Hello from the other side of the world!
We arrived in beautiful Beijing on Thursday afternoon. It is pretty chilly here - kind of the same as home. When we stepped off the plane, I could smell that spicy scent of the air that brought back so many memories. Emma did pretty well on the flight. We all started to get itchy during the last 3 or 4 hours. Barry wound up with a sinus headache all the way from Boston to Beijing and was not a happy camper as you can imagine...He is feeling much better now. We are getting used to the time change now.
Yesterday, our tour guide, Huang Guan Ri (sp?)- American name "Tom", took us to The Great Wall at Badaling. It is as awesome as we've ever seen in pictures and so much more. We climbed pretty high up, up, up! there were quite a few people visiting there. We took many photos. Shy Miss Emma made great friends with Tom, and held his hand all the way up. He is the 4th child in his family from rural Hubei Province. His siblings were all born before family planning went into effect in his home in the countryside. He is 24, and only gets to see his family twice a year. It takes him 30 hours to get there from here; by train, then bus, and then three wheeled bicycle. He is extremely knowledgeable about the history of China, and knows many interesting stories and facts. He will be picking us up soon to take us to the airport! They are really in full force here getting ready for the 2008 Olympics. The little characters which are the symbols of the games are really cute.
Emma is very excited to finally meet Grandma Xiulan who will hopefully be the one picking us up in Kunming. We are staying at the Kunming Hotel on Dongfeng Dong Rd. I tried to find it on the travel websites before we left, but didn't find it. I think it is on the same road we stayed on our last trip. Can't wait to find out when our Anne Min Mei will arrive from JianShui. The red thread is getting shorter by the minute. Pretty soon, our littlest darlin' will be in our arms forever!
I will try to update here after we receive her, or maybe tomorrow if we won't meet her until Monday morning...I will definitely have to look into the picture sharing situation when we get to the hotel.
You are all in our thoughts and prayers. We appreciate your support ever so much.
Love,
Nancy, Barry, Emma, and almost Annie!!!
Friday, January 19, 2007
Sunday, January 7, 2007
We're On Our Way!
Yeah!!!! TA!!!!!
We received our Travel Approval/Notice of Coming from China!! Our appointment date at the Consulate is January 29th. We will be meeting our little Anne Min Mei the morning of the 22nd! It is almost hard to believe that it is finally happening.
We are booking our tickets tomorrow with Lotus Travel. We hope to leave the morning of the 17th, and arrive in Beijing in the afternoon on the 18th. There are two tours I am actually interested in; 1) The Great Wall and Temple of Heaven, 2)Summer Palace, Lama Temple, and Panda Zoo. Now, those of you who know me, know how torn I am between the Wall and the pandas...I will ask if there is any way we can combine the Great Wall and the Panda Zoo tour into one day. I know that we will be visiting other temples - not so famous, but still beautiful - in Kunming, and around the Yunnan Province.
We will leave Beijing and fly to Kunming on the 20th. Our meeting date - the date we are requested to be in Kunming - is the 21st. Although we are not scheduled to receive Annie until the morning of the 22nd, history tells us that they may bring her to us on the 21st if they know we are arriving early. We will finalize the adoption in the Notarial Office in Kunming the day after we meet her. Then, we will spend the rest of the week in Kunming waiting for her passport and paperwork to be ready. During this time, our facilitator, "Grandma" Xiulan will visit us every day - she has to see the babies every day to be sure they're all doing well - and probably hire a driver/bus to take us sightseeing, shopping, etc. We did not get to the Stone Forest in Kunming on our last trip, and will definitely do that this time. Of course, it all depends on how Miss Anne Min Mei is feeling and bonding with her new forever family...
Then, not sure what day, we will fly to Guangzhou, in the Guangdong Province where the U.S. Consulate is located. There, hopefully, we will be staying at the beautiful White Swan Hotel. Xiulan will take our paperwork to the appointment at the Consulate on the 29th. We will go to the Consulate the following day, along with many other families, and swear to take very good care of Anne Min Mei, and get her visa to come home! We are going to stay over one more night in Guangzhou, and travel the morning of the 31st to Beijing, and then on to Newark, where Annie will become an American citizen (same place as Emma did), and then home to Boston! We are shooting for a flight that will arrive at Logan at around 8:00 p.m. on the 31st.
