June 26th - Turning Lemons into Lemonade

The day started as all the others....we got up and was downstairs for breakfast by 8:00AM. Usually by this time we see a few of the other CCAI group members that are traveling with us ~ but not today. As we ate our breakfast we were still waiting for someone {from our group} to appear but nothing! It is than at this time I decided to have the front desk contact by phone our CCAI guide "George" to see what time we would be leaving for the Great Wall tour. When she finally reached him (about 9:00AM - which was the time our group met yesterday to visit the Forbidden Square), he and the other group members were already on their way to the Great Wall...while never contacted us of departing time. You don't even have to ask me if I was pissed because believe me, I was, but I managed to keep my cool...I did mention to George that just because we did not take the tour yesterday didn't mean we were not doing it today. I made it my business with our guide George when we first met on June 24th that we were not doing the Forbidden City tour but WOULD BE DOING the Great Wall the following day. He said that was OK and our tour rates would be adjusted (becuase you pay by day of touring). Come the night of the 25th, we never received any messages or phone call stating when the group would be leaving for the Great Wall so we just assumed it would be the same time as the day before 9:00AM. Well, as you can see that was not the case. As soon as I relayed the message to Keith that I was receiving from George via telephone in regards to the group status (that they already left) and George insisting on sending a car to get us, Keith & I both agreed & said no to his offer. We knew we would find something else just as exciting to do and boy are we so happy we did! The hotel here offers private tours which we jumped on and not only did we see the Great Wall (by cable cars) but we also visited a local tea shop! The spot where we were able to access the Great Wall was truly amazing & one area we never visited before! It is the place that so many of us are familiar with in seeing in movies, tour books, or posters! It was breath-taking and we walked a ton of it! It was truly one of my all time favorite moments in life! I can only hope the photos that were taken can show just how breath-taking this particular spot was...

Tomorrow we head out at 7:30AM for Zhengzhou! I can't believe our time here in Beijing has once again come to an end. But I must admit, I am so looking forward to Monday morning...so saying goodbye to this amazing city is not so bad (and I have a strong feeling we will be back again some time really soon...)

Anyway....

I am going to try to post something tomorrow, but seeing how we might be a bit busy with getting everything organized and ready for Benjamin, you might just have to wait until 28th ~ but we'll see...

Until than ENJOY these photos from today!!!!

June 25 ~ Off the Beaten Path in Beijing!

First off {before I even get started telling you all about our exciting day} I must give a HUGE shout out to my wonderful & amazing sister Lisa for it is her BIRTHDAY today!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!!!! We here in China all love you & miss you so much! Keith and I did a little celebration on behalf of your birthday& had a few afternoon cocktails at this amazing outdoor lounge here in Beijing! Needless to say, we are all now back in the hotel room ~ resting...Hope you too have a very HAPPY day! LOVE YOU!

Well as you can see, we did have a few cocktails some time this afternoon which if you are traveling with us ~ afternoon cocktails are a must! As I stated yesterday, we decided not to do the group's tour today. Seeing how this is our third time here in less than 5 years and it is blazing HOT outside, we knew we wanted to do something more at our leisurely pace and enjoy some "off-the-beaten" path exploring ~ which we so did!

Our day started off by just walking the streets of Beijing which lead us to this amazing tea shop (where I was able to purchase some fresh Jasmine tea) than from there we found a crazy Hot Dumpling Spot where I was the only one brave enough to try them (seeing how we really could not verbally communicate with the vendors and their "menu" was completely in Chinese ~ it was all "look than point and shake your head YES" when you found the dumpling you wanted to try). Each steamed dumpling I tried was so good that I am actually headed back there for a late afternoon snack. We also stumbled upon an incredible indoor vendors market where we found some beautiful pieces at some amazing prices. We did a lot of walking this morning and in this heat ~ it makes you very tired. It was than that we found the outdoor lounge, sat down under this huge umbrella and enjoyed some refreshing cocktails. I do have a few photos to share with you all today. Many of them are of the crazy traffic here in Beijing while there is also one of Keith & Francesca and another one of Francesca and me.

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Once we returned to the hotel I did work on getting all of the US money that is needed for Benjamin's adoption exchanged into RMBs before arriving in Zhengzhou on the 27th. In my opinion, it is just one less "detail" I need to worry about during those few short hours before being united with him. {and if you know anything about me you know that I have already placed all the bills in it's proper sealed and labeled envelope} I figured I better do this now while we are having relaxing day than trying to do it that first night when we arrive in Zhengzhou (which will be sometime around 8PM) or even the next morning before we take that walk to the civil affairs office to finally meet our little boy.

As for tonight, we again have nothing planned but for us this is how we wanted it! We did meet many of our travel group during breakfast this morning and they all seem to be a great bunch of people. We will learn more about them as our days move along during this adoption journey.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Great Wall which we are really excited to see once more.

That's about it here on our end! Only three more days until we are finally united with our little boy! I still can't believe it is really going to happen...

Love to you all & Miss everyone so very much!

{We Have Landed!}

Well...after what seems like an entire day spent at either an airport or on a airplane flying over the North Pole, we finally landed in Beijing about 2:00PM! When we went to check in this morning at United's Ticket Counter, we were asked if we would prefer a direct flight with an upgrade. Oh course I said yes, but that meant spending the morning hanging out at Dulles International Airport. The good part of the whole thing was we arrived earlier at the airport in Beijing than what was expected. But as many of you know, the traffic around here is terrible and it took us almost 2 hours to arrive at our hotel, plus we were so hungry that we just had to have something to eat before I even thought about doing this post! After being fed {well}, taking a long over due shower, tucking Francesca into bed (while Keith was already fast asleep), I figured I finally got a chance to type up this brief message.

