China at last!

This was sent on March 3rd, 8:00 am China time.
We made it! Thanks for writing. I saw that we had a few texts once we landed last night. But it said roaming charges would apply, and we thought that maybe roaming to China could add up pretty fast. :) We were a bit surprised that we even had service for our US phones. They have not given us our Panda phone as yet, but we got in pretty late, and we were pretty wiped out. I hardly slept at all on the plane, although I tried. Not too comfortable. I slept well once we hit the hotel though, which I thought would probably help with jet lag.

The trip was very good and uneventful. We were able to watch lots of movies - they seemed to feed us pretty often, which I'm sure was to get our bodies ready for the new time zone we would be in. I did have a short amount of time toward the end of the flight, after I had dozed awhile that I felt pretty sick, but David found the sick bag, which I breathed into awhile and started feeling better pretty quickly. Of
course I was praying, and David probably was too. :) No fun, hope that doesn't happen again. Not sure what was going on - but it seemed worse when I closed my eyes, so I kept them open after that. Wasn't sure if it was a motion sickness thing, or stomach something - so debated between Pepto or Dramamene. Didn't do either. Since I had a window seat and was awake most of the time I kept checking for the northern lights. I did see something kind of light and hazy, but didn't see color - so am not sure if that's what it was. I also saw a really bright light that I couldn't figure out, but that seemed not to move and seemed pretty high up. When I asked David about it later, he said it was the light on the planes wing. So funny!

We got through customs without issues although the lines were really long - and there were a lot of them. One of their guards directed a bunch of us in a long line for foreigners, over to a line for Chinese
nationals. We felt a bit out of place there, but saw a blonde that got through our line ahead of us and didn't have problems either. :) Our 'Great Wall' agency person was standing with a flag and there were 2 other families on our plane that he was waiting for too. One couple and their parents spoke Spanish, so our guide had someone talk to them on the phone. The other couple reminded me a bit of Andy & Michelle Bullar - about their age. They've been waiting on their referral for 6 years too. They're getting a little girl.  We're all at the same hotel. But we didn't see them at breakfast. There were two restaurants to choose from (American and Chinese). We, of course, went to the American style. Pretty empty, but lots of food at the buffet. Some of it American, lots of it not. I tried some rice congee, since I had heard it's a common 'comfort food' here. It was pretty much watery warm rice - not too much taste. The rest of the things I tried were very good too. Loved the fish. It was a little strange eating fried rice for breakast, but very good.
David's currently flipping through cable channels and found a 'Chinese Idol' show. I don't think he's found anything in English as yet. We're very thankful that we have access to gmail in Beijing, but we
couldn't access the blog for some reason. In any case, we would appreciate your updating the blog if
you would. I am a little brain dead as yet, and we will be heading off to exchange our American money for the Chinese variety and go tour from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. (It's currently a little after 8:00 a.m. Saturday which is around 6:00 p.m. your time Friday).

Blessings Shower

Last night we headed over to a friend's house to talk over possible computer glitches, etc. we might encounter in China as well as any other information they could 'download' into our brains before our trip :) When we arrived we were very surprised to find a group that had gathered to 'shower' us with blessings and to celebrate with us. We munched on creative and adorable treats, then shared a bit of our adoption journey up to this point. Many of our friends have also adopted previously and it was a blessing to have their combined wisdom; and then to pray together for Kaleb, and our upcoming trip. My dear hubby was blowing his nose after the prayers - 'allergies' :)

Consulate Appointment Approved - Airline Tickets Bought!

Today we received the glorious news that not only did the Consulate 'approve' our appointment date, but that we also don't need to jump through the extra paperwork hoops that we had been told to expect! We have some pretty big smiles on our faces around here! Yay God!!

In looking through the itinerary I saw that our 'Gotcha Day' (First day that we see/keep Kaleb) is March 5th. This is 6 years to the day since our Adoption Bible Study ended, and we made the decision to go forward with adoption. Pretty amazing.

We also received our Travel Itinerary and have booked our International Flights through Delight Travel, which is who works with our adoption agency in China. Pretty exciting stuff for 2 kids from Nebraska ;)

Bump in the Road

Yesterday a good friend came over bearing guide books, other helpful trip related items and advice (she's adopting for the 4th time - all from China/Taiwan). After she left, we received an email from our adoption agency informing us of a possible problem with our travel dates. We are approved for 2 children, aged 0-3 years old. Apparently OUR government, The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), reads '3' as 36 months. Kaleb is 3 1/2. So this will entail more paperwork, and possibly delay our travel.

Needless to say, I was a bit in shock. My oldest daughter, reminded me that she has good hearing. Evidently my voice gets louder when I'm upset :/ After remembering to pray, God calmed me down. Our Travel Adviser was sweet and worked after hours answering my concerned emails with different possible scenarios. It appears that  the US Consulate in Guangzhou may deny our requested consulate appointment, or grant it, but either way we will need to have USCIS amend some of our paperwork. I think Travel Advisers probably deserve some kind of 'battle pay' in breaking news to distraught parents :) Our Social Worker is also very helpful and she thinks that USCIS will be able to quickly resolve the issue, but we have to keep on the situation and related offices.

In the words of Yogi Berra, "It ain't over 'til it's over". I know that this is small in the big scheme of things. We have a big God. I need to remember to trust Him through the ups AND downs.

Travel Approval!

We just received our Travel Approval today!

I had visited our 'Waiting Child' Yahoo Group today and a person was asking how long the average wait was from Letter Seeking Confirmation (LSC) to Travel Approval (TA). She had been waiting 92 days. The person who 'answered' her question directed her to the file for average wait times. In the I-600 file they were in the 24-96 day range - one was 10 days, but they had waited 47 days from Pre-Approval to LSC. This is HUGE!! Praise God!!

We haven't talked about which dates we'll choose for the consulate appointment; but they are all BEFORE our fingerprints expire! Major praise!! Can't wait to have Kaleb home with us!