Changsha - Day 2

Just like last time, last night was our hardest night of jet lag. We tried our best to stay up as late as possible last night (we did sneak in an hour nap yesterday afternoon), we made it to about 10ish last night and crashed. We both woke up around the same time, thinking it must be almost time to get up for the day and it was only 1:30am! We were pretty wide awake, so we broke into our melatonin stash and managed to fall back to sleep in about 45 mins and slept until around 5am or so. Not bad.

We started the day with the breakfast buffet in our hotel. Like all hotel buffets in China, it was full of traditional western breakfast food along with plenty of Chinese foods like fried rice, noodles, dumplings, etc. We loaded up on breakfast then ventured out for the day. Our guide had told us about a pedestrian street - called Commercial Street - that was good for shops and people watching. We found our way there ... probably a 2-3 mile walk each way from our hotel. We got lots of looks! Most of the time if you smile and nod, you'll get a smile back. Anyway, lots to see along the way!

For those wondering ... Anna is doing good, we've Skyped with her twice. The first time we talked to her, she immediately asked to talk to her baby brother. It was really cute. We miss her lots, but it makes us feel so good knowing she is having a good time.

We might venture out again later this afternoon, but we're going to try to rest up so we're ready for Isaiah Day tomorrow!! We'll meet Celia downstairs at 10am, then head to the Civil Affairs office and meet Isaiah around 10:30am. I'm guessing we'll be back to our hotel by noon or so,  so depending on how he is doing, we'll try to get pics posted early afternoon (your Sunday night). Please pray for Isaiah's transition to us, we know he is close to his nannies and this will be very hard for him.

Thanks for all the comments ... they mean so much!!

Some of the sights and sounds of Changsha....

A distant view of our hotel.

Changsha - Day 1

We're here! Our flight was smooth, just about an hour flight from Hong Kong. We were met by our guide, Celia, at the airport. She is really sweet. She and our driver for the week, Mr. Joe, got us loaded up and we drove to our hotel, the Huatian - it's really nice. It is very smoggy here today. The temp is about 50 and cool, it's supposed to be a bit more sunny and nice the next few days.

After Celia got us settled in to our room, there was a knock at the door ... it was the staff bringing up the crib!! :-)  There is a restaurant downstairs, connected to the hotel, called Food Street. Kind of buffet style, except they make it for you to order. All the dishes, seemed like hundreds, are on display and you just point to what you want and they make it fresh. We picked 4 different things and it was really good ... definitely had that Hunan spice going on!

After lunch we walked down the street to load up on bottled water. Now we're just going to rest the rest of the day/evening. Tomorrow we are on our own and are going to go out exploring the area.

Celia said we will meet Isaiah Monday morning at 10:30am!!! That will be 9:30pm cst (with your time change) on Sunday for you all back home. I imagine it will be after midnight your time Sunday night before we'll get back here and get pictures posted.

So exciting!

 View from our room - lots of smog!

Another view from our window.

Hotel Lobby

More Lobby

Made it to Hong Kong!

We're here in our hotel getting ready to crash. Our flight was good ... long, but good. We maybe slept on and off for a total of 1 1/2 hours. It's just so hard to sleep on the plane! We watched plenty of movies and tv shows though. The food on Cathay was actually pretty good too!

We catch our flight to Changsha at 9am in the morning. Just three more sleeps until Isaiah day!!

In Chicago, waiting to board...

We went to bed about 1am and the alarm went off at 5am. - hopefully that means we'll have a nice sleep on the flight to Hong Kong! Our flight to Chicago was smooth and now we have about 3 hours until we board. We'll land in Hong Kong around 8pm Friday, so that will be Friday morning US time.

Here are a few pics for you ...

Ready to go!

Flying Cathay Pacific this time and looking forward to it.

Never mind our puffy, tired eyes!

The plans...

Here is our itinerary while we are in China. We will fly from Springfield to Chicago Thurs morning and then on to Hong Kong that afternoon. We'll arrive in Hong Kong Friday night and spend the night there before flying on to Changsha Sat morning.

Sat.  March 10:  Fly to Changsha from Hong Kong. Stay at the Hua Tian Hotel.

Sun.  March 11:  Free time

Mon. March 12:  Meet Isaiah  (YIPPEE)

Tues. March 13:  Registration & Notarization

Wed. March 14: Sightseeing: Provincial Museum

Thurs. March 15:  Sightseeing: Hunan Embroidery Museum

Fri.  March 16:  Sightseeing: Yuelu Academy. Get the passport. Fly from Changsha to Guangzhou, Stay at the Victory Hotel.

