Chinese New Year: take 1

So cool that we got to spend tonight celebrating our first Chinese New Year with our Chinese friends!  The food was so good, so different from what we usually eat, and of course very authentic for the holiday. The kids love each other and had a great time playing and talking. 

And is grown ups had fun making dinner (I got to help make dumplings!), eating, and talking. I don't understand any Chinese words except Mom, Dad, sister, brother, and thank you...but I picked up one more to add to my Mamdarin arsenal--"we".  Impressive I know. But anyway, our friends are sweet to translate back and forth when more understanding is needed and we talked a lot about our upcoming trip and what to expect on our first time in the country. Sadly Matt had to go to work early and missed most of the festivities, but we hope to do it again next year with Allie! Great cultural experience and our friends even gave all the kids traditional red envelopes with half dollars. So thankful for these friendships!

 

Touring Beijing!

Two weeks from now we will be about 8 hours into our almost 24 hours of travel to Beijing. Since Allie is living there now, we are choosing to go a few days early so we can visit her and her foster home before they bring her to us in Guangzhou for Gotcha Day. We will also do some touring in Beijing, which is somewhat just for fun but also a great way for us to get to know Allie's home country's culture and history better so that we can better teach her to appreciate her heritage. 

We plan to of course see the Great Wall and maybe ride a big slide down part of it. We will be staying very close to the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square so we will visit there. We will also take a tour of traditional Chinese communities via bicycle rickshaw and we will go see an acrobat show. I'm excited that the country will still be in holiday mode from Chinese New Year this weekend, which is celebrated for awhile after too and we will be in Beijing for the Lantern Festival, so hoping for lots of pretty sights!

But of course the most exciting part will be meeting Allie for the first time on the 9th. It's so surreal that it's hard for me to even imagine what I will do or feel or say as we spend some time with her and the other toddlers and caregivers. Lots of emotions!!

Back Again

I'm busy trying to get everything in order for our trip and one thing I've wanted to figure out is technology while we are over there.  I asked for a "grandmother" (no offense, grandmothers) explanation of what we need to do over there to use our phones and there still seem to be several options and an element of trial and error.  Some websites aren't accessible and right now we are thinking we may only take my phone and no computers, so I'm back to the drawing board with trying to figure out a blog option to keep everyone updated while we are gone.  And I want to be able to print it into a book easily when we get back.  I think I can update this one easily by email and I may also nominate someone as a backup who can update it for me if needed:)  It should email you posts if I have added you or you have added yourself via the link on the sidebar.  Two weeks and two days to go!

An Update...Such as it is:)

Got this in response to my gazillion questions.  Hopefully we'll have time to get the rest answered (and clarify these answers!) when we visit the foster home!  For now, this cracks me up:

"hi,fenfen is easy cry girl. it is not easy for her to sit and eat in good. but she loves fruits and cookie, apple, banana will do.

and she is sticky, always. want close relation such as hug or touch."

So she cries a lot, doesn't sit still to eat, and apparently prefers sweet food.  And guessing by 'sticky' he means clingy.  Fun times ahead, people!  Whatever--I want to hold her lots anyway.

Tickets Bought!

Tickets Bought    Edit

January 19, 2017

We have confirmed travel plans and will head out to Beijing on Tuesday, February 7th!  Returning Thursday evening, February 23rd.  We are making our touring plan for Beijing and getting excited! It was so fun to welcome our friends home from China and definitely makes our upcoming plans a little more real...especially the exhaustion of travel with toddlers!  Now we have about 2 1/2 weeks to figure out packing, cell phones in China, and of course more paperwork.  :)  

By HollyC392 at 9:02pm

  

Gene R, Cindy C and Kathy E  like this

CHERYL MHolly and Matt, I'm so thrilled for you. You're in my thoughts and prayers regularly. I can't wait to meet Allie.
So much love,
Cheryl

12 hours ago•Edit•Delete

Kathy ESo excited for y'all!

5 hours ago•Edit•Delete

Constance MWoohoo!!

Travel!!

Travel!!    Edit

January 19, 2017

Exciting day!  I woke to news that our Consulate Appointment for 2/21 was confirmed!  This means that we must be in Guangzhou by 2/12 so we can receive Allie for 2/13 Gotcha Day and then go through a series of appointments leading up to getting her visa and heading back home 2/23.  So I'm trying to get plane tickets today...Matt is sleeping from work last night and we have some decisions to make about optional touring before and after, so it's a little hard to manage all the options still.  But hopefully by the end of today or tomorrow we will have our tickets.  Probably tomorrow because we have more excitement this afternoon, as Julia and I head to the airport to welcome home our friends the Runkles, who are the first family of our neighborhood group to go get their child from China. And on our way home we'll hit Gray's basketball game too.  Already watched him do pretty well in a spelling bee this morning.  Whew.  Lots of stuff going on!

In the midst of it all I'm having moments of wanting to jump up and down and moments of nervousness and moments of feeling like there is too much to do and moments of wanting to cry.  But mostly very excited.  And finding it so cool that our Gotcha Day will be one year to the day that Matt and I decided to adopt from China and our official adoption day will be Valentine's Day, one year to the day we woke up and told the kids we were adopting.  So awesome.  So thankful!!

Now back to list making, packing, flight searching....

By HollyC392 at 10:42am

  

Sarah Z, Gene R and Cindy C  like this

Sarah Z

SO EXCITING!! I am jumping up and down with/for you. :) Please count on us for any help you need with the kids while you are gone (if they are not making the journey)!  

Thursday at 11:35am•Edit•Delete

HollyC392Thanks Sarah! Got you on my list to give the grandparents. :)

Thursday at 9:02pm•Edit•Delete

Jeannie MLove how those dates worked out!!

Freezer Meals

21 freezer meals made yesterday = more time to bond with Allie (and recover from jet lag) when we get back from China! Lots of work (and one slight moment of panic when the freezer alarm wen off, I turned it off and we couldn't get it to start cooling again!) but feels good to have that off my to-do list. We are continuing to try to nail down flights and touring plans, pack bags, and prepare things for our kids staying home. Hopefully next week we will have solid dates for travel and then we are going to be on a plane before we know it!!