty exciting!!

I'm a little nervous, but looking forward to this big change in our lives and hers too! Please pray that all goes well, and that she is healthy and not grieving too much. Please pray to put Grace in the Lord's hands!

Here are some photos from Beijing and the Great Wall.


Saturday, July 28, 2007

We're in Beijing!

We made it to Beijing yesterday afternoon without incident. We even got to fly first class for the trip from Washington, DC to Beijing. That was sweet!

According to our guide, today is the day that is meant to wear us out, so we'll sleep and be adjusted to the time difference. So we did lots today. First stop was the Great Wall. It was pretty amazing! The section that we climbed was very steep. We only climbed to the first tower because of lack of time. My dad did great. I was a tad worried about him when we were coming down, but he didn't have any trouble.

The next stop was the cloisienne (sp?) factory and jade factory. We bought a little something at each. The craftsmanship in both of these places was incredible! The people that work in these factories are truly artists.

Next stop was lunch. We had, what else, Chinese food. We had sweet and sour chicken, dumplings, some bean egg roll wraps, rice, french fries (for the little girls in our group), and some kind of stuffed fish. The fish was not a big hit. Noone from our table tried it, but most of the other food was really good!

After lunch we did the Summer Palace. I have to say that this was a bit disappointing. Too many people! Since it was Saturday, the place was packed. We did have a nice boat ride on the lake, and I bought a couple of things from street vendors. A funny story about one of the street vendors. I bought a china tea set from her, and Roger handed her the exact change to pay for it (Alison, our guide, told us beforehand to NOT have the street vendors make change), and she started saying something in Chinese that indicated she was questioning whether the money was counterfeit. I just looked at her not knowing what to say, and then all of sudden she points to a tear in the bill, and indicates that she wants a different bill. Well, if Roger hadn't been with me, I probably wouldn't have thought too much about it, other than I didn't remember the bill being torn when he handed it to her. Anyway, Roger says to her "No, it's real. Now go away!" He realized that she was trying to trick us. The scam is for the street vendor to take the real money, pass it to another person behind her, and that person to hand back the counterfeit bill with a tear in it. So the unsuspecting customer would take the counterfeit bill, replace it with a real bill, and the street vendor walks away. Now the customer is left with a counterfeit bill.

After the Summer Palace, we went to the Pearl Market. This didn't thrill me too much, as I'm not a huge jewelry person. So not too much to say about it.

Then it was back to the hotel and meet up with Alison, our guide, in her room to pay for our in-China travel. That done, we took quick showers, and headed down to dinner.

I have to say that Alison was right. I'm ready for bed. I'll post photos tomorrow, since it's taking forever to get them uploaded!


Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Mary can go, but YOU can't!

Those are the words we heard today when we went to get on our flight to Beijing. We arrived at ORD around 7:30 a.m. Everything was going very smoothly. DH even commented on how smoothly things went, and said he hoped that the rest of the trip went this smoothly. Shortly after that, we went to board our wide-open flight to Beijing, AND get sure-thing 1st class seats! We were called up to the desk, and the CSA asked to see our passports. We oblidgingly turned over our passports, she looked at mine - no problem. The she looked at DH's, looked at something else, and said those words "Mary can go, but YOU can't."

You know that feeling you get when the blood runs from your head, your arms and your chest? That's the feeling I had, and DH's was just totally silent. Turns out that the Chinese visa that DH has is a work visa. He can't fly into China on work visa unless he's actually working the flight. He needs a leisure visa.

Who knew? Our agency, that's who should know. When we told our agency representive that handles travel that DH had a China work visa, he asked us to send a copy of DH's passport picture page, and the visa page. We did, AND I asked at the last pre-travel meeting if it all looked good. Mike G. from our agency said that everything was good. NOT!

So, there we were at ORD. I had my ticket in my hand, the CSA asked me if I wanted to go by myself. It wouldn't much good, as I couldn't adopt without DH there. There's lots of other paperwork required when both parents don't travel to get their adopted child.

So we scrambled. DH determined that he could get his visa expedited by going to the Chinese Consolate downtown Chicago by 2:30 and fill out an application, and pay the fee. He took a taxi there, and then called me to tell me he didn't have his wallet with the all the cash in it, and he needed a passport size photo as well (which was also in the luggage he left with me). So my SIL and I rushed downtown to meet him (Praise the Lord for my dear SIL! She is the greatest!!!), and gave him what he needed. That was at 2 p.m.. We then took her kids to McDonalds, had a Coke while we waited for DH to finish. He did get his visa at about 2:50.

We are now at my DB and SIL's house to spend the night, and will fly from Chicago to Washington Dulles, and the from Dulles to Beijing tomorrow. Those are the plans anyway! Remember "the best laid plans of man...". I can't remember the rest of that quote, but you get thepicture.

