On the road again...

Well folks, we are now in Urumqi, Drew's hometown. Just got into our hotel, would you believe this place says you can't drink the water still? I brushed my teeth with the water at the last hotel we were in.. b/c I forgot! Hopefully I won't kill over anytime soon. We had a 4 hour flight here from Beijing. I slept the majority of the way, thank goodness. We haven't been sleeping well since being in China--it seems all of us want to wake up in the middle of the night. Basically we run on a lot of adrenaline I guess. We're meeting with our guide Elsie in an hour to alot of paperwork. We were told that we will be leaving in the morning at 9:40 going to the some Civil Affairs Office to meet our children at 10:00 a.m. We're still going to ask if we can visit their orphange, but it doesnt look good at this point. They already said we can't meet the foster parents.... what a bummer. So it is Sunday afternoon 3:00 here , which makes it late Sat. night 1:00 a.m. there? I will be a basketcase by tomorrow morning. Scott reminded me that today/tonight is our last night of freedom with kids. I hope that I can sleep at least a little bit still. haha Elsie is going to help translate to our kids tomorrow when we meet them which will be wonderful in explaining to them what in the world is going on. I hope he likes his new name too.
All of the families with us here are soooo excited too for tomorrow, the big day. I just pray that it goes as smooth as possible for the kids' sake. So, be thinking of our family, Sunday evening, because it will be our Monday morning here!!!

The Great Wall and beyond....

Today we went to Tianamen Square first. Everywhere was crowded, so many tour groups were there, including Chinese. There wasn't a whole lot to see there, we just stood around the concrete pad and looked around to the various buildings. Our guide told us that 100,000 people could fit standing inside the square. Of course we got a pic of the famous portrait hanging of the emperor Mao too. From there we walked to The Forbidden City. This place was humongous, with sooooo many different buildings to see. A funny thing about being there was that the Chinese people kept crowding around and taking pictures of the daughter and son of a couple in our group who were blond headed. They would place their Chinese children in with them for several pics. You would've thought these kids were celebrities, no kidding. It got to the point where it was quite tiring. When we were walking to this place, there was an older Chinese man walking toward us, he stopped at a trash can and blew his nose right into it with kleenex! We were so surprised... and repulsed. Just had to share this gross tidbit...
Ok so from there, our guides took us to this restaurant to have roasted duck and other Chinese food. The food there was probably some of the best we've ever had. Talk about delicious!!
From there we walked to our adoption agency's office here in Beijing for a short film. After this, we were bound for The Great Wall. We had to ride over an hour to get there too. However, they did take us by the Olympic park, so we got to see where the opening ceremony will take place.
Today was pretty dreary and foggy while touring the wall. There was snow and ice on the ground and some covered the steps to/from the wal which made climbing that more difficult. These steps were very uneven and some were probably 12" high and others were maybe 4" high, they all varied in size. This made it quite harder for my short legs to hike up those steep , deep stairs. Do you feel sorry for me yet? haha Well Scott climbed up to the 2nd highest point which was forever long. Before you even got to that point, the visibility was very very poor due to the fog. I took several long breaks in getting myself up there, I huffed and puffed, thought my heart would pound out of my chest too. However, I told myself that if these older people could do this, that I would too. My legs were already sore starting out, and now they're much worse!
I'm so out of shape... Anyway, it was so weird to think that we actually got to go see this place, let alone get to climb a part of it. This was quite an experience, which we will never forget! I will post pics later, because we were late getting back to the hotel so I'm getting a later start here. We're so tired, we're about to drop! (It is Sunday night 7:30 p.m. here). Ok we were so tired and just ordered room service. Let me tell you, I ordered a cheeseburger/fries, Scott got a club sandwich/fries. I took one bite of it and I'm here to tell you it was not beef. The menu said it was 100% beef, I think it lied. It had a wang to it, tasted weird and foreign. Scott tasted and said he thought it tasted like ground up duck. His sandwich had cucumber on it, ever heard of that on a club? BTW, we leave in the morning at 6:30 to head to the airport to fly to Urumqi!!! YAY!!!!The time is almost here to meet our Drew!!!

