Day 2

We lost a day somewhere, it is Friday night here already and we are promptly going to bed as soon as I finish this post. Tired does not fully describe how we all feel but we had a great day. Our guides Barbara and George were awesome! We went to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, a great Authentic Chinese lunch and a traditional Hutoung where we had a tour of a common Chinese home, it was really neat. We also rode in Rickshaws and left a very bad tip to the driver because I can not seem to figure out the conversion from US dollars to RMB. We also saw lots of beautiful Children today and got to now some great families from our group. Kelly and I used a squaty potty which was UHH....interesting, and we saw lots of babies with thier butts hanging outof thier little split pants. So many things about China are different but people are the same wherever you go, hey thats a line from a song, I'm delerious ......here are some pics. Goodnight!

We arrived in Beijing.....at last!

We had a rather long travel day and are TIRED, but we arrived safely!!! The 14 hour flight to Korea was brutal but we made it none the worse for the wear! Should have pics to add tomorrow....we are touring the forbidden city :) We have our gotcha day in 4 days......we will be A FAMILY OF FOUR!! We are nervous but excited we have seen lots of beautiful children already and are meeting up with several other CCAI families tomorrow. Stay posted I gotta go Zach is trying to figure out how to use skype from here!

Goodnight!

Shay

Itenarary for our trip.....

11/5 Leave U.S. for Beijing.

11/6 Arrive in Beijing
Go to the Holiday Inn Downtown Beijing. Free time. Enjoy!

11/7- Tour Beijing.
11/8

11/9 Depart Beijing for Zhengzhou on Air China flight CA1325 (11:40-13:00).
Go to the Crown Plaza Hotel. It is appropriate to tip the luggage handler about $1 per bag upon arrival.

11/10 Walk to the Registration Office to receive your child this morning. Congratulations!
Zhengzhou – The orphanage’s Children’s Department Director, Mr. Zhao, will deliver your child to you.

Sign the Guardianship Agreement. Take Registration Certificate photos at local photo shop.

11/11 Walk to the registration office to complete the Adoption Registration in the morning.
Please note that your adoption is finalized at the time of registration.
Rest or optional group shopping trip to the Lotus Center (same as Walmart) in the afternoon. Pay as you go.

11/12 Free time or rest. Optional tour may be available.

11/13 Free time or rest. Optional tour to the provincial museum. Receive your Notary documents in the afternoon.

11/14 Free time or rest. Optional tour may be available. Please ask Yisha for details. Pay as you go. Receive your child’s passport in the afternoon.

11/15 Leave Zhengzhou for Guangzhou on China Southern flight CZ3971 (10:50-12:55).
Go to the White Swan Hotel. (It is appropriate to tip the luggage handler about $2 per room upon arrival)

11/16 Sunday. Free time. Rest, tour, shop. Pay as you go.

11/17 Have your child’s visa photo and physical completed today. You will be walking to the clinic with Jocelyn. Bring supplies (water, snack, etc.). Be ready to go! Meet with Jocelyn to prepare paperwork for the Consulate appointment.

11/18 Today is your Consulate appointment.
Jocelyn will deliver your visa packets to the U.S. Consulate Adoption Unit.

11/19 Go to the U.S. Consulate to take the oath in the afternoon. Receive your child’s visa packet at the conclusion of the oath ceremony.
DO NOT OPEN YOUR CHILD’S VISA PACKET!

11/20 Please check out of your hotel room and be ready to go by the designated time.
Thanks! Leave Guangzhou for Korea on Korean Air flight KE5816 @ 8:10.Leave Korea for the
U.S. WELCOME HOME!

Feeling Blessed Today

No new news really other than that we got our final travel packet yesterday with our itenerary and such :) Am I still nervous.....yes, it comes and goes but today I am feeling good and very blessed to have this opportunity. It is ironic that in the travel itenerary it tells you exactly how much money you will need for the remainder of the process and guess what.....we have EXACTLY the right amount saved almost to the penny, isn't that weird? We expected to have to scrounge around a bit but it looks like that won't be the case. Once more we have been provided with an open door and there is no ugly monster standing in it.... thanks GOD! I wish I knew if Aubrey ever got the chicken pox and I wish I was holding her right now, but soon enough! Will post our itenerary soon, and I want to add some photos from our shower at long last, I am very grateful to have loving friends and famiky that cared enough to give me one! So stay tuned.....

Poor Baby....

Got a call from our agency yesterday and it looks like our pretty little sweetheart has been exposed to Chicken Pox after just recovering from the measles:( Maybe she will not get it. I think maybe she is trying to get all those childhood illnesses out of the way before she comes home. I guess that's not such a bad thing, but I hate for her to be sick and not be there to care of her. It makes me sad! I am doing a bit better with the sleep the last couple of days, keep your fingers crossed that it is passing! Update on travel, we are leaving the 5th of Nov. from Atlanta at 11:55 pm and will arrive in Beijing at 8:10 on the 6th. We will spend a few days in Beijing and will unite with our lovely daughter on the 10th in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. After several days there we will head to Guangzhou City in Guandong province for our Consulate Appointment on the 18th that is the final step and we are coming home baby in tow on the 20th, just in time to rest up a bit before Thanksgiving. Please pray for a safe journey for us, for an easy adjustment for our little one and for her health.

Shay

Update

A few words come to mind when I see these new pictures of Aubrey Sophia Mei that a friend took while on her adoption journey..... beautiful, precious, gift, God, thankful, joy, heart, dream.....I could go on but I guess you get the message. We will be travelling to pick up our little miracle and bring her home most likely on Nov. 5th. Please think of our little one in prayer, she has had the measles, but is doing fine.

I am doing a little better also, please keep praying. It is something I have been doing a lot of along with excercising, loosing 12 lbs and taking every supplement known to man. I found out my hormones are lets just say "not optimal", likely due to fertility treatments and stress in general. Still missing a night of sleep every now and then, and worrying relentlessly about everything under the sun. I am working on faith and focus right now. A lot of low self esteem and doubt about myself crept into my mind over the last several weeks. I want to thank GOD, my husband, my son, my friends and family and of course my online friends for thier support. I am not at the end of this stupid tunnel yet, but I can see a light and when I look at this little girl who I love so much already, it grows brighter. And if you see this, thank you friend for the pictures and the support. Shay