GOTCHA DAY!!!!!!!!!

I'll keep the writing brief, because I know you are all skipping it anyway and going straight to the pictures! We got Elise today around 11:30am on Monday May 23rd! It will be a day we celebrate every year as "Gotcha Day"! We were up at 4:30am in order to catch at 7:40am flight to Nanchang. Our guide Helen picked us up at the airport, and took us straight to the hotel. As we walked in, I saw a large group of families being united with their babies right there in the lobby! Helen said, "Don't worry, you will see your baby soon. She called someone (I assume the orphanage director) to tell them we were there, and she says to me "Oh, you get your baby now, your baby here!" Oh my goodness, I didn't have time to even put down my bags, Elise was in that big group of people!!! I followed Helen, as Scott scrambled to find the camera, within minuteds, Elise was in my arms! I didn't even have time to think about what was about to happen (probably for the best). I was just so excited to finally have this baby that I have dreamed about for so long! She is ours, FINALLY! She is perfect and sooo sweet. Not a sound from her the whole time I signed papers, and within an hour of having her in our hotel room she was smiling! By 2:00pm Scott had her laughing! She is amazing! I'm so in love with this baby! She has been a perfect angel all day! The only tears were when I left the room (made me feel good already!!)

Enjoy the pictures!! Many more to come!

The Great Wall

So today was our last full day in Beijing. We started the day with an International Church Service, which was very cool! You had to show ID to prove you were not a Chinese national to get into the service. I find that interesting. But will ellaborate more on that when I'm not in China!

We had a great lunch! Lots of Chinese food again, but most of it very yummy. I'm trying new things, some good, some not so much. The buffet style meals here are different than that in the US. We all sit at a large round table & big bowls of food are placed on a large lazy suzan in the middle of the table.bIt's more like family style dinning just with lots to chose from.

We went to the Jade Factory. I guess that jade is more precious than diamonds to the Chinese people. They have a long history of jade, pearls and silk being related to the royal family. The factory was pretty neat, mostly a jewelry store though! I have gotten some great gifts for family members at the pearl & jade factory, so I'm happy with that.

Our sight seeing today was the Great Wall, and let me just say, it is GREAT, as in BIG!!! Oh my! So amazing to see it in person! Scott and I hiked part of it, I guess it's some 4,500 miles long so we gave up on hiking the whole thing. (I bet Dave Chapman would have hiked the whole thing with me!!) OK, maybe not the whole thing. All my personal training clients out there will be happy to know that I struggleg climbing that thing. However, I didn't struggle as much as Scott.... just sayin'!

Dinner was interesting. Again the big family style dinning with large bowls of food in the middle of the table. However, they must have thought we were ready to get adventurous with our food, not sure why they thought that, but they brought our fish.... with the head and tail still attached!!! uggg!!!

We topped the evening off with a Chinese Acrobat Show. It was amazing!! They were so talented! I love watching that stuff.

So it's 10:30 on Sunday night as I'm typing this. We have to be up at 4:30am to catch our flight to Nanchang! Sooooo excited! Tomorrow is the day I get Elise! So, the next blog will be the famous "Gotcha day video!! Can't wait to show her to everyone!

So, here are a few pictures of the day......

Beijing Sightseeing!!

Title: Beijing Sightseeing!!

So, day one of sight seeing involved Tian' anmen Square the Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Pearl Factory, The Silk Factory & a group lunch, and a group dinner. Oh, and we also stopped by the Olypmic village and went to a tea house. 

It was a long day, but a lot of fun. The Forbidden City was beautiful. Lots to see there & lots of history about that place. Very cool to have a travel guide explaine the rich history of these places. Too much to share in this blog, I've got 20 minutes til we have to leave for the day, so I'll share another time.

I will say that I feel a little bit like a movie star around here! LOL!! When visiting these tourist destinations, there are groups of Chinese people there visiting too. Some of these groups are from remote villages and have never seen a "white girl" before! Scott and I were aked several times to have our picture taken with them! Lots of little kids asking to stand with us in a picture, they stared at our blue eyes & light hair. They were sooo cute! And all of them sooo polite. They didn't know much Englidh, but they did know how to say thank you!