Sat. March 17:  Photo  & Physical for Isaiah

Sun. March 18:  Sightseeing: visit the Yuntai Garden

Mon. March 19:  Visa appointment at 08:30, Swearing in ceremony at the Consulate, getting the visa

Tues. March 20: Pick up Isaiah's Visa. Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong by T819 at 6:20pm (we're taking the train back to Hong Kong again, like we did with Anna)

After arriving back in Hong Kong on the night of the 20st, we'll spend the night at the airport hotel, then catch our flight back to Chicago Wednesday morning. So, because we're flying back in time .... we'll leave Hong Kong the morning of the 21st and arrive home Wed evening!

On the mend

It hit Anna first early last week, then me and now Greg. We have had the most terrible round of "junk" that we can either one remember having. We're still blowing noses, we still can't smell, taste or hear, but I think we're getting better.

We still have a lot to do to get ready to leave next Thursday, so I'm thankful we're on the upswing of this. Our bags are about half way packed,the house is about half way clean, and the laundry is about half way done. Progress! I'll post more about our itinerary in China in a couple of days.

For those of you that have asked, we have decided to leave Anna here. It was one of the hardest decisions we have had to make, but we finally feel at peace with it. Anna is looking forward to sleepovers at Nana's house and with her cousins. She is also very excited that we have made her in charge (or "on charge" as she says) of making signs and getting balloons for Isaiah at the airport. And she is happy that she gets to be the first one to hug him at the airport. Anna has 2 wonderful grandma's and an awesome aunt and uncle and super fun cousins, so we know we're leaving her in good hands. Thank you all for helping us!!

Here is a pic of our super awesome Big Sister. She is so excited for her baby brother to come home. We couldn't be more proud of her, she is a special little girl!!

Have tickets, will travel!

Tickets have been purchased, itinerary is set ... packing and to-do list need a little help though!

We were lucky enough to get another picture of Isaiah earlier this week. Two weeks from today we'll be on a plane to meet this little sweetie! This was taken Feb 20th!

Better pack the hair brush and hair gel ... baby boy has some hair!

I'll post more about our itinerary soon.

TA!!!!

It came today!! I was in the middle of Walgreens when I got the call and it was all I could do not to scream. Of course, I ran to the car to call Greg ... then I screamed!   :-)

More details to come ... but it looks like we'll be leaving March 8th (3 weeks from today!!) and meeting Isaiah on March 12th - the day he turns 15 months old!

Praise the Lord!

Video!!

We were able to get a short video of Isaiah that was taken last October!! 

Seriously, could he be any cuter!!  Come on TA!! Prayers that we get our travel approval next week!!

Where are we going?

Our route to China will start in Chicago again. We'll fly from Chicago to Hong Kong, then Hong Kong to Changsha, Hunan. On the way home we'll most likely take the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Chicago, then one more quick flight home!

Hunan is located in the south central part of the Chinese mainland, and has long been known for its natural beauty. Hunan is surrounded by mountains on the east, west, and south, and by the Yangtze River on the north ... it's mixture of mountains and water makes it among the most beautiful provinces in China. For thousands of years, Hunan has been a major center of Chinese agriculture, growing rice, tea, and oranges.

Our first week will be spent in Changsha, Hunan. Changsha is located in the northeast part of Hunan. It's the capital city of Hunan as well as it political, economic and cultural center. Similar to Kunming, Yunnan (where we were with Anna), Changsha has a subtropical climate year round as well. Changsha's population is 6.13 million.

We will meet Isaiah in Changsha, however he is actually in Hengyang which, by high-speed train, is about 30 mins south of Changsha. Hengyang is the second largest city in Hunan with a population of over seven million.

Hengyang is located in the middle reaches of Xiangjiang River and to the south of Mt. Hengshan in Hunan Province. It is a historically significant city renowned as the 'Bright Pearl in Southern China.' It is also known as 'Wild Goose City' because flocks of wild geese flying south for the winter have been known to stop there to rest.  

We are fairly certain that we will be allowed to travel to Hengyang to visit Isaiah's SWI and meet some of the wonderful people with ICC that have taken care of him. Speaking of ICC - please take a minute to check out their website and learn about all the wonderful things they are doing. If would like to help support them and the children they care for, please check out their donation options here. 

The second week of our journey will be spent in Guangzhou (Canton), just like last time - this is where all families spend their 2nd week in China and where our US Consulate appt. will take place. We are anxious to visit Guangzhou again as last time much of the area where most adoptive families stay was under construction and we didn't get to see a lot of the architecture. Guangzhou is the largest and most flourishing industrial and foreign trade center in south China. The population in Guangzhou is about 12.7 million! The climate is humid and flowers bloom all year round; hence its name as the City of Flowers.