Updates of travel

Ni Hao everyone! That means hello if you didn't know this. Well it is Mar. 28 here just affter 3 pm. Just got back from doing tours today. We went on Hutong tours riding in rickshaws, The Temple of Heaven, the drum tower, a kindergarten school with lots of beautiful children who were outside on their conceret yard and playing duck duck goose,and we ate authentic Chinese food too. We're meeting at 4:15 to go to a Chinese acrobat show. Good thing it's inside, b/c it's awfully chilly here and it's been raining most of the afternoon. We're doing great! We met a few more couples who are here adopting their children too, however not from the same province as Drew. We have a Chinese guide named Elsie who works for our adoption agency out of their Beijing office. She is very sweet and helpful. You should see all the people here and the traffic is hectic at most times , there's lots of buses, taxis, and many bike riders who ride in the middle of traffic, very brave people and I guess they're just so used to doing this. Oh yeah, I had a couple of Chinese people come up to me today and start talking, of course I couldn't say anything, I just smiled and shook my head acting like a dummy. It was pretty funny as we all laughed about it, Elsie our guide had to laugh and help me out. We saw many McDonald's , KFC restaurants,Starbucks,Pizza Huts around here too. We are being well taken care of, and everyone is friendly. However, when you're out walking around, there's all these vendors putting their products in your face wanting you to buy it. You just have to keep walking... Oh yeah today was my first day of experiencing a squatty potty (bathroom), believe me, we are very fortunate to have regular toilets in U.S. These aren't everywhere but in public there's quite a few of them used I guess- our hotels have regualar toilets of course. We saw ducks hanging in a window today that were skinned and raw, such a lovely though eh? Well I'm goinging to try to upload photos later if I have time. BTW, our blog is censored over here so it's a little bit more work in getting around it to our blog. I think I got it figured out ... I have to go to the blogger website and it was in Chinese, so I had to pick English to read it! How funny is that?? Well just now, someone knocked on our room door, and the person gave me this cake! I suppose it's a b'day cake, my b'day cake! yay!!! Well I' m adding to this post as we just got back to the hotel from eating dinner.it is 9:45 pm. . We really enjoyed the acrobat show especially b/c it was all kids,no adults. Well we better got off here, we need our beauty sleep.

We're here finally!!

Hello everyone back home, just thought I'd let you know that we made here to Beijing all in one safe piece. We arrived right after 2:00 -China time, so it would've been about 1:00 a.m. there. We didn't get to the hotel til after 5 though. Yes I am dog tired too! We did take naps on the plane but geezzzzz. We just went and ate at this restaurant in our hotel. It was Chinese food and they didn't give us forks to use, but only chopsticks and a soup spoon. I had shrimp fried dumplins which I loved,and congee just to see what all that was about. I knew that Drew eats it quite a lot on a daily basis. It's basically just rice that been cooked a lot of water for a long time. I had it plain but sometimes they put meat, veggies, or fish in it. I wasnt that brave just yet. The menu had things listed as intestines, shark fins, fish and seafood dishes but it all sounded like it wouldve been gross when you looked it, then I wouldn't be able to eat it. My dad asked the Chinese waitress to sit down and show him out to use those chopsticks. She declined to sit, but did try to teach him with using them. We all laughed out loud on that one! Oh yeah, our flight to Beijing was packed and alot of them were Chinese coming home or to visit. We sure saw a lot of adorable kids--too bad I couldn't just bring them with us too. Well going to bed to hopefully catch up on some sleep and jet lag.

CHINA Bound!!!!

Whew... the countdown is on! We leave here at 4:00 in the morning to drive to St. Louie. We're all packed too, that's an amazing feat. The butterflies are already buzzing in my belly.... JUST REMEMBER on March 31 in China time, we will get Drew!!--that is called Gotcha Day in the adoption world! So, since China is 13 hours ahead of us, it will be late evening on March 30 U.S. time--get it, got it? Please be thinking of us and praying as we make this amazing journey of a lifetime to our son! I will try to keep everyone posted as much as possible here.

Updated itinerary and flight arrangements

FYI~our itinerary was updated (scroll down to Our Itinerary to see the changes) and we changed our flight arrangements coming home (see Flying our lives away post) so that we fly into St Louis 5 hours earlier! Yippeee!!

