Greetings from Beijing!

We are here. The flight was great, with the plane being about half full. Plenty of room to spread out. Andrew was so excited he could hardly sit still during take off. And to be sitting next to his Aunt Nay was the icing on the cake. We had a really long ride as we taxied down the runway and he kept asking "are we in the air yet?" So you can imagine the look on his face when the engines of that big plane revved and we took off. I only wish I could have had a camera to capture his excitement. And then when he found out that Dolphin Tale was one of the movie choices, and that they Disney Channel tv choices, he was nearly beside himself. So he held up really well for the entire trip.

We all slept for a chunk of the trip which helped the nearly 14 hrs go by. When we got down to the final 30 minutes of the trip, Andrew was watching closely the flight map and giving us minute by minute updates. Again, he was super excited. Getting thru the airport was a breeze - no crowds at all thru passport control. Our guide, Grace was waiting as expected and we were quickly taken to our hotel. It was after 1:00am Beijing time when we got settled into our room, but since that's only noon back home, we are all wide awake. We quickly got settled, and each of us pulled out our tech gear and started getting connected. Pleased that we have great connection. We have full days planned for the next couple of days here in Beijing before we head down to Guiyang on Sunday to meet the kids. Tomorrow, we have a tour of the Summer Palace and a hutong lined up with a rickshaw ride on the agenda. Now to convince Andrew he needs to try to sleep again.

And we're off

Sitting at the airport waiting to leave and hoping we have everything we were suppose to bring. I have checked, checked and double-checked to make sure we have the documents we need. Everything else was second priority.

We both spent a long night getting packed and preparing to be gone from work and are exhausted but running on adrenalin. Can't believe that we'll be a family of 6 in just five short day. We've jokingly said we'll be the "Hexa-Himsels" - that's what you get when we both were former math teachers.

Andrew has had a few ups and downs this week - hard to know what's going thru his little head. He's excited but has had moments of being scared. Our little guy worries too much about things in the news. When he found out our return flight is thru Tokyo, he's been obsessed with worrying about tsunami's. Really Andrew? Tsunami's? But today he's ALL about being excited. This waiting at the airport is hard for him because all he wants is to be on our way - I totally agree Andrew - lets get this flughr started. So the next post will be from Beijing.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Long day - finalized our international travel today. That's a huge relief. It's official - we are leaving January 25th. Whoo Hoo. I can't believe that in less than three weeks we'll be a family of 6. What started out 6 months ago with a posting on Facebook, will soon result in our family doubling its size. So for those who are keeping track - here's our itinerary:

- January 25 - late flight departs Chicago for Beijing
- January 26 - arrive in Beijing (very late)
- January 27, 28, 29 - tour Beijing
- January 29 - depart for Guiyang in the afternoon
- January 30 - receive the kids in the afternoon (Yeah)
- January 31 - return to Civil Affairs office for official adoption proceedings
- February 1, 2, 3 - in Guiyang, taking care of paperwork and passports for the kids
- February 3 - depart for Guangzhou
- February 4 - medical exams for the kids & visa photos taken
- February 5 & 6 - in Guangzhou
- February 7 - US Consulate appt for kids visas
- February 8 - pick up the visas and depart via train for Hong Kong
- February 9 - leave Hong Kong for Chicago (via Tokyo)

I'm dreading that long travel to get back home with our three new family members. Good thing Aunt Nay will be there with us to help out. It will be a challenge, and much tougher than our travel back with Andrew from Russia. But so, so worth it.

TA, TA, TA...

Whoo Hoo - we got TAs today for all three kids (that's Travel Approvals).  That's the last thing we needed before we make our travel arrangements.  We have been given the choice to leave either January 26 or February 1.  There are some benefits to both of them, particularly since Chris would like to also use some of our Beijing time to go back to Tianjin and visit the schools he visited when he was there in November.  So we have a decision to make...more news to come after we make our decision.

DS230s and Article 5s - Things are moving along quickly

We got some great news this morning. Our DS230s were delivered to the Consulate on the 3rd and  came out on the 4th (last night)! Wow is that fast.  According to our agency, this means the Article 5s actually came out of the consulate as well, and were sent to our Agency's Beijing office last night. As soon as they get them, they will walk them into CCCWA we should expect to get our TA soon (travel approvals).  And then we also got some updated photos of our kiddos.  Looks like the boys both got hair cuts (hopefully it will grow out some before we pick them up - they both look like rough cuts :)

Ella JingLan

Love that smile.

Doesn't she looks great in her pink coat?

William

What a sweet little thing. 

Looks like its a bit chilly in his room - he's all bundled up.

Ethan

Hum - where is his big smile? 

 Can't wait to get him home and hear his big belly laugh we've been told he has.