Hello from Beijing!

Well, we made it to Beijing! We had a bit of a delay at O'Hare airport and so we didn't get here in Beijing until around 1:30 am on Oct. 4/5. We woke up early yesterday and our guide took us to see the Great Wall and one of the hutongs (very old section of Beijing) here. The Great Wall is just so much more incredible as you are standing on it than you can possibly imagine. We were just awe stricken. We spent a few hours walking the wall. We also were taken to a place where they make cloisinne. Really amazing how they do it! Today, we saw Tianemen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and a drive by the birds nest olympic stadium. We've come to realize that these easy days of touring and travelling are about to end... And quickly! It's amazing being here and immersing ourselves in our daughter's country. While we were out today, I was stopped by a Chinese tourist who wanted her picture taken with me - I guess they don't see too many wild and crazy curly-haired Caucasian women where they were from. When you are out and about, you are definitely stared at as we are most certainly minorities here! Tomorrow, we meet up with our adoption group in Hong Kong. We should arrive around dinner time. I am so excited to finally see them all! It's hard to believe we're only days away from seeing our beautiful daughters for the first time. Sorry, but no pix at this time... My iPad isn't allowing the upload from it. Will try again in Hong Kong when one of our friends has a laptop we can potentially use. ... And to our families - we are sending you lots of love!

Busy times

I have not been a very good blogger lately, but at least I have a good reason for it - two good reasons in fact!

The carpets got cleaned this morning, so after dinner, I'm hoping the carpets will be dry enough for me to start putting things away. We've got most of the baby gates up, only one more to go. Yeah! Our double stroller came in the mail yesterday so that needs to get put together as well. We have a full supply of diapers and wipes so we should be set there, too! Slowly but surely, things are falling into place.

Their closet is filled with clothes beginning with 6/9 month on up to 18 month size. So hopefully, we're set with a good majority of the clothing. We'll have to wait on their winter coats until they are home with us so we know their size. They're going to get a shock when it comes to a good Wisconsin winter. Being from a southern province, they've probably never encountered snow before. I'm sure it will be a shock to their little systems, but they're young and hopefully adaptable. At least they'll have each other to complain to!

I've got my packing list all done and now it's time to put it to some good use! Wish us luck!

And also as exciting, my 7/22 Log-In Date friends are receiving their calls tomorrow and get to see their beautiful daughters faces for the first time. I get to re-live the excitement through their eyes. Yeah!

What an amazing start to the New Year!

Updated photos of the girls

Well, our little girls have certainly grown in the 10 months between our referral photos and our updated photos. These photos were taken on September 2nd, so they are pretty recent. They are about 17 months old here and I think as cute as a button! I can't believe we are only weeks away from holding them in our arms.

Miss "A"

Miss "B"

Consulate Appointments are set!

Double Happiness

Well, the next piece of the puzzle fell into place. We now have our consular appointment set in Guangzhou so we can now book our travel!

We are still waiting for the final itinerary, but our plan is to leave for Beijing on October 3rd, meet up with our travel group on the 7th in Hong Kong and then travel on to Nanchang to meet our daughters and end in Guangzhou where we do the US portion of the paperwork.

So much to do... so little time...

Thankfully, my mother-in-law is going to house-sit for us! Yeah!

Travel Approval!

Today, while I was doing a little shopping at Costco, I got a call from our agency saying that we have our Travel Approval! She wanted to know which preference for dates we wanted. The earlier option, obviously! I want to hold them in my arms already! I don't want them in an orphanage not for one extra second! So now we need to wait until we find out when our agency is able to get us our consulate appointments and that will be the ultimate decision as to when we actually can leave as opposed to when we want to leave. But, we are getting closer to having them in our arms forever.

Happy Day!

Another Busy Day

The paperwork doesn't stop once you get your referral. One thing I can say is that I am now a professional paper pusher! I set up a checklist and marked things off as I got them done. Now, I can honestly say that ALL those items are checked off my to-do list for now until the next round of paperwork hits my desk. Yeah!

Today, I got our applications done for the Visa's that we'll need in order to travel to China. I sent off the paperwork that CCAI (our agency) needed and even got our care package to our girls sent via the lovely USPS. I just love the little cute dolls (great TJ Maxx find!) and their skirts are so soft that I wanted to hug them forever. I hope my girls love them!

p.s. I know this confused a few of my friends - the Jolly Ranchers aren't for the girls... they're for their care workers.

More Happiness To Go Around

Today, we received our FedEx package with all of our daughters information. And inside were some new photos of our little beauties. This one really got to me, of course. Seeing the two sisters together.

Here are a few more photos of "Miss A" and "Miss B"

Miss A

Miss B

Double Happiness

When Robert and I decided to request twins, we really didn't think it would happen. It's only about a 5% chance to actually receive them. So, when we got the call, I could barely talk or write anything down! In fact, I am still in that state! My fingers are having a hard time typing this post.

We have been blessed with two absolutely beautiful little girls who have already captured our hearts. We couldn't be any happier. Now onto preparing for their arrival.

So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce our girls "Miss A" and "Miss B".

Miss "A"

Miss "B"

They are currently 15.5 months old and living in the Jiangxi Province.

Stork Alert

I've heard from another 7/14 LID family that she's expecting her call TODAY. Our agency is sometimes a day behind due to translations and checking information, but we should be getting our call either today or tomorrow. Stay tuned for the latest developments!

The stork is on its way!

UPDATE: Post from our agency:

8/29/2011 Matches Have Arrived!

We are excited to announce that we have received a match group today!! We received matches for families logged in on July 14, 2006. Unfortunately we did not receive any expedited matches in this group nor do we know what the official cut-off date is. We will be calling all families who were matched tomorrow.  Congratulations to all matched families! We will update this site once we have news on the next match group.

Let the Roller Coaster Ride Begin!

The question I get daily is "When will your referral come?" Well, the answer could be today, tomorrow or next week... Last time this notice got posted by our agency, referrals came out the next day. Am I expecting that? NO! Would I complain if they did? Definitely NOT! So, let the rumors and the roller coaster ride begin...

8/24/2011
Beginning to work on next set of matches

We believe the CCCWA is beginning to work on the next set of matches. We do not know the cut off date at this time.

We will update this website as soon as more information becomes available.