Packing woes...

Well the packing has commenced finally, as of today (for all my family and friends who were worried we'd have to go naked). I'm not a very good packer as I had to borrow a bigger suitcase for all our junk. Therefore, we each have a very large one that's packed to the brim. Well here's a pic of the toys we're taking for Drew and his new backpack. I know I'll surely forget something, maybe I have too much already? I hear there's a lot of good shopping/bargains to be had though and chances are that we'll have to buy another suitcase to bring all of our new items and souvenirs home. I think my brain is in overload right now thinking of anything and eveything, what ifs, don't forget this or that, etc. Scott assures me that everything will be just fine. I just need to breathe now....

From The Waiting Child

I saw you meet your child today
You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with her
I played pretend you'd chosen me.
I'm happy for the baby,
yet inside I"m aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by,
"Does no one want a child of three?"

I saw you meet your child today
In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out
I knew it wasn't my turn yet.
I recognize you from last year!
I knew I'd seen your face before!
But you came for a second babe.
Does no-one want a child of four?

I saw you meet your child today
But this time there was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand
And then she gave my hand to you.
Can this be true? I'm almost six!
And there are infants here you see?
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you chose this time was me.

by Debbie Bodie

The big brother

This is the last weekend we will be able to see Riley before we leave for China so Scott went and picked him up from school. They had a little conversation between them then and had to share it with me. Scott had already been discussing our leaving to pick up Drew to Riley again, and he wanted to tell me what all was said while Riley was still listening. He said "he knows we're leaving Wednesday to go pick Drew up and that we'll be gone for 14 days". He said "Riley said he's excited to get his brother home." I said ,"well that's great!, now you know he won't be able to talk like you do or like we do." Riley said, "yeah, I know all that stuff too. He then asked,"will you still love me?" (Which rather floored us) We told him "OF COURSE, Always and Forever, no matter what, that would never change." He seemed content to hear this and said ok. We later explained that Drew may be scared at first and asked if he would help him out. Scott said,"you know Riley, that he might be scared to sleep by hisself since he sleeps with his family there now,will you sleep in his room with him?" Riley replies,"yeah, OR he can sleep with me in my room, he can just come in there and wake me up." That would be wonderful if it pans out that way. (However, I plan to co-sleep with Drew for a while as he is used to sleeping with his foster mother).

We have our final detailed itinerary!!

We just received our final itinerary today with hotel arrangements, tours, schedule, fees, etc.
Looks like we're staying at the Wangfujing Grand Hotel in Beijing which is located across the street from the Forbidden City. While in Urumqi, we stay at the Hoi Tak Hotel, which is a 5 star hotel. Then in Guangzhou, we get to stay at the very famous 5 star hotel The White Swan which is located on the Pearl River. This hotel is rated as one of the best there and so adored by adoptive families. Looks like all 3 have swimming pools, so I hope Drew will like that. Also looks as they all have a spa too! Oh yeah, momma's getting a massage too. Bring it on!!

Flying our lives away

We have our flight arrangements, just waiting on a couple of seat assignments still. We leave Wed. Mar 26 (2 days before my b'day) from St. Louis to Chicago at 9:37 a.m. From there, we leave at 12:35 p.m., arriving in Beijing on Mar. 27 3:05 p.m. (Interesting how the time changes everything, eh?) For our flights back home, we leave Guangzhou on Thurs. April 10 at 9:15 a.m. to Toykyo,Japan getting there at 2:30p.m. We leave from there at 4:40p.m. , to Chicago arriving at 2:19 p.m.-U.S. time. Then, we fly to St. Louis arriving at 6:11 p.m. Guess what the big kicker is? It's still Thursday April 10!!! Talk about pulling an all nighter...good thing my old body is used to the torture from working swing shifts. Here are some more interesting figures I wanted to share. I just found out that from the start of our flying adventure from St. Louis to Chicago, to Beijing, then onto Urumqi to get Drew, then to Guangzhou-that the total air miles we rack up is 10,388 miles! That's all before we even get to leave China to come home. However, coming home, it will be a total of 8,358 miles just to St. Louis. Gee, too bad we don't invest in some frequent flyer miles.... Did I also mention that on the last two flights I was on, I got air sick? Man I hope this isn't going to be one big pukefest. Drew will be so grossed out!! haha Let's hope those scopalamine patches work!!

