GOTCHA DAY

First, I have to say I’m sorry this has taken so long but it has been a busy couple of days and I did not have internet yet. Since I knew I wouldn’t have anything to post right away I delayed paying the $75 they wanted for a week’s worth of internet until I knew I would have time to use it.

So, for those of you who don’t know they call the day you get your baby Gotcha Day. For the first day we are just guardians. Then on the next day you become the adoptive parents. Our Gotcha Day was March 8th and the date of adoption was March 9th. We did not get to go to the adoption center until afternoon on the 8th. We had to wait all morning. We slept in, we ate breakfast, we read our books, the boys did homework and eventually the time passed. We got to the Adoption Center in Guangzhou a little after 2:30 and they told us our babies were still on the way (the drive from Huazhou City is kind of hazy, some said 5 hours some said 6 or 7). Either way, it was a long way and they were late. Most of our group took a seat on the couches in front of the elevators to wait. The elevators doors opened and out walked a group with babies. Well, we didn’t think anything of it until Simon (our local guide) said those are your babies! We were all like oh my gosh they walked right by us and we didn’t even know. So we made our way in to the crowded room where everyone just stands in the middle and when they call your babies name they bring her out and you get her. I wanted to post a video here but it wouldn't let me email it.

Her hair is so much longer than her referral picture. I thought they would keep it cut short and I’d have to wait that much longer for it to grow out but they didn’t. They let us spend a while with the baby and then they call you in to make the donation. Then you get to leave for your “harmonious period”. It was off to the supermarket to buy any supplies we needed (like formula and rice crackers). And in our case snacks for the boys. Then it was back to the hotel with a 15 minute break and then one parent had to go fill out paperwork with the adoption coordinator. Of course, that would be me (Angie). So, Mike and the boys got to spend an entire hour playing with her without me! By the time I got back they had her laughing. We gave her a bath and a bottle and put her to bed around 10 and she slept until we woke her up at 7 AM!

Dustin and Derrick (especially Derrick) have really bonded with her. We can hardly keep Derrick away. He is always playing with her, wanting to feed her, push the stroller whatever he can do. It is very cute and I have the pictures to prove it.
On Tuesday we went back to the Adoption Center to finalize the paperwork. Then it was off to Shaimen Island to take a visa photo and do some shopping. The shopping was great but we wore out before we finished with all the stores. We will make another trip to the island on Saturday for the medical check and do some more shopping then.

Since the internet connection I paid for won't let me post pics, this will be tmy last entry until we get home. Sorry guys.

Beijing

We made to Beijing safely after a looong flight. The boys did say it was the coolest flight ever as they had their own TV at their seat and could select from hundreds of movies, games, and music to listen to with their own headphones. And they served us Hagen Daaz Ice Cream as a snack. Yum…That’s worth 14 hours on a plane, right???



Today we visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. Tiananmen Square is just that, a big open square courtyard in front of their capital building. It was big but when you think about tanks rolling across it, it didn’t seem big enough for that! No tanks today though, just lots of people. Even though they told us the crowd was low because it was their off season and we were there early in the morning (about 9AM).



Tiananmen Square is the beginning of the Forbidden City which is series of Palaces used by the Emperor’s in early dynasties. Some of the buildings had been restored and were beautifully carved on the outside. Others had not been restored but you could still see the intricate carvings. It is called Forbidden because they were so concerned with safety of the Emperor that you have to go through 3 sets of gates before you get to the building that the Emperor would actually live in.



After spending a couple of hours walking through the Forbidden City we had lunch at a local restaurant where Peking Duck was the specialty. They served a variety of dishes along with the duck including some chicken, pork, and beef dishes along with vegetables. They scrounged up a couple of forks for us chopstick challenged people. I tried I just couldn’t get them to work for me. Mike used a fork too. Derrick is the only one who managed with chopsticks. Dustin just didn’t eat. Had to give him protein bars when we got back on the bus. It was all very good (except the duck, I didn’t like it – Mike liked it though).

Then it was on to the Great Wall. The Great Wall is over 6,000 kilometers (that is 3700 miles for us metric challenged folk). Only about 200 kilometers or 124 miles are in Beijing. We had a choice of the challenging climb or the easy climb with the harder one giving you a better view from farther up so of course that is the one we took. We climbed up about ¼ to ½ mile of steps to the first tower and that was quite the chore. The steps were extremely steep and uneven. Some you had to really raise your feet high and others were barely an inch high. The railing to hold on to (and pull yourself along) was right at the stair level so you walked stooped over pulling yourself up the stairs with the railing (at least I did). I think we rested about 4 times on that small section. The view was great though. There was still snow on the edges of the steps though so you had to watch your step going down. Especially since our legs were shaky from the climb up!



After leaving the Great Wall we stopped by for a couple of minutes to see the Olympic Stadium that Beijing built special for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It was a very cool looking building. We didn’t get to go in but we got to take a few photos.



Then it was back to the hotel to write post cards and blogs and eat dinner. We opted for a quiet dinner in our room with Pizza Hut. Yes, they have then over here. They told me most people like them better than in the USA. It would not be the Swanigan’s saying that though. There was no sauce (it was just bread and cheese) and the cheese was all mozzarella (no blend) so it was extremely chewy. It was ok I guess but I’ll stick to our way of making pizza thank you very much.

Well, we leave for Guangzhou in the morning at 5:45 (we have to have our luggage to the bell hop at 5AM) so I’d better get to bed. Monday is the day we get Paige so not too much longer now!

