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.

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!

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!

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.

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!