First Leg of Our Trip

Hi Everyone,

What a start to our trip! Dropped Harley off in the morning at Dawghouse. I absolutely love the owners Erica and Christopher who will be taking care of Harley, and they even have two amazing dogs Ben and Fin who actually put up with the big girl. That said, it is hard to be leaving my pup for 20 days. :)
Next it was off the Chandler to meet Marianne at Chuck and Kristi's new house. Love the house and the boys are going to love their new playroom! My carry-on suitcase zipper decided to break at this point, so it was off to the local Target for a new one. Accomplished all that and made it on time to catch the plane to SFO.
After practically dislocating my shoulder with the damn carry-on, the first thing both Marianne and I said when Julie picked us up is "We have to re-pack!!" Julie, being an expert at simplicity, promptly re-packed everything, and I am basically leaving half of the stuff in SFO!!
One of the things to go was the computer, so I am hoping to be able to use the hotel computer to let everyone know how things are going.
Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes! We are off to China this morning!!! :)

Schedule for Inside Travel!

Hi Everyone,

Received the information on what our two weeks will look like in China!
July 31st we arrive in Beijing
August 1st- Sightseeing of TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall(Juyongguan)
August 2nd- Travel to Guangzhou
August 3rd- Receive Ella!
August 4th- Begin adoption procedure
August 5th- Apply for Ella's passport
August 6th- Sightseeing- Yuexiu Park, Chen Clan Temple
August 7th- Sightseeing- Guangzhou Zoo
August 8th- Medical Exams
August 9th and 10th- Free Days
August 11th- American Consulate Appointment
August 12th- Take Oath at American Consulate and get visa later in the day
August 13th- Travel to Hong Kong
August 14th- Travel to San Francisco and Ella will meet her Aunt Julie, Uncle Jase and cousins Claire and Nina!

Finishing packing today and getting everything in order for Harley. I was able to confirm that I have all the right paperwork and necessary forms, and now just need to go copy them! Feeling much more settled and ready to go!!!

What A Day!

Hi Everyone,

I am so sorry that I have not been able to keep everyone up to date, but I am sure you can imagine how crazy busy the past couple of weeks have been! I am getting closer to being ready for our big trip, but still have a lot of little things to do. Washed all of Ella's new clothes today, thank you everyone for your generosity! I also was able to pick out part of the gift for the nannies. I found out that they love the scented satchels that you can put in your drawers, so I was able to buy 12 of them from Kirkland. I will pick up some lip gloss tomorrow and be done with them. Now all I have to left to purchase is a gift for the orphanage director and for my coordinator that will be helping us during our stay in China.
Must share with you all Harley and my adventure today......Considering that I needed every possible minute of today to work on packing and making sure I have the right papers it was hard to understand why the gods conspired to ensure that did not happen! Went over to Mom and Dad's house to water the plants inside/out and almost all of Dad's new plants at the bottom of the hill were in trouble. Called him up and he says "put the system on manual and see if any water is coming out". So, I put the system on manual, go to the bottom of the hill, and half of the plants have no water. I then had to adjust each of the spikets to change the amount of water that comes out. Nothing happens. So I then go to the top of the hill, back to where the water box is located on the house, and there is now a pond because some animal has dug up the water line where Dad had two lines converging onto one and there is this four foot water fountain coming out of the ground. Before I could say HOLY SH....T, Harley ran over to the fountain and stared attacking it and proceeded to dig down to where the actual water line was!! (Saved me from digging it up but you can imagine my canine soaking wet and full of mud!!!!!!!!!) Once Harley finished digging up the line for me, I had to switch out the plastic T bracket that was holding all the lines together, cover the line and then bury it with a cover so animals cannot get back at it. An Hour and a half later, I had a happy Dog because she is covered with mud head to paw, happy Dad because I have fixed the problem and happy plants because they will all get water and survive our summer!! Got a laugh at life. Unbelievable!! :)Hope you all had a great day!!

Final Packet

Hi Everyone,

Well, received the following info from my adoption agency today............"Sorry, but CHI is not able to obtain information from the American Consulate on the most recent information related to your cable in Guangzhou. See the response below from the American Consulate in Guangzhou. Please be advised that, as of April 4th, 2008, our office revised our guidelines for communication between the National Visa Center and the public. We are now required to verify case specific information each time we receive an inquiry. According to U.S. law, the National Visa Center is only permitted to discuss details of a visa case with authorized representatives.
My agency recommends " Perhaps this is something families will need to discuss with the US State Department on the inadequacies of the systems regarding new rules put into effect by the USCIS and the State Department. There should be a process in place on how to handle these situations and the consequences of the new rules for the families. The current system is not working and no one can find out the information until the family is sitting in Guangzhou and either receives a visa or is denied the visa for their child. "

Not the best of news considering it could mean delays for us in China with the US Consulate, but will do what I can before I leave to try and get confirmation that the consulate has received my cable for Ella Xiaoyun. On a happy note, I have finally finished Ella's room and cleared the closet. The Casa (local donation house) will be very happy will all of the donations! :) Amazing the amount of things I have collected over the past four years for a baby girl!

We should receive our final travel information on Monday which will detail the travel inside of China. It is getting so close. Tested my Mandarin today in public! Ha! The looks I received. At least I will be able to talk to Ella about the necessities. Hope you are all doing well!

Our Visas arrived Today

Hi Everyone,

It seems like time is flying by and I have so much to do before we go to China! Received our passports today and they have been stamped with the Visa to enter China! We have our flights set and now we are just waiting to get the final travel arrangements from my agency. I am still working on getting the necessary gifts for the nannies, notary and important officials that we have to give gifts during our stay in China. They need to be placed in red bags- good luck- and are nothing expensive, but a simple token of appreciation. We are limited on the amount of luggage we can bring so that makes it difficult to bring gifts for the other orphans that remain in China as well as clothes for Ella Xiaoyun and myself. :)

Received our TA Today!

Hi Everyone,

We received our TA's today (travel announcement)! We just have to wait for our appointment to be confirmed at the US consulate in China and we will be able to book our flights! The following is the proposed schedule for our travel! I will get Ella Xiaoyun on August 3rd!!!!!!!!!!

Tentative travel for Guangdong families (dates subject to change):
Thurs, July 30-leave the US if wanting to arrive in Beijing
Fri, July 31-arrive in Beijing- Renaissance Beijing Hotel
Sat, August 1- sightseeing in BJ- TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall (Juyongguan), lunch is included; CHI orientation
Sun, August 2- If you do not want to travel to BJ for sightseeing, you can meet your group in Guangzhou this morning (China Hotel in GZ)
Mon, August 3-receive children at the Guangdong adoption center (you will not be permitted to visit your child’s orphanage due the H1N1 flu)
Tues, August 4-adoption process
Wed, August 5 free or sightseeing
Thurs, August 6 free or sightseeing
Friday, August 7 free or sightseeing
Sat: August 8-Medical exam for children in GZ
Sun: August 9 – free day
Mon: August 10 -free day
Tues, August 11-visa appt (first choice), (Aug 12 or 13 for 2nd and 3rd choices)
Wed, August 12- take oath at the ACS and get child’s visa late in the day (depending on confirmed date at the ACS)
Thurs, August 13, families can return to the US (depending on confirmed ACS appt date)