Travel

Well, we got our "inside China" travel itinerary today. It looks like we have several days of paperwork activities (which we expected). But the do have a couple of tours or sightseeing trips set up for us. In Beijing we will see TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. While in Guangzhou we will see Yuexiu Park, Chen Clan Temple, and the Guangzhou Zoo. We also have a couple of free days scheduled (and I'm sure some of the paperwork days will have free time) - can you say shopping on those days. :) That's my kind of free day. The boys just groaned when I said that. I'm sure they will change their mind when they see all the cool stuff they can bring home. Monday, March 8th is Gotcha Day (for those not in the adoption world that is the day we will get little Paige). It doesn't look like we will get to go to the orphanage. The itinerary says we will go to the Guangdong Adoption Center. Too bad, I was really hoping we'd get to see the place that Paige called home for the last 9 months. The trip to the Guangzhou Zoo is on Mike's birthday, March 12th. Not a bad way to spend your birthday, huh?

Lots of the packing is done. I have clothes laid out to pack (don't want them in the suitcase a week early getting wrinkled). Everything but clothes and toiletries is already packed in the suitcases. So next week it is just a matter of folding the clothes are putting them in the suitcases.

It is really getting close now! By this time next week we will be on our way and a week from Monday we will have Paige!

Packing

Well, packing is well underway. There is so much to take "just in case". I have all of Paige's stuff together from snacks to medicines we might need to clothes. Hope I picked the right sizes! I am taking 12-18 months. I even put the outfits in seperate Ziplock bags to save space like the lists say to do but an added benefit is Mike doesn't have to try to match outfits! I have a lot of my clothes together or at least know what I want to take. The guys are another story. They will want to take the clothes they wear everyday so I'll be doing laundry and packing for them next week before we leave. All our paperwork is together too. That was a chore! We have to take copies of all the paperwork we've already sent to China plus our new paperwork and our passports, airline tickets...but we are so ready to go.

Travel Plans

We got confirmation of our appointment at the American Consulate for March 16th. So we will for sure be traveling March 4 - March 19th. Seems like such a long way off but I know it is only 4 weeks now.

Our travel schedule is like this:

Thurs, March 4: leave the US
Fri, March 5: Group arrive in BJ (Radisson SAS Hotel)
Sat, March 6: Group Sightseeing in BJ-TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall (Juyongguan), lunch is included; CHI orientation

Sun, March 7: fly to Guangzhou. If skipping BJ, arrive in Guangzhou today. (China Hotel in GZ)
Mon, March 8: meet your child
Tues, March 9: do adoption process, registration and apply for the passport
Wed March 10, sightseeing or free day
Thurs, March 11: sightseeing or free days
Fri, March 12: get the passport and all papers back. (other CHI families will arrive in Guangzhou today)
Sat. March 13: medical exam for all children
Sun. March 14: free day or sightseeing
Mon, March 15: medical rechecks for children over the age of 2
Tues, March 16: ACS appt confirmed
Wed, March 17: take oath at the ACS and sign DS230 forms
Thurs, March 18: receive children’s visas late in day depending on date of ACS appt.
Fri, March 19: you can leave Guangzhou on this day and return to the US


We are not skipping Beijing and we will leave Guangzhou on the 18th by train to Hong Kong and will fly home on the 19th from Hong Kong.

I can't wait to go.

We Got Them!

We got our Travel Approvals today! And our Visa's arrived via Fed Ex today. So, 2 more things off the list! Yippee! One step closer.

Now that we have our TA's our agency can request our appointments with the American Consulate. They have requested March 16 or 17 as our first 2 choices of dates. It they confirm one of the these two dates our travel will stay with the estimated dates of March 4-19th.

The agency has to give 3 dates so their 3rd choice was March 23rd. If this is the date confirmed we will not leave until March 11 and return on March 26th. Boo! Surely we will get one of the first 2 dates.

They said it could take several days for a response from the American Consulate. Hopefully we will know by the end of the week or early next week which date they confirm for our appointments and what our travel dates are.

Visa's and Travel Approvals

Well, our courier emailed me tonight that our passports and Visa's were picked up from the consolute today and sent back to me via Fed Ex. I should have them by tomorrow at noon. One more thing to not have to worry about.

We have heard since last week that travel approvals for 12/28 referrals were arriving but had not heard from our agency that our TA's were here. Today RQ reported that the next batch of referrals was arriving and I couldn't stand it anymore. TA's for the last batch are almost always here before or about the same time as referrals. I finally emailed our agency and asked when they thought we would get them. They quickly responded and said our TA's were sent on Friday and should be here today or tomorrow. One would think they would know for certain the date (since they are not sent USPS there should be tracking on them). But at this point any info is better than none.

I did not here from them before 5pm today so I am assuming we will here tomorrow that the TA's arrived. Now they can request our American Consulate Appointments. Once those appointments are confirmed we will have official travel dates and can book our airfare.

I am keeping busy washing and folding clothes that I've gotten from Jen, Cheryl and Nicole. I just realized that a tote in Paige's room (that I've had for several years now) contains clothes from Nicole and not toys. So I have to go through those. This is good news though as Jen gave me mostly dresses and I still needed more casual clothes and this tote is full of nice casual clothes. I'm feeling a little like I won't have to do any shopping for girl clothes, which kind of bums me out since I've only ever been able to shop for boy clothes and always looked longingly at the cute girl clothes. I'm sure I helped Nicole pick out some of the stuff Sabrina wore that is in that tote though! And I am certain a few new things will find their way into Paige's closet. :)

Hopefully late this week or early next week I can confirm our travel dates.