handsful

We have arrived in Beijing :) My mind is mush, after being awake for the last 30 or so hours, so this will be short. Our flights went well, uneventful with the exception of a miscommunication with the Korean counter rep at Korean Air. Apparently when we asked for a window seat, she heard that we wanted NO window. It was all good, though. International airlines truly put American airlines to shame. We were fed 3 full meals across 2 flights. The last flight was only 1 1/2hr long. You MIGHT get peanuts on that flight in the US. I digress…

We’re at a lovely hotel downtown, the Traders. We’ll be up early for touring of the Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, and we’ll take a rickshaw ride inside a traditional Hutong neighborhood where we’ll be invited inside someone’s home to learn a little bit about their lives. This was one of our favorite parts on our last trip.

More details later, going to crash on our not-so-soft beds. (the Chinese don’t like pillow-tops like us American’s do) I don’t think it’ll matter, given how tired I am. :)

Abbey, Marley, Payton, Ethan, and Lainey – being away from you is even harder than we thought it would be. We love you, and we’re thankful that Skype allows us to see each other and talk everyday. Hugs and kisses!!

Here it is, minus Randy’s computer bag. One of the larger duffles is full of donations for the orphanage. I can’t take credit though, friends and family bought and made wonderful things for the babies at Luoyang! We are so thankful.

We fly out at 7:10am. It’s 10:45 now, and I’m not sure when I’ll hit the sack…gotta spend some time with the kids who are also still up. Hoping I can sleep on the plane :)

Next post from Beijing!

Virtually no time for words here, but wanted to share our evening. We attended the Carolina Christmas at the Charlotte Motor Speedway…huge drive-through light show with music and tons of other fun stuff. Given we’ll be gone for half of December, we wanted to make some Christmas memories early.

We stopped the car so the kids could run out to the sign and pose.

I only had our point and shoot camera, but you get the idea. It was really pretty!

Of course, we looked at race cars.

Lainey found one just her size.

There were ponies to ride.

And animals to feed.

And, a first. A smiling Lainey with Santa. She still didn’t want to stand or sit by him without me, but it’s progress!

There was a lot of food. Delicious fudge, cinnamon almonds and pecans, and funnel cake. Lainey decided the powdered sugar shouldn’t go to waste.

And, what happens when you eat too much sugar? Crash! Sorry, it’s blurry…

So, what does this picture of our morning milk remind you of? Our Gotcha Day for Dylan, of course! I’m off to do more packing…

As Lainey would say.

We have 2 more full days to get ready for our trip to Dylan. Gracious. Thankfully, our master “to-do” list IS shrinking. Tomorrow, we take care of financial things, finish cleaning the house, and some last minute paperwork checking. Oh, and we should probably pack. Other than a few things in Dylan’s bag, we’ve not packed anything.

My mom is hyperventilating right now. Sorry, mom.

To make things even MORE interesting, we’re throwing in some early Christmas celebrating. We’re going to Carolina Christmas at the Charlotte Motor Speedway tomorrow night…huge drive through light show, Santa (which Lainey says she WILL sit on his lap…time will tell), and other Christmasy things. Then, on Tuesday, we pick up Gram at the train station and go directly to our downtown Christmas parade. Normally, I’m TOTALLY against doing anything remotely Christmasy before Thanksgiving. But, this year, there are no rules. Gotta celebrate when we can :)

Until the next post…maybe I’ll have time for a picture tomorrow? Of packed luggage maybe? Nah…

Our wonderful crew of kids…waiting on the last crew member.

We took our last ride out on the boat this past weekend, then pulled her out of the water. She’s at the shop, being winterized as I type. Something we never had to do in Florida!

I wonder what Dylan will think of the boat? Lainey was a little wary at first, but it didn’t take her long to love it. Dylan has no clue how his life is about to change. Sometimes I look at Lainey and think about the kind of child she’d be if she were still in that orphanage. I watched her run down the driveway the other day, head back, arms and legs flailing and laughing the whole way. Pure joy. I cannot WAIT to see Dylan living his life the way he was meant to. The way all kids deserve to. How I wish all of the orphans in China could have that.

TA! Those lovely 2 little letters that mean we’re on our way to Dylan Yu Hai – I was surprised to receive Travel Approval today, thinking it would take at least a couple of days. Like they say, after you wait for something for so long, it somehow still surprises you when it arrives :)

We’ll know our travel dates as soon as the consulate in Guangzhou confirms our appt. date. Our agency requested dates today. We could hear tomorrow, but I would expect Monday.

Thought I’d show off my no-sew skills with this blanket I made for Dylan. Arrrrgh! lol… It’s my first attempt at a fleece tie blanket and I think it turned out pretty well. Next time, I’ll make it larger and the ties longer (I ended up making the ties a little different on the long sides, but I like it).

Next stop? Consulate Appt! Once we have that, our world will hit warp speed as we prepare to go and meet our son.

After 4 extremely long weeks, we heard from our agency today that China has mailed the Travel Approvals! Cue the music, and let’s get this party started! lol…

We were initially told that our wait for TA (this is China’s official “yes, you may come and get your kiddo” approval) would be 2-3 weeks after our Article 5 was picked up. Three weeks came and went and with each additional day, the wait grew more grueling.

But, with the news that TAs are coming in, I’m a new woman :) They should be here by the end of this week / beginning of next. Which means, we should hear next week the EXACT day that we’ll meet Dylan. And, of course learn our travel dates.

Yep, it’s real folks. We are going to China! And, we’ll have Dylan within a year of seeing his precious little face back on December 23, 2009.

We’re almost there.