Legacy Of An Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother

Two different lives shaped to make you one
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it
The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it

One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name
One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim

One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears

One made an adoption plan, that was all that she could do
The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you

Now, which of these two women, Are you the product of?
Both, my darling, Both, Just two different types of love
~Unknown

Another conversation

Tonight Riley is staying with us for his normal Wed. visit. Well earlier today we rec'd gifts for Drew-which were 2 picture frames. One was magnetic with a baseball field, and bases, home plate that held the pic in place; the other was a nice voice recordable frame. Riley thought this frame was just the coolest. He had to record his voice a few times on it. The last message he recorded was of him whispering,"Kimber, I love you and Drew too." I could barely make it out after he told me what he said. Wasn't that the sweetest? We explained to him that we would be leaving in 2 weeks to pick up Drew. I got a calendar and showed him all the dates and so on. He said ,"you mean you have to be gone for 14 days,why?" I told him that he would see me next Wed again but wouldn't see me after that until we got back with Drew. He just sat there smiling the whole time.

Ever heard of Urumqi, China?

Now you can officially say you have! It is pronounced as Oo-roo-moo-chee. It is in the most northwestern part of China. See if you can find it on the map. Look at all the countries it borders too. This is where our son Drew is from. He currently lives with a foster family during the weekends and at night, while attending a preschool type program at the Urumqi CWI (orphanage) during the day.

More pics from shower

Here are some more pics from the shower day. The cake was just fabulous and delicious! Kudos to Ms. Billie Gail for it. Don't you just love the pic of me in "the hat". My friend Felisa left this minor detail out of her plans that she told me, when I got there, she proudly exclaimed that I had to wear this thing!! Luckily Riley also volunteered to put the hat on, so I couldn't resist a Kodak moment. I don't know how we got all of Drew's gifts home and into his room, but we made it fit. Here's also a pic after we unloaded all the stuff! Can you find his bed??

Proud moments

I was still thinking about the past weekend with the shower and everything and forgot to mention how proud we were of Riley. I had thought he would have shown an inkling of "sibling rivalry" because of the shower, even though Drew's not here yet. I wasn't sure he would understand that the gifts we receive would be for Drew or not. I had asked him a couple of times through the weekend if he wanted to go to the shower and he changed his mind each time. So I was really wondering if he might see all the presents and think, why does he get all the presents? However, I could not have been more wrong--thankfully. Riley is a true trooper, and a very kind hearted kid anyways. He never once said or acted in anyway envious or sad of all the attention and gifts that Drew got. However, we realize once they are "true brothers" playing, this might all go out the window at times... haha.

Shower Day

Today, we were given an adoption shower for Drew by my very bestests of friends! Man they really worked hard on getting it all together. I almost felt guilty for not being there to help set up-haha. My friend Felisa raided my house of Chinese/Asian decor to use. My mom donated these beautiful Chinese silk bed linens that she bought while in China two years ago which were used to cover some of the tables. Felisa tied chopsticks together with a red ribbon and attached a label that had different sayings and our blog address as party favors. Oh yes, they made me pose with this hat on which to me looked more Vietnamese than Chinese but they didn't mind, they just wanted pictures. We had pictures of Drew everywhere and I made a "Welcome Drew" scrapbook page for everyone to sign for Drew to see. It all turned out so wonderful! You should've seen the cake, it was 3 layers- all different kinds, with red icing decorated with cherry blossom flowers, chop sticks and 2 miniature USA flags and a China flag as toppers. We had crab rangoon, spring rolls, teriyaki chicken on a stick, Asian dip/chips to eat. Man, he made out like a bandit too! He got 3 BIG Tonka trucks, Riley got 1 as well- which was great. He got a denim bean bag and a duffle bag with his name stitched on them from his "grandma" Shirley- she even got Riley one too. He has enough art and craft supplies to make tons of projects; lots of DVDs, booster seats, clothes, an MP3 player, books, toy chest, a table and chair set that matches his room, VTech/LeapFrog learning toys, balls, and much more! I wonder where we're going to put it all, it looks like his room exploded today. I couldn't take pictures with my camera because it turns out I'm a big dummy and had the battery in wrong so it wouldn't work... DUH!! I found this out after I got home and my dh Scott showed me. Whew, I must have been nervous or something..hmmm... Luckily my dear friend and my niece took lots of pics for me so I'll post them as soon as I get them. Well let's see, it's now 17 days and counting til we leave for CHINA!! Drew and the rest of us are so very fortunate and lucky to have such a supportive and caring group of friends and family. I can't wait for him to meet them all!!!!!