All is well here in China! After spending our first 6 hours back in China, it truly feels like we have never left ~ everything about the place insistently comes back!

I am going to make this short here because I too am truly tired. We all have been up for over 24 hours and it is really starting to hit me as well (and as you can see, it already hit the other two in my group).

We dearly miss everyone especially my mom and Annabelle. We love you all so much and are so looking forward to "skyping" with you all later.

Tomorrow is a free day for us which I am very excited about! Nothing big planned - just headed out among the streets of Beijing to do a bit of self-exploring. I'll be back some time tomorrow with a few photos to share and one very special BIRTHDAY WISH!!!!!

LOVE & MISS you all...!

A Place For EVERYONE & ANYONE...

{an open invitation for those who have always & will continue to support us}

OK seeing how today marks ONE WEEK until we leave for China, it seems I am finally getting extremely excited and once again nervous! After thinking about it for some time, I decided to make some changes to Benjamin's site!

The first change was ~ I made his web site a site for EVERYONE! Yes for EVERYONE! With a click of the mouse, I made his site a site for ANYONE to post comments! All you need to do is, click on the Comments link below each journal entry (do not click on the "link to this post" link) and wait for the pop up box to appear. Once that pop up box appears, you will see a "Leave Your Comment" block (you may have to scroll down within the pop up box to get to the block to type your message). It is there in that box that you can start typing your message. Once completed, please remember to sign your name to the bottom of the message within the Leave Your Comment block (so I know who is leaving us the message) and scroll down until to see "Anonymous" and click on the circle located just before it (make sure the circle before Anonymous is highlight). And than last step is, click on "Publish Your Comment" (big orange button listed directly below "Anonymous" and within a few seconds, your message will appear! It is that easy! And now EVERYONE & ANYONE can leave us a comment!

Second change was ~ I set up for each & every comment left to not only be posted within the comment link but also a copy of your message to be sent to my email address! Seeing how some Internet sites are blocked in China {and Blogger - at times - being one of them}, I will find it difficult when in China to read all your messages. So with another few clicks under the setting bar, I was able to add my primary email address so I can read every one's message that is left!

There is one thing I want to make clear & it is really sad that I must say this, but I would really appreciate that no one leaves "unwanted" "nasty" or "rude" comments. I have seen it happen before to others and while everyone might not agree with our life style, our decisions, or our beliefs, please don't leave your opinion here! This is an adoption web site for a little boy who will finally be united with his family after a year of surprises, joy, heartache, tears and excitement. YES, this web site is all about our Benjamin. So if you feel the need to tell us something that may not be so nice, please email me privately ~ remember this HERE is not about us, it is about a little boy who has been waiting for a family for over 2 years now...(plus please keep in mind if there is a comment we DON'T approve, it will be deleted)

With that said, I truly hope you all join in on following along in what is most likely going to be our final adoption journey to China. So many of our family & friends have followed us along in the past and left some beautiful comments along the way. I am so looking forward to reading each & every one of the comments that will be left. You just don't know how much your words mean to us and will mean to our son ~ in the future...

So post away {that's comments I mean}!!!!

Our Travel Schedule!

Listed Below is the details of the Travel Schedule we received from CCAI!

6/23 Leave US for Beijing

6/24 Arrive In Beijing

6/25 (my sister's birthday) Tour Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong Tour and Acrobatics Show...As for Keith, Francesca, and I this will be a free day for us (we decided not to do the tours this day)

6/26 Still Touring Beijing: Great Wall and Mings Tomb ~ which we are doing!

6/27 Depart Beijing for Zhengzhou

6/28 BENJAMIN'S FOREVER FAMILY DAY!!!! Sometime in the afternoon, we will FINALLY be united with our Benjamin!!!!

6/29 (Keith's birthday) Adoption Registration in the morning & Lotus Shopping Center in the afternoon

6/30 Free Day!

7/01 Free Day!

7/02 Receive Chinese passports and leave Zhengzhou for Guangzhou

7/03 Have Benjamin's health physical completed, TB test done, and visa photo taken

7/04 Free Day!

7/05 Free Day!

7/06 Have TB test checked out at clinic and than Free Day!

7/07 Consulate Appointment ~ completed by our CCAI representative

7/08 Our Consulate Appointment ~ Taking the Oath!

7/09 Free Day!

7/10 Leave Guangzhou for Beijing where we will catch a flight home bond!

Flights Booked!

After what seems like forever (seriously I was working both online and the phone line this past Friday to find decent priced flights)...we finally found amazing flights to and from Beijing!!!!

Flight out on the June 23rd and Return home on July 10th!

{two little letters we have been so waiting for} TA!!!!!!

As of today, we have finally received our TA which is our travel approval!!! We are currently waiting on CA (Consulate Appointment) confirmation before booking any tickets...

We were told that we could be traveling as soon as June 16th or June 23rd ~ only time will tell! As soon as I have our dates, I will be posting them here!

Again THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us along the way to be united with our son! Words will never be able to express how truly blessed we are to have family & friends out there like you!