We're going to meet Nathan tomorrow!!

Just a quick update since it's almost midnight and we have to leave our hotel at 7am tomorrow morning to catch the "bullet" train to Tianjin. The high speed train takes about 30 minutes to get to Tianjin compared to the bus that would take 2hours. When we arrive in Tianjin we'll check into our hotel and then go to the orphanage at 10am to get Nathan. I am really beginning to get nervous! It's just hard to wrap my head around it at this point. We'll post pics ASAP tomorrow evening.

The Great Wall

Yesterday we met other CCAI families including Hillary who works at CCAI and had helped us throughout Emily's adoption. Quite a few families are adopting their second child and most of them are older children. So it's been nice talking with them! Somehow we arrived one day later than all of the other CCAI families..so we missed Tianamen Square tour. Our guide is arranging a personal tour for us today. All the other families are flying out today to their adoptive child's province. We are taking the bullet train to Tianjin tomorrow.

Here we are at The Great Wall. Jim, Emily and I only went to the first tower since the whole path was pure ice! Mom and Dad made it to the second tower. One couple acutally made it all the way to the top! We decided that next time we come back for the Heritage tour...we are coming in MAY!! WE FROZE!! It's pretty amazing to see the wall in person and to try and figure out how they built it and how they hauled all the stone up the steep hills!

After the Great Wall, we went to lunch as a group and defrosted a little. After lunch we went to see the Flying Acrobats Show. It was very good! Emily loved watching the acrobats jump off of spring boards and fly into the air. She was clapping and smiling...until she passed out from sheer exhaustion halfway through the show. I think Jim fell asleep too! It was a long day. This trip has been so different than Emily's trip. It's almost like we are spectators this time instead of being in the moment like we were last time. I still can't believe we're really here. It sounds stupid but at the acrobatics show I suddenly realized that the acrobats were Chinese!! DUH!! We are trying to prepare for tomorrow and getting Nathan but we are just trying to survive through today.

We have arrived!

After spending the night in Newark, we boarded the plane for Beijing. The flight wasn't too bad. Emily slept for the first 3 hours and the last 2 hours of the flight. She did a great job sitting there for 12 hours!! The portable DVD player was a blessing to have! Here she is sleeping like an angel 2 hours before we landed. Poor thing was so upset when we landed and had to wake her up. She has been such a trooper...I feel so bad about her lack of solid sleep. Jim and I also are running on a lack of sleep but hopefully we'll catch up tonight.

As the packing continues...

I think we are pretty much packed. I don't think anything else will fit...I was half tempted to sit Emily down on top of our suitcases so I could zip them shut! Actually, we do have a little room left in Jim's/Emily's suitcase. Now I need to clean the house and finish wrapping a few Christmas presents...then I'm going to sit down with a cold beer! At this point, I am over the whole preparing phase and am in the LET'S GET ON THE PLANE ALREADY phase!

Trip Itinerary

We got our Final Travel Itinerary today.

Here it is:

12/10 Leave Denver for Newark.

Stay over night in New Jersey.
12/11 Fly to Beijing.
12/12 Arrive in Beijing.Go to the Holiday Inn
12/13 Tour Beijing with other CCAI families.
12/14 Optional tour

12/15 Take the train from Beijing to Tianjin. Recieve Nathan today! YEAH!!
12/16 Go to the Registration Office to do adoption registration & notarization.
12/17 Rest, relax, and take the train back to Beijing. Go to the Holiday Inn
12/18 Optional City Tour

12/19 Leave Beijing for Guangzhou. Go to the Victory Hotel.
12/20 Nathan's photo and physical done this morning.
12/21 Free day in Guangzhou enjoy!

12/22 Consulate appointment.

12/23 Go to U.S. Consulate for the oath.
12/24 Depart Guangzhou for Hong Kong Depart Hong Kong for San Francisco.

Stay overnight in San Francisco.

12/25 Fly to Denver MERRY CHRISTMAS!

One Week Left

As the countdown continues I am running around shopping like a mad woman...three trips to Target in the last two days! (I think my car knows the way there on it's own). I just got updated measurements on Nathan yesterday. He now weighs 37.5 pounds and is 39" tall! We didn't get a picture though :( My friend Stacy's little boy just turned four and he is about the same size as Nathan. Stacy was so kind in giving as a bag of Ray's clothes. So nice to be able to bring some of them with us in case the 4T stuff is too big. Nathan's a big boy...that is if the measurements are accurate. They were a little off with Emily's measurements we we got her...she was a little lighter. The weather in Beijing has been hovering at 35 degrees with the weather in GZ around 72 degrees. So I think I've got enough warm clothes for Beijing and I thought I'd just layer him and Emily. That's as far as I've gotten with packing. Nothing in the suitcase yet but stacked all on Nathan's bed.

Emily and I have been having interesting conversations lately. She's been asking me to tell her the story about how she got the small scar on her arm (curling iron burn). She LOVES it when I begin..."When you were a little baby...". You should see her face light up. Today Emily and I were driving around trying to get her to nap (I should say I was trying to get her to nap...she had other things in mind) when she asked me to tell her the story about her adoption. We've never really discussed it before and I think all the talk about adopting Nathan brought it to her attention. So I began "When you were a little baby you lived in China like Nathan..." She listened the first time I told her the toddler version and then she added things to the story as I retold it. It was one of those times you wish you had it on tape! She is such an amazing little girl! It made me realize that while I was running around trying to get ready for Nathan and our trip, I had a little girl absorbing everything that's been going on around her. I need to cherish these last few days with Emily and whatever I get done around the house is less important.

We're Heading to China

After waiting a little over a year to met Nathan, we will finally see him on Monday, December 15th! We just got our Travel Approval and our Consulate appointments confirmed yesterday. Jim was stressing out yesterday while making our flight arrangements...today he is fine. I on the other hand am just plain freaking out! All of a sudden it really hit me that we are finally going to get our son. So funny how we've had all of this time and now I feel we don't have enough time to prepare.
We are right in the middle of transitioning Emily into a "big girl" bed. She just moved to a new room and we just got home from a week in Florida. This sounds like I am complaining...which I am not...it's just the fear talking. Frankly I am so unsure of myself at this point. I know in my heart Nathan is our son...it's just the whole trip to China and all of that impacting Emily on top of meeting her older brother. This is so different then our adoption trip to get Emily. I know it's fear and anxiety talking at this point.