Oh yes, have to tell you two more cute stories about Riley that happened today at the shower.
My friends from work had all went together and got Drew and Riley the Tonka trucks. While he was hugging Ms Shirley for his presents, I asked him to thank the other 4 ladies as well. Therefore, he ended up hugging each one and telling them thanks for the truck. When he was done, he acted like he was exhausted ,was ready to run off and said, "Whew, am I done?" It was so cute and he ran around the table to hug them all.
Also, Riley walked up to my friend's mom (whom he doesn't know really well) and said, "Hey, you know I'm getting a brother?" She said, "yeah, that's what this is for."He said," yeah, I know, and I like his room, it's SO cool ."
How cute is that????

Chicken store story

I just had to share this funny tidbit with you of Riley and his friend Chloe's (who's 5) conversation about buying a chicken. This morning, apparently my dh Scott was talking about buying baby chicks at Orscheln's and so of course they both got excited and yelling that they wanted one. Well Riley called his mom and asked for her permission and she agreed. Then it was Chloe's turn to call her mom and here's the conversation... "Mama, can I have a baby chicken?" "Scott's taking us to buy baby chickens, so can I have one?"(Of course, she's secretly thanking Scott for this grand idea). "Riley's getting two, but I only want one." Her mom asked where he was getting them and Chloe replies,"at the chicken store." I just laughed to myself when I heard her say this, and thought that was the cutest thing ever. The sad part is that she couldn't have one unless she kept it here-of all places. We have no room, no extra time for another pet as we have our dog Katie, 2 kitties, an iguana, and a hermit crab! Scott says we have a small zoo already... haha. Well we ended up with 2 chics and 1 little duckie!

The little helper

Yesterday Scott and I went to pick Riley up from school early due to the snow. Well as soon as he got in the truck, Scott started talking to him about Drew. He told him that we were going to get him in a few weeks. Later I tried explaining that when he gets over here, he won't be able to talk in English because all he knows is Chinese. I asked Riley if he was going to help him learn English, and he just grinned big and said Yeah! He said," he can only talk Chinese because he's from China, but when he comes to America, he talks like us." I just had to agree with him and laugh.

Our itinerary while there

Here are our confirmed itinerary dates:
Wed. Mar. 26...We leave from Chicago enroute to Beijing (we have to get to St Louis first)
Thurs. Mar. 27..Arrive in Beijing approx 14 or so hrs later (it's a day later in China)
Fri. Mar. 28......Sightseeing in Beijing: Temple of Heaven in the morning; lunch at Dai Jia Cun Restaurant, Hutong tour and the Chinese Acrobat Show in the afternoon.
Sat. Mar. 29.....More sightseeing in Beijing: The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Tianamen Square
Sun. Mar. 30....Fly to Urumqi, China (Drew's hometown)
Mon. Mar. 31...We receive Drew!! Do adoption procedure (registration/notary) in afternoon
Tue. Apr. 1.......Free day
Wed. Apr 2.......Sightseeing in Urumqi - museum
Thurs. Apr 3.....Sightseeing in Urumqi -Local market
Fri. Apr 4.........Get all paperwork back and complete ACS paperwork
Sat. Apr 5.........Fly to Guanzghou
Sun. Apr 6 .......Free day or sightseeing in Guanzghou
Mon. Apr 7.......Drew's medical exam, visa photos
Tues. Apr 8......American Consulate appt at 9:00 a.m. , farewell dinner
Wed. Apr 9.......Take oath at American Consulate about 6 p.m.
Thurs. Apr 10..We fly home to Malden!!! (Do you believe it will still be April 10th when we back back to the U.S. because we lose a day?.... weird.)