The food today was intresting! We had a buffet style lunch and dinner. The funny thing is, that every meal has french fries! I guess they think we eat french fries at every meal! LOL! But, we also had a wide variety of asian cuizine to choose from. I did try some of it, but honestly, I didn't like most of it. I just can't get past not knowing what the meat is, or the texture of most of it. So, for the most part I'm sticking to rice, some chicken, and some pork.... but mostly rice LOL!

So, her are a few pictures from our first full day in Beijing! (Saturday May 21st) We are 12 hours ahead of Eastern Time, so We are heading out for day #2 in Beijing!

We made it!

After what seemed like the longest plane ride in the history of man, we arrived in Beijing! I was dreading that flight, but I did manage to survive it, and Scott didn't kill me, so we're good! LOL!! 

We made it through customs & baggage claim and found a little old man holding an America World sign, thank goodness!! I was a little uncomfortable in that airport. I've never been in a place where 90% of the people can't understand the language I'm speaking! Then the van ride to the hotel was very intresting! Traffic in Beijing is CRAZY!!! Several time I thought we were going to get in an accident, but we didve arrive safely to our hotel.

We ate our first Chinese dinner, and it was pretty good. Although I found it interesting that our travel guide said "Don't go out of the hotel and eat Chinese food! You don't know what kind of meat they are cooking and it could make you sick!" LOL!!!..... hmmm??? Wonder what they're cooking in all those little street side restaraunts?

We also ventured out to the Chinese version of WalMart! Let me just sayu, I appreciate my WalMart a whole lot more now! That was an interesting experience! Lots of crazyness, lots of people crammed in there, very loud, strange smells! Oh the smells! It just about made me puke! I posted one pic of some of the meats you can purchase!

We are off on our first day of sight seeing! More pics to come! Only 48 hours (or there abouts) til I get Elise!!

OK, so here are a few pics of our first day in Beijing, nothing real exciting yet! Notice how green my green tea was! LOL!

2 days!!!!! ..... but who's counting right??

So the panic that set in last Monday has not really subsided! The packing has begun, well it's been going on for a few weeks now, but now is crunch time!! I've got to get everything a baby will need for 2 weeks in a suitcase, plus everything I'm going to need. Anyone who knows me well, knows I have a hard time packing lightly!!! This is going to be a challenge for me. Trying not to be exessive about the things I want to take. I can do laundry there, so not as worried about clothing, just worried about shoes!!! LOL!! just kidding! Well, I do love my shoes, but will resort to taking one pair of flip flops and wearing my tennis shoes... let me just say, that alone is a sacrifice for me!

I'm taking everything I can think of for a baby! Bottles, clothes, diapers, wipes, toys, blankets, anything else, I'll buy when I get there!

Here is her special blanket & her coming home outfit! Since she's automatically a US citizen when we touch down on US soil, I wanted to buy her soemthing "American" to wear home!

I've also bougth the kids red, white & blue necklaces & American flags to wave around at the airport when they come to welcome their sister home!

And just incase you are wondering what the adoption journey looks like.....

This is the binder of paperwork I've collected over the 5 years this journey has taken us! A lot of blood, sweat & tears went into this binder!.... and yes, it is the biggest binder you can buy, and it's overflowing!!

These last two pics are of the travel paperwork. Lots of documents needed just for the travel portion of this journey to Elise!

Adoption is a journey, a journey of the heart! Without the right heart, attitude and motivation to adopt a baby it is easy to lose sight of the prize when you are caught in all of the "paperwork"! The prize awaits you at the end of the journey. It's like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You wouldn't have taken the journey, or climbed the rainbow, if the prize was right in front of you! Although this has been a long and often frustrating journey for me. I do believe God put me on this journey for a reason. And even though I had no idea it would be 2011 before I recieved this gift, God did. He planned this from the begining, he sent me out on this journey, he knew full well I would stumble, I would get frustrated and I would cry. But, God also knew I needed that (still not sure why LOL!!). Maybe I needed it to appreciate the gift a little more, to make the exciting moments that much more meaningful. Whatever the reason, I am grateful to be on this journey. I am honored that God chose me to be the mother of this beautiful little girl. I am amazed at the children God placed me in charge of! I am in awe of God and his awesome wonder!!! I know God will protect me on the final stage of this journey, I know he will protect my family while I am gone!

Pray for travel safety, paperwork to get there, pray for Elise to have an easy transistion into my arms! I've been dreaming of this day for years, but that precious little baby doesn't have a clue that her entire world is about to be rocked! I will look & sound different than anything she has ever known and I pray that she doesn't encounter too much turmoil over the changes in her life. Thank you!!! This is my final post before leaving! Be sure to bookmark the blog address. Facebook is blocked in China, so you will have to check the blog, not FB!!!