And then, the real fun will begin!! We will try to broadcast from the other side of the world to all of you. If you don't hear from us, check back here at the blog and see if I was able to at least update here. I hope we will be able to download our pictures to the Kodak Share website, so that you can view our journey while we are still there. Modern technology is a wonderful thing!
When I last heard from our connection in Gejiu, he said that they were having a hard time with e-mail due to earthquake in Taiwan. He did manage to let me know that he went to see Anne Min Mei in JianShui, and took pictures of her and the orphanage. He said that she is an adorable little princess, and that he thinks we will be the perfect family. He is sending his parents home to the U.S. with a picture CD to mail to us. I can't even begin to tell you how thankful we are to have him there, and how comforting it is for my heart. He is such a nice man!!
It won't be long now...10 days to departure!!! We're packing today!!!
Love to All,
Nancy & Barry & Emma & Annie :)
We received our Travel Approval/Notice of Coming from China!! Our appointment date at the Consulate is January 29th. We will be meeting our little Anne Min Mei the morning of the 22nd! It is almost hard to believe that it is finally happening.
We are booking our tickets tomorrow with Lotus Travel. We hope to leave the morning of the 17th, and arrive in Beijing in the afternoon on the 18th. There are two tours I am actually interested in; 1) The Great Wall and Temple of Heaven, 2)Summer Palace, Lama Temple, and Panda Zoo. Now, those of you who know me, know how torn I am between the Wall and the pandas...I will ask if there is any way we can combine the Great Wall and the Panda Zoo tour into one day. I know that we will be visiting other temples - not so famous, but still beautiful - in Kunming, and around the Yunnan Province.
We will leave Beijing and fly to Kunming on the 20th. Our meeting date - the date we are requested to be in Kunming - is the 21st. Although we are not scheduled to receive Annie until the morning of the 22nd, history tells us that they may bring her to us on the 21st if they know we are arriving early. We will finalize the adoption in the Notarial Office in Kunming the day after we meet her. Then, we will spend the rest of the week in Kunming waiting for her passport and paperwork to be ready. During this time, our facilitator, "Grandma" Xiulan will visit us every day - she has to see the babies every day to be sure they're all doing well - and probably hire a driver/bus to take us sightseeing, shopping, etc. We did not get to the Stone Forest in Kunming on our last trip, and will definitely do that this time. Of course, it all depends on how Miss Anne Min Mei is feeling and bonding with her new forever family...
Then, not sure what day, we will fly to Guangzhou, in the Guangdong Province where the U.S. Consulate is located. There, hopefully, we will be staying at the beautiful White Swan Hotel. Xiulan will take our paperwork to the appointment at the Consulate on the 29th. We will go to the Consulate the following day, along with many other families, and swear to take very good care of Anne Min Mei, and get her visa to come home! We are going to stay over one more night in Guangzhou, and travel the morning of the 31st to Beijing, and then on to Newark, where Annie will become an American citizen (same place as Emma did), and then home to Boston! We are shooting for a flight that will arrive at Logan at around 8:00 p.m. on the 31st.
And then, the real fun will begin!! We will try to broadcast from the other side of the world to all of you. If you don't hear from us, check back here at the blog and see if I was able to at least update here. I hope we will be able to download our pictures to the Kodak Share website, so that you can view our journey while we are still there. Modern technology is a wonderful thing!
When I last heard from our connection in Gejiu, he said that they were having a hard time with e-mail due to earthquake in Taiwan. He did manage to let me know that he went to see Anne Min Mei in JianShui, and took pictures of her and the orphanage. He said that she is an adorable little princess, and that he thinks we will be the perfect family. He is sending his parents home to the U.S. with a picture CD to mail to us. I can't even begin to tell you how thankful we are to have him there, and how comforting it is for my heart. He is such a nice man!!
It won't be long now...10 days to departure!!! We're packing today!!!
Love to All,
Nancy & Barry & Emma & Annie :)
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