We are here!

Well, we finally made it! Actually we have been here for over a day, but have not had a chance to post. I could not get my computer to connect to the internet in the Beijing hotel. Now that we are in Beijing, my guide got my laptop up and running. All is well here. We arrived here late Friday evening. We were all exhausted after traveling for 20 hours. The hotel was nice but the air condition does not work in the winter. Only the heat. Our rooms were like a furnace, so sleeping was difficult even as tired as we were. We left the hotel at 9 am on Saturday and toured Tien An Men Square and the forbidden city. We went to lunch and then we climbed the Great Wall of China. The girls and I fell asleep on the ride home. We were all so exhausted that we went to bed at 7:30 pm. We were to leave the hotel at 5:30 this morning. We flew out of Beijing and arrived in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province, at 8:30 this morning. After checking inot the hotel, we went to buy water and baby formula. We had lunch at McDonald's and are now waiting in our hotel room for Celia Grace to arrive. She is suppose to come around 2:30pm and we will go down to the lobby to meet her. We are all very excited. Olivia has a bad cold so our guide took us to the pharmacy on the way back from McDonald's. We are going to get settled in before Celia Grace arrives. I will post more later this evening and will try to upload some pics at that time.

Happy 29 month anniversary

Well, 29 months ago today, my dossier was registered in China to adopt a baby girl. Ironic that I leave today on this monthly anniversary as we have been keeping track of the months as this wait lengthened beyond our imagination. To my fellow June 2006 travel mates, I am thinking of you all today. It is bittersweet as I truly looked forward to going on this adventure with you and am disappointed that we will not travel together. Happy Anniversary Junebugs!

The Cat and the Fiddle

This evening we attended the Kindergarten program at school. Olivia was "the cat and the fiddle." She is a born performer. I am so proud of her!

And not to be out done, here is a picture of Emma Rose from her program a couple of weeks ago that I forgot to post. She is a movie director.





Tomorrow we head up to the airport and spend the night at a nearby hotel. Our flight is 10 am on Thursday.

Frantic!

Well, the packing is coming down to the wire. We all returned to work and school and will be in attendance through Wednesday. We will leave for the airport right after we get home Wednesday afternoon. Got the pet sitters lined up, house taken care of, mostly packed except for the last few odds and ends. We didn't make it to the Christmas tree. That will be one of the first items on the "to do" list when we return December 4. My youngest sister is flying in from New Jersey for a few days. Her flight arrives @ DFW airport about a half hour before we do, so she will drive back with us and help us get settled in.

Tuesday night Olivia is in a school program. She will be the "Cat and the Fiddle". The program is based on some nursery rhymes. My little girl sure can ham it up!

9 more days...

Wow! The time is almost here to head out to China. It seemed like it would never get here. This week is a very busy week for me in general. Here at my elementary school I am trying to get things squared away for a substitute teacher until after the Christmas holidays. The semester is winding down for the 2 undergraduate classes that I teach for UT Arlington. I have some assignments to grade for the online classes that I teach for Walden University. Not to mention packing, karate, and putting up our Christmas tree since the holiday season will be in full swing when we return from China. I must say, it is hard to focus on the details of leaving when all I can think about is finally holding my little Celia Grace for the first time and enjoying China with my 2 "big girls."

I have the girls clothing packed for the most part. Just need a couple of odds and ends. We did buy Celia a new high chair this weekend and my mom put it together. Olivia's bear has been eating in it since yesterday afternoon.

Hang on Celia...we are on our way!

Itinerary

Whew! I see that we have been scheduled for MANY early morning activities. We plan to pack in as much as we can while in China. If it is like our other trips, we will be exhausted when we get home! I am so excited and ready to go!

NOVEMBER 19 - Head up to DFW airport after school. Spend night in hotel
NOVEMBER 20 - Depart 10 am for Beijing via Tokyo.
NOVEMBER 21 - Arrive in Beijing (9:20 pm China time) and go to Hotel
NOVEMBER 22 - 9 am head out to tour Great Wall of China, Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square
NOVEMBER 23 - 7:35 am flight from Beijing to Jinan, the capital of Shandong, Celia's province
Arrive in Jinan at 8:30 am and go to hotel
2:30 pm - CELIA ARRIVES AT HOTEL!!!!!!!
NOVEMBER 24 - 9 am We go to the Civil Affairs office to complete adoption paperwork
NOVEMBER 25 - 6:30 am Take the high speed train from Jinan to Qingdao to complete passport paperwork/sightseeing
Return to Jinan late that evening
NOVEMBER 26 - 2:30 Sight seeing in Baotuquan
NOVEMBER 27 - 8 am - travel to Wuqiao, Hebei province (Home of the Chinese acrobats) to see an acrobat show
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
NOVEMBER 28 - 9:30 am Sightseeing Daming Lake Park
4pm - Pick up Celia's Chinese Passport
NOVEMBER 29 - 11:20am Fly from Jinan to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, location of the American Embassy
1:40 pm Arrive in Guangzhou and go to hotel
NOVEMBER 30 - 10am Sightseeing - Chen Family Temple
DECEMBER 1 - 10am - Take Celia for Visa photo and medical examination
DECEMBER 2 - 9am - Take Celia's documents to American Consulate for processing
DECEMBER 3 - 3pm Go to American Consulate for interview and pick up Celia's visa to come to USA
DECEMBER 4 - 9:20am - Fly out of Guangzhou for DFW via Tokyo
DECEMBER 4 - 3:30pm - arrive at DFW, clear customs and immigration and drive back to Waco!

Journey of Grace

During this past year, God has been dealing with me regarding grace--grace for me, grace for others. You know the expression, "You can run, but you cannot hide." This certainly has been the case where grace is concerned. Aboout a year ago I felt that God was telling me this was a season of grace. It seems I was reminded at every turn about His grace--on billboards, in bible passages, everywhere--

Then the topic for the summer book study at my workplace was announced. I probably should have known it was coming! Grace! "What's so Amazing about Grace?" truly challenged me to reach out and share the grace that God had so generously poured over me. It was not always easy , but I felt a deep conviction that as I poured out the grace I received, it would allow me to be refilled in a deeper way. As grace was never far from my mind this summer, when I unexpectantly found my baby in August, I decided there would be no better name than Celia Grace as it means grace from heaven which is truly what this season of my life has been about.

Whew! Sharing grace has definitely been more challenging for me than receiving grace, so when I finished the book study, I must admit that I was a bit relieved that I would be able to move on to something else. While God's grace is free, giving it away was certainly a decision I had to make every day, every moment. I did not always meet the challenge, but my heart was in the game. Regardless, I was happy to end the study and move onto something more "uplifting".

Imagine my surprise when the pastor announced the next Sunday that we would begin a 6 weeks study on...GRACE! So grace it is. It is a place of freedom, not only to receive from God, but to be used by God to bless others. It is what we must embrace in one hand, with His love in the other, to be the heart of God in a desperate and hurting world.

I get it now. It is not just a song, it is a lifestyle.

I got an email from my adoption agency last night. Can you guess the name of my guide while I am in China? Of course you can. Her name is Grace.