Travel Day

10 am from Chicago... We had a good night sleep in Nashville and then left at 5:00 am for the airport. Check in went fine except that mine and Jillian's shared suitcase was too heavy so was going to cost $200 extra! Rob starting unzipping and rearranging/cramming stuff into other bags and we
finally made it with no overage! The agency warned us to pack light and I tried, but how on earth do you pack light for three weeks in China?? The flight from Nashville to Chicago was smooth and we are now sitting in our terminal waiting for the next flight. We are supposed to leave at 12:08 on a 777 air bus. Praying for safe travels!

May 17, 5pm We arrived in Beijing and were greeted at the airport by George, our very kind agency rep who brought us to our hotel. It is about 4am at home as we Beijing is 13hours ahead. We had a smooth flight but got little more than a couple hours sleep here and there, so we are exhausted. We watched lots of movies between naps, and are hoping for a good nights sleep since there is a lot of touring scheduled for tomorrow starting at nine am. Oh I almost forgot that Rob got stopped at immigration and asked why he was in China. When he answered "adoption"they didn't understand and he got held up for a while as Jilli and I were nervously waiting on the other side!!
We just checked in and walked down the street to get some McDonalds and now are enjoying our lobby before heading to bed! Hope everyone at home is having a great day!

Graduations and Goodbyes

This has been a long couple of days with so many emotions. I've been working nonstop for the last couple of days to get everything ready for the trip and everything squared away at home for the boys. Last night was Korbins Kindergarten graduation and it was so sweet! Of course, knowing I was leaving him for three weeks and the emotions of the upcoming adoption made it a little hard, but there was lots of laughter as well. As we left, he told Jillian to be sure and wear her good shoes because he looked super handsome and also not to wrinkle him. He was beaming as he walked down the aisle and turned and waved at us throughout the ceremony. Today was a blur as we finished packing and getting the house ready. We left Korbin a surprise in my closet and told him that he could open it after we left. He practically shooed us out the door! LOL! So much for him missing us! We made pictures outside as our last time as a family of five! Also made some of the house and each family memmber to show to Laikyn. Then we drove to Whitehouse and had supper with Gay and Steve. They brought us on to Nashville where we are staying at an airport shuttle hotel to catch our flight at 6:50 am. We had to change flights for a longer layover, so we will fly to Chicago and then have a three to four hour layover and then catch a nonstop flight to Beijing. Hopefully I can post more when we arrive in China! We appreciate all of the prayers for our travel, our boys and our new daughter!!

An award winner!

Jillian has always been a great student! She takes a lot of pride in her work and rarely has to be asked to do her homework! As a kickoff to our testing week, we passed out awards for the previous year tests, and Jillian scored a proficient in reading and distinguished in math as a third grader. She earned a purple ribbon and an engraved plaque as a reward for her scores. As she took them, I flashed back to last year when she laid in bed with a tummy ache the night before testing worried she wouldn't do well. I have been able to watch her grow even more this year as her fourth grade teacher and especially enjoy her talent in math. She loves problem solving and works until she figures it out. She has caught on to bar modeling so well that she does Fraction word problems in her head now. She has also grown so much in reading and is challenging herself with higher level novels. She especially has enjoyed the Percy Jackson series and has most recently begun to read classics like Secret Garden to expand her vocabulary. Can't wait to see what she will do this year!! Proud of her accomplishments! You keep reaching for the STARS Jilli!!

Korbins Day

In preparation for our upcoming trip, we decided to have a special day with Korbin since he wont be traveling with us and we hate to leave him. He has been asking to go to Sunrise Park in Evansville since stopping there last winter. We had a nice lunch at Red Robin and then spent a couple of hours playing at the park. He had such a good time with all of the wooden forts for
running and climbing. After the park,we took him to Build a Bear to pick out an outfit for his stuffed dog. He picked out a Harley with a biker shirt and do rag... Lol! I also secretly got a Darth Vader one that he will open while we are gone. I told him to sleep with it and let it remind him how we are thinking about him. He said Granny will take good care of him and I know she will,but It will not be the same without my boys! Love them both so much!

Itinerary

We have our flights scheduled! May 16 - Leave Nashville at 8:48am and arrive in DC at 11:40. Pray for no delays because we leave for Beijing at 12:20. Should arrive around 15 or 16 hours later totally unaware of the date or time!

TRAVEL PLANS

Although we still have to buy our tickets to China, we have our itinerary. We will fly out on May 16 and need to be inn Beijing in the 17th. We will spend a couple of days touring (Rob can't wait to see the temples again!LOL) and then fly to Zhengzhou( Henan capital) where we will meet Laikyn either the day we arrive or the next. We will spend several days there and then fly to Guangzhou where we will have our swearing in at the US consulate on the 31st and Laikyn Hope's visa appointment and medical checkup on the 1st. We will fly out on June 2nd. Today we have to work on getting our tickets to China. the agency is taking care of all of ur in China flights and hotels. Wow, ending school, testing, internatioanl trip, and adoption. Have to take one moment at a time or I will seriously freak out!! :)

TRavel Approval

It finally came! We were notified of our travel approval this afternoon, more than a week before we expected! Our agency is now in the process of setting up our consulate appointments. Depending on what is available there, we will leave between May 9 and May 16! My head is spinning with things to do! So hard to believe that a year has passed since we felt that little tug of our hearts to adopt again. It has been 4months since our last update, so I am dying to know how she is. Praying for calmness of spirit and strength. Most of all praying for Laikyn Hope's well being and health!