PLEASE pray that we will get to Beijing tomorrow without incident! And throw in a request for us to be able to fly 1st Class for our now 13 hour flight!!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I'm leaving on a jet plane!

 

Remember that song by Peter, Paul and Mary? Those of you that are baby boomers like DH and I are most likely singing it right now. Sing it with me...

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go.
I'm leavin on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go.

Well, I really am leaving on a jet plane TO CHINA! We leave in the morning, and all my bags are packed, and I am ready to go, I am sooooo ready to go! Go meet my little girl, Grace!

Oh, and I do know when I'll be back again, August 11.

Monday, July 23, 2007

All that's left is the waiting!

Well, today we finished up our packing and got pretty much everything ready to leave early Wednesday morning for Chicago. I only ran into a couple of snags. The first of which was having too many liquids for two carry-ons. My dad is going to carry on some of the baby medicines we need to take in his 1 qt Ziploc bag, so that problem is solved. I just need to get the stuff down to my brother's before we leave. The 2nd problem, has a similar solution. I called in refills for my allergy perscriptions on Saturday, pills and nose spray. Well, I went in to pick them up today and the pharmacy said that they could only refill the nose spray because it hadn't been long enough inbetween when I last refilled the pills for my insurance to cover it. The earliest it could be refilled is Wednesday, the 25th. That wouldn't be a problem, but we'll be in the air on Wednesday on our way to Chicago. Argh!!! So again, I asked my dad if he would stop by and pick it up on his way to my brother's before he leaves on Thursday morning. He said he will. Both problems solved! Good thing my dad is going with us, if for no other reason than the be our packmule and assistant :-)

So tomorrow night, we'll take the girls to their respective homes where they'll be staying. Then we'll get up really early Wednesday morning to get to the airport, and we're off!

Here's a photo I took of my bags. The one on the right is my roller carry-on. The one of the left is the diaper bag that I'm using as a backpack. I have to tell all those nay-sayers, that I was able to get everything into my carry-ons AND I even was able to pack a Thermos!!! That's DD1 laying on the bed watching tv. Boy am I gonna miss her and her sister while we're away!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Skype is so cool!

I have to say that I'm enjoying getting my family members to get onto Skype. We're going to use it while we're in China, and so I've been recruiting to get it downloaded with all of my 6 brothers and sisters to be able to possibly set up a conference call between all of us while we're there! How cool would that be?!

Skype is surprisingly easy. The only thing you need is a microphone and a speaker (or headset with both of these) for your computer. It's free to download and free to skype computer to computer! If you're interested in downloading it, just go to Skype.com and follow the directions!

DH, my Dad, and DB1 of my 4 brothers are now on Skype. I talked with DB3 last night, and he's going to download it. Can't wait to see his avitar!

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Our itinerary

We have finally got our itinerary for in-China. Here's the plan:

Wednesday, July 25: Leave for Beijing (please pray that there will be space available in Business Class for us to make our flight!)

Thursday, July 26: Arrive in Beijing: Stay at the Temple of Heaven Holiday Inn Hotel

Friday, July 27: Meet up with the rest of our travel group (including my father, that's flying on a different flight and airline)

Saturday, July 28: Great Wall, Summer Palace, a jade place, and a pearl place

Sunday, July 29: Tien An Men Square, Forbidden City, an international church service; Leave for Chongqing

Sunday, July 29: Arrive Chongqing, JW Marriot Hotel

Monday, July 30: Grace's Gotcha Day at Civil Affairs Bureau!!!

Tuesday, July 31: Registration at Civil Affairs Bureau

Wednesday, August 1: Shopping

Thursday, August 2: Eling Park

Friday, August 3: A zoo (don't know which one)

Saturday, August 4: Flying Tiger Museum

Sunday, August 5: Sunday Service with our guide

Monday, August 6: Fly to Guangzhou, check into White Swan Hotel

Tuesday, August 7: Take passport photo for Grace; Travel group photo on the infamous red couch

Wednesday, August 8: River Cruise

Thursday, August 9: Swearing in at Consolate; train to Hong Kong;

We're on our own from Hong Kong on. We're going to try to catch a flight to the US on Thursday. Otherwise, we'll spend the night at an airport hotel and try to get back to the US on Friday. Here is where we need extra special prayers! Please pray that once we get to Hong Kong that we'll be able to get on a UAL flight to the US on either Thursday or Friday.

Of course, then we'll return to IN, get our other girls and head back to our home to adjust to being a family of 5!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Only 5 more days!

We leave for China in 5 days! I've got to start packing and make sure that I can fit everything we need into a carry-on bag and diaper bag. I'll be trying that out this weekend while DH is on a trip.

