One More Week!!!

One week from today, we will be leaving for China! I say that, but honestly I still can't believe it! I can't believe that, after all this time, all these years of dreaming about this, it's actually this close to happening! Yet somehow, even with all the happy excitement, I feel this strange peace and a calm that is very unlike me. I keep waiting for the calm to end and for me to start freaking out, but so far so good!

There is one bright spot to us having to wait so long to travel: it gave me 5 months to get ready so there is not much panic now here at the end!

Two weeks from today Caitlin will be placed in my arms. How I've dreamed of that moment... and now it's only 2 weeks away!

Caitlin's Kingdom, Part 2: The Transformation

It's complete! Today I put the finishing touches on Caitlin's room! Here are some pictures:

Before (the guest room):

After (Caitlin's room!):

The room itself has actually been complete for some time now, but I wanted to finish some projects that I had been working on:

2 Weeks and Counting!

Two weeks from today we will be leaving for China! The countdown begins...

Baby Shower!

Today some amazing friends of mine, Avril and Candace, hosted a baby shower for me! It was absolutely beautiful. And even more amazing was the fact that they somehow managed to put the whole thing together in less than 2 weeks! How they did it, I'll never know, because it was truly perfect. They didn't miss a detail!

It was a "full service tea" at a local inn. We were each served our own individual tray with a porcelain tea pot (there were dozens of flavors of tea to choose from), a plate with finger sandwiches, fresh cookies, biscuits, and bread, as well as cups with butter, marmalade, and sugar cubes.

Avril had decorated with teacups filled with pink carnations,

And made this adorable sign:(I don't know why these 2 pictures are so small...)

They also asked our family who was not able to attend to write a letter to Caitlin, which Avril put in a special scrapbook. Now Caitlin will always have this scrapbook to remind her of how much her family and friends love her!

This was my corsage:(complete with tiny ladybugs!)


In the gift bags for all the guests,were fortune cookies dipped in chocolate and sprinkles, with a little baby on them:And special seeds, personalized to remember the day:


Candace (the other hostess of the shower) made a gift for Caitlin that almost brought me to tears. She is making her a quilt, and each square relates to Caitlin's story. There were squares with Chinese characters, one with ladybugs, an "American" square, a square with pandas, etc. It is absolutely beautiful, and something that Caitlin will keep forever, and hopefully pass on to her daughter one day!

Group shots:

(My Marketing Bunco Group)

(The whole gang!)

I am still overwhelmed at the generosity of all of our family and friends. Caitlin's room is now full with toys, books, and all kinds of goodies.I hope that Caitlin always knows how much she is loved!

10/10/10

A friend just pointed out that our "Forever Family/Gotcha Day" (the day we will meet Caitlin) is 10/10/10. How cool is that?! That is definitely a date to remember!

We Have An Itinerary!

We got our itinerary this morning! The most important question has been answered: WE MEET CAITLIN ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10TH!!!

The rest of the schedule goes kind of like this:

*Thursday, October 7th: Depart USA

*Friday, October 8th: Arrive in Beijing

*Saturday, October 9th: Tour Beijing (Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Olympic Park, and... THE GREAT WALL!)

*Sunday, October 10th: Head to Fuzhou; MEET CAITLIN!!!

*Monday, October 11th: Finalize adoption

*Tuesday, October 12th-Thursday, October 14th: Tour around the province. We are going to request a visit to Caitlin's orphanage, but we don't know if we will be granted a visit or not.

*Friday, October 15th: Head to Guangzhou

*Saturday, October 16th: Medical Exam (Caitlin has to get all her vaccinations before she leaves China; whatever she has not yet had, she will be given here, all at once. Unfortunately we do not have an option or a say in the matter; this was the U.S.'s brilliant idea...)

*Sunday, October 17th: "Sunday Sermon"

*Monday, October 18th: Paperwork, Interview

*Tuesday, October 19th: Caitlin's Oath Ceremony, when she will be sworn in as a U.S. citizen

*Wednesday, October 20th: Pick up Caitlin's U.S. Visa, then head to Hong Kong

*Thursday, October 21st: Depart Hong Kong for U.S.!

Good Fortunes!

I love it when fortune cookies are actually pertinent...

This was my fortune on August 30th (two days before our TA finally came in):
And this was our fortune today:

We Have Flights!

I just finished booking our flights! And they are direct flights, on an airline I trust, and a Boeing 747- both ways! And we have window seats! What a relief! (For those of you who know me, you understand why all these things are so very, very important to me; for those who don't know me... it's a long story!)

October 7th it is!

We got word back from our agency's people in China, and they have booked us a hotel room in Guangzhou, meaning it's official! We will be leaving on Thursday, October 7th and returning on Thursday, October 21st. We can finally book flights!!