We are starting to get really excited to experience China again! It's hard to believe that we are be just over a month away from going!

Article 5 pick up today!!

As of today we are officially waiting for our Travel Approval. Our Article 5 is to be picked up from the Consulate in China today and dropped of at the CCCWA where they will issue our TA. Right now it's been taking an average of 22 days for TA's to be issued.

Once we have our TA our agency will be able to  schedule our Consulate Appointment and we can purchase our plane tickets!! My best guess is that we'll either leave March 8th or 15th. We're praying for March 8th as that would put us meeting Isaiah the day he turns 15mths.

We've been busy busy lately preparing for his arrival. His room is almost complete, travel shopping is well underway, suitcases are ready to be packed, meals are being frozen. Still lots to do, but we are making good progress!

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Happy Chinese New Year!

We sent for another update a couple weeks ago on Isaiah. We woke to an email yesterday morning with answers to our questions and 4 new pictures!

We were able to send 10 questions and finally had success in getting them answered. They described his personality as outgoing, but did say he will cry if strangers hold him. It sounds like he still loves to eat as they mentioned it several times. :-) They said he also like his pacifier. They gave us updated measurements on him as well ... he is 16.5lbs and about 26.5" tall. Anna, at that his age, weighed about 1 1/2lbs more and was 1 1/2" taller. So, that gives us a better idea of what size clothes to buy.

Here are a couple of the pictures they sent. We have been told it is pretty cold there and there is not much heat ... he's as bundled up as the kid on Christmas Story!

Article 5 Submitted!

I started emailing the NVC late Monday night and by noon yesterday we had our pdf in our inbox and our agency had it forwarded to their in China contact within the hour! She dropped off our paperwork to the US Embassy in Guangzhou today!

The normal turnaround time for her to pick it up is 2 weeks, however with the Chinese New Year closing everything down the week of Jan 23rd, that will push our pick-up date to Feb 2nd.

Once our Article 5 is picked up, we are officially waiting for TRAVEL APPROVAL! My best guess is that we'll have our TA by the end of Feb and travel the 2nd or 3rd week of March. So.much.to.do.  - better stop typing and start doing....

p.s. Our sweet boy is 13 months old today.  I'm thinking we'll meet him either the day he turns 15 months or the week after.

Forever Family Day

Two years ago today we were sitting in a small cold room at the Civil Affairs office in Kunming, China. We were sitting with our backs to the door completing some paperwork as we heard the sounds of people entering the room. We knew when we turned around we would see the little girl we had been praying and dreaming about for so long.

The anticipation of that moment was huge - we were so anxious that we didn't sleep the night before. The moment we met Anna is so vivid in our minds, even today ... it will never be forgotten ... that sweet, smiling face all bundled up in a big pink fleece jacket. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it now. She literally took our breath away. I remember Greg and I had no words. We just kept looking at each other, tearing up and shaking our heads in amazement of the moment.

Our lives were forever changed two years ago today. We are so blessed to have Anna as our daughter. It's hard to believe that she is already 3 years old ... she is a sweet, smart, energetic, funny, beautiful little girl.

Here are some of the first pictures we took just minutes after we met her.

Tonight we will celebrate with Chinese food and looking at pictures and video from that day. Anna is always asking for us to tell her a story of when she was a baby, she loves when we tell her about this day.

I800 Approved!!

I couldn't take it any longer, so I broke down and called the USCIS office to check on our case status ... they said our I800 was approved yesterday!! This means our approval will now be sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) and then be cabled to the US embassy in Guangzhou, China.

Next week I can start calling the NVC to see if we've been cabled yet. As soon as they cable our file, we can request they email us a pdf letter stating our petition has been forwarded to the Embassy. Our agency needs this NVC letter in order to proceed, so this is an important step! All of this should happen in about 12 or so days.

After we have our NVC letter, our agency forwards is to their in-China rep. Our in-China rep will take the NVC letter to the US Embassy in Guangzhou along with our LOA and Isaiah's visa application. About two weeks later our rep will go back and pick up our Article 5 letter (which basically says everything is in order for us to adopt Isaiah).

Once our Article 5 is picked up from the consulate, it will be delivered directly to the CCCWA for Travel Approval!! The current average from Article 5 to TA is about 17 days.

We're looking at about 47 days until our TA ... however, the Chinese New Year will factor in to that as things will be closed for about a week in China at the end of this month.

Once our TA arrives, we could leave in 1-2 weeks, depending on when our agency can get our Consulate Appointment! So, we should be looking to board that plane early to mid-March! No wonder we are feeling this urgency to get things ready ... March will be here SO fast!

The list making has already started and the shopping is soon to follow!