Final Travel Approval!! Going to China on May 19th!!

So, after a week of drama, we finally know for sure that we are going to China on May 19th! So excited and nervous!! The drama involved a last minute move on our part. We moved three streets over and had to update everything in order to go to China! I've been on pins and needles trying to make sure everything is getting done, calling everyone I need to call and mailing more paperwork!! It's been a crazy few days, but really excited to know that we are definitely going on May 19th! However, there is a chance that the paperwork updates will not make it to the consulate's office before our appointment on May 31st. If that happens, then we will be stuck in Guanghzou China until it gets there and Elise is given her Visa. So, prayers are needed!!! Pray for quick paperwork :-)

Now the REAL drama begins for me.... well the emotional drama. I got the call today from AWAA that they were going to let me leave on the 19th, and I instantly felt naucious!! I thought it would be a sense of relief, but insteaad it was more like PANIC!! LOL! I've felt sick to my stomach all day thinking about the fact that I'm leaving my babies (well, my 3 oldest babies) and flying to the other side of the world!! This is really happening! Oh my goodness, I've got so much to do!! I decided to make a binder of information for my mom! Ha! All the schedules for kids, medications for Emmie, doctor numbers, insurance card, sporting events, school schedules..... the list goes on and on!! Wow!!

So, the other piece to the emotional drama for me is the realization that I'm about to meet the daughter I've prayed about, dreamed about, worried about, and fell in love with from the moment I layed eyes on her! She is really about to be mine forever!! Tears in my eyes when I got the Travel approval letter from China....

Just incase you can't read it.... basically it says the Bo Jia Qun will be handed over to me for adoption!! Woohoo!! And that I need to arrive in person with this letter to recieve her! According to China, she is already mine, they are just waiting for me to come get her!

So many emotions going on in my mind. I can't even begin to decribe it! Keep checking for lots of pics and posts to come in the next few weeks! And of course, keep praying!!! THANK YOU!!!!

China Travel Itenerary!!

Our Travel Itenerary is in hand and let me just say, I absolutley love reading the words "Meet Elise Jia Brooks"!!! It still feels a little surreal to me. I keep thinking I'm going to get pinched and wake up from the awesome dream I'm having! It is has been a long, but well worth it, journey. Our paperwork was officaily logged into the CCAA on May 18th, 2006!! We will have waited 5 years and 5 days for this beautiful baby to enter our lives!!

So, the itenerary is as follows:

Thursday May 19th- leave Indianapolis, lay over in Chicago, then direct flight from Chicago to Beijing

Friday May 20th-Arrive in Beijing

Saturday May 21st- Beijing sightseeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace

Sunday May 22nd- Beijing Sightseeing: International Church Service, Great Wall

Monday May 23rd- Fly to Nanchang, Jiangxi in the AM, in the PM meet "Elise Jia Brooks" This will be the day we forever call "Gotchya Day". A day we will celebrate every year!

Tuesday May 24th- Adoption paperwork & Appointments, sightseeing & shopping

Wednesday May 25th- Adoption paperwork & Appointments, sightseeing & shopping

Thursday May 26th- Blake's 11th B-day! Happy Birthday Blake! & more adoption paperwork & appointments

Friday May 27th- Fly to Goungzhou

Saturday May 28th- Elise's medical exam

Sunday May 29th- Free Day in Guangzhou!!... which means sightseeing & shopping

Monday May 30th- Tom's B-day! Happy Birthday! Consulate & paperwork

Tuesday May 31st- Final Consulate appointment & Oath taking ceremony

Wednesday June 1st- Pick up Elise's passport from the consulate & leave for Hong Kong

Thursday June 2nd- leave for the USA!!!!!! arrive in Indy at 4:50PM


Remember to follow the blog during the trip! I will be posting pictures & updates every day! Also China is 12 hours ahead of Indiana time. So hopefully by mid morning Indiana time, the update for the day will be posted. 

And please remember to pray for us! Pray for safe travels and an easy transistion for Elise!! Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us & helped us financially along the way!!! We have the most amazing support network made up of great friends & family! You ROCK!!!! I am blessed to have you in my life & I thank God for each and every one of you!