The girls are all set with our friends. DD2 will have a vacation, since she's going to Holiday World and Rhode Island while we're gone! DD1 will be much closer to home, down the street as a matter of fact. It's so nice to know that they'll be well taken care of while we're gone.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of our shower for Grace on Saturday! Everyone was so nice and supportive! It think it was a fun time for all of us, except DD1. She came down with the flu the night before and spent most all of the day in bed. By dinner time though, she was feeling much better. Thank you to all our family and friends!!!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Here's my WeeMee

DH and I were playing around with Skype tonight. We are going to use it while we're in China to call home. While we on Skype I saw WeeMee. I've seen other blogs that have a WeeMee on their blog, so I thought I'd try out making one for myself.

Here's my WeeMee

Does it look like me? HeeHee!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Now we have our passports!

It seems like everyday there's something new going with respect to getting ready for our trip to China. Today the FedExc package came with my dad and my passports and the travel letter. We have to take the Travel Approval letter with us to China, and of course we'll need our passports with our visa in them to be able to enter China.

So now all we're waiting for is our own in-China intinerary, but today our agency told us they can't quote us a price until they know our departure date and what hotel we're staying at before we join the group. They also need to know Grace's new American name. I'm not sure why they need that, but that's what he said. So DH is working on what to tell them. I really want to find out how much because I need to cash a check on our money market fund, and it will take 5 days for that check to clear. If I don't find out by Monday, I'll just guess on the high end and cash the check anyway. That's pretty much the last thing I need to do to get ready.

Well, that's not exactly true. I found some wicking shirts at Walmart, but one of them is too big. So I need to exchange it for a smaller size. So that's good. I also need to figure out what outfits to take for Grace. I actually only have one outfit that I could take. Hopefully, I'll have something more to choose from after this weekend. I'm hoping that my niece will bring the clothes she told me she had packed away from her daughter having outgrown them. That would be ideal.

So we're getting closer everyday!

Oh, one more thing. I weighed in at my WW meeting today. It's been two weeks since I weighed in and I was worried that I'd gained weight as I've been stressed. When I'm stressed I eat! Anyway, I weighed in, and surprisingly I haven't gained/lost anything. I'm exactly the same as I was two weeks ago. I should be upset about that, but I'm pretty happy because I haven't been doing a good job of following the program. Starting today, though, I'm going to get back on program.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

We have our in-China itinerary, sort of

I just received an email from our agency travel guy. In it he says that he received everyone in our travel group's itinerary except ours. I suppose that's because we have a split group with my dad going over and coming back one way, and DH and I going another. Anyway, he did send us a copy of the other families' itineraries, so we could see what it looks like. According to their itineraries we are to get our babies on July 30 in the afternoon! So in about 2 1/2 weeks we will be seeing our little girl's face in person for the very first time! I can't tell you how this makes me feel. Goosepimpley, happy, excited, and scared all at the same time.

We still don't know how much it will cost to travel in China as our agency guy didn't include the cost in what he sent. It did include what is/is not included in the quote for in-China travel. But we should find that out shortly. We now know the name of the hotel that we'll be staying in Beijing, so DH can make reservations for us. It's the Zhongcheng Holiday Inn. I think that's the one that DH was looking at online the other night, but since he's traveling today, I can't ask him.

In the meantime, on another front, I signed the FMLA paperwork. I now am eligible to take up to 12 weeks of Family Leave from August 13, 2007 to August 13, 2008. Cool, huh?! I've never taken any FL, so this is a first for me. I don't intend to take too much because we can't afford it, but it sure is nice to know that Ican when I need to.

Things are quickly falling into place! Please continue to pray for us and for Grace, and thank you for doing so.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Please Pray!

Several people have asked me over the course of the last few weeks, if there is anything they can do to help. My answer to that question is, pray. Pray for Grace that her grieving is not too deep. Pray for her adjustment to be as easy as possible. Pray for us that we will know how to comfort her. Pray for our safe travel. Pray for Grace's orphanage mates, and for the caregivers and orpahange director. Pray that our girls will not miss us too much while we're gone. Pray that we won't miss our girls too much while we're gone! And give glory to God that we are able to do this adoption. It has been amazing, and I know it will continue to be an amazing journey!

Our CA is August 8!

Everyday now, things are happening. We found out on Monday that our CA is August 8, and late Monday we received a quote back from the travel agent on dates for international travel and cost. After alot of discussion and looking online to see how we could pass-ride, we decided that Dad should go ahead and buy a round-trip ticket. We will still pass-ride from Chicago to Beijing one day earlier than everyone else arrives. He flies out of Indianapolis on the 26th and gets to Beijing by way of Detroit and Tokyo! Coming back on the 10th we will most likely all fly together until we get to Seattle. Then Dad will fly to Indianapolis, and we'll fly to Chicago.

So now, I've got to step up the packing effort to make sure I have everything and be able to pack it in our carry-on luggage. I've got 2 weeks from tomorrow until we leave! WOW!!! We don't have our in-country itinerary yet, but should get that soon. So that's when we find out exactly when we get to meet Grace for the first time!

God is soooo good!

Friday, July 6, 2007

Our TA came in on July 2!

Wow! We heard from our agency yesterday that our TA came in! I was totally surprised. We were told that it would take 4 from the time our LOAs went back until we heard anything. Our LOAs for our travel group went out on June 15. So it only took 3 weeks. Our agency is asking for CA on either August 8 or 9. So if all goes well, by this time next month we'll be with Grace, getting to know her, and having her get to know us. How cool is that?!

In the meantime, I've picked up the pace on getting things ready to travel. My DB and SIL came into town on the 4th to spend the next week and a half with us. They have an 8 month old little boy, and of course, I forgot that he'd need something to sleep in. So we tried to come up with a pack-n-play (ours is at my dad's), but couldn't find one. They graciously brought down their other baby crib (they had twins the first time) for us to use for Grace. But it was all in pieces. So at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, we decided that we might as well put up the baby crib and go buy a mattress since we'll be needing one anyway. Where else can you decided you need a baby crib mattress at 11 o'clock at night on a holiday and be able to drive less than a mile away and get one?!  The world we live in is an amazing place.

Anyway, we now have the baby crib with the mattress set up. My nephew slept in it one night and got his legs caught between the slats about 4 times before my SIL realized, we need a bumper pad!  Another SIL told me she had a crib set I could have, so at 8 last night we drove to her house and picked up the bumper pad and comforter set. It's on the crib now, and my nephew slept better last night.

I told my SIL that if they stay long enough, we'll end up getting everything we need for Grace out of neccesity for her son to be able to stay here! LOL!

Anyway, I also got the Amoxicillan and scabies meds. I got infant Tylenol, and hydrocortisone cream. I still can't find a small bottle of Benedryl. So I haven't figured out what we're going to do about that. But I'm getting closer to being ready. Well, at least ready with everything I need. I still have to figure out how to pack all this stuff into carry-ons. I think I can do it, but it will be challenging.

Oh, I also bought "When You Were Born in China" to take with us to have the nannies sign, 3 Coolmax t-shirts to take and be able to wash out by hand, 2 capris, and 1 pair of sport shorts - all 3 will dry out quickly. So I think I'm pretty much set!

Monday, July 2, 2007

I can't believe I didn't think of this until now!

I was sitting here trolling the internet, looking at other peoples' blogs because there are rumors that TAs are arriving. Suddenly it dawned on me: Grace was 9 months old yesterday, and I missed it! I didn't even realize it. What kind of mother does that make me?! Well, I feel really badly about not remembering. I guess with all of the preparations for travel and life going on here in our hometown, it just didn't sink in that our baby girl had a milestone in her life yesterday. I'm sorry baby. I'll make up for it next month when there's a slim chance that we'll be with you to celebrate your 10 month birthday! Your mommy loves you! I hope you had a good day yesterday!

The Dresser

Here's a photo of the dresser that I so labored over to get put together. It took me weeks to get this thing together, and then if it weren't for my wonderful DH, the drawers would never have closed. See I found out that you REALLY have to pay close attention to the directions when you put things like this together. This experience of putting together the dresser reminds me alot of sewing things without a pattern, and having to rip out seams until you get it right.

Anyway, it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Like I said in my last post, the dresser is now in DD2's room. This picture was taken in the playroom before it was moved in there.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Watching home videos

The girls wanted to watch home videos on tape from when they were little. So DD1, DD2 and I watched videos of DD1 when she was about 3, and DD2 was a baby. From there they were 6 and 3. They were so cute. One of the results of watching these videos was to get me excited about having a baby in the house again. They are both just too stinkin cute, and I'm sure Grace will be just as cute at those ages too!

Right now, we're watching DD1 dance in her training pants while DD2 sites in her baby chair watching. Both girls loved to dance!

We had a productive weekend cleaning the girls room. We REALLY cleaned them. Actually we're not totally done, but things are getting more organized. We moved the dresser us in DD2's room. So tomorrow I'm going to move the little bit of clothing for Grace into the dresser. That should be fun!

Besides that we went to get fabric for the good wishes quilt. Each girl bought fabric as did I. It's funny that I've gotten more questions about how the quilt blocks work from my family than I could've imagined. They keep thinking that you need to write the good wish on the fabric. I think this confusion comes from where my sister made a quilt for my mom when she went through her first round of chemo. My sister asked everyone to send her a quilt square with a message on it. Some people sent painted blocks, some sent embroidered blocks, some had pictures scanned on them. It was lovely, but it confused my family to now ask for quilt blocks and a good wish. I told those that have asked that they can put whatever they want on the block, but they didn't need to. I think they understand now, but I never imagined that it would be so confusing!