Our Hotels in China....THEY SO ROCK! WHOOOOOOO!

For all of you who know me, you know that I am a TOTAL hotel snot!  It is precisely that reason why I  am so delighted to see the places they picked out for us.  I only had to have them change one hotel (we requested to change to the Holiday Inn below - the one they picked was not so good).  Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy seeing where we are staying.  It is crazy, they are all so big and have at least 4-5 restaurants in them.  The Holiday Inn one is connected to a mall which will be great since that is the hotel we first get Mia in.  :)

Our first two nights are at Renaissance (a Marriott Hotel) Beijing Hotel.  Below are some pictures:




The 3-7th night is at the Holiday Inn in Nanjing Aqua City.  It looks more like a Westin than a Holiday Inn.  Pictures below:

The 8-13th night is at China Hotel (a Marriott Hotel) in Guangzhou.  Pictures below:

The last night is at Langham Place in Beijing.  Pretty swanky!  Too bad we will only be here for 5 hours.  Pictures below:

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Mia is coming, Mia is coming, Mia is coming - THIS YEAR!!!!

It is with ecstatic joy that I am sitting down to write this blog post.  We have received word from China that we are to be in China December 9-24 to FINALLY be united with our sweet Mia.  The schedule is as follows:

Date	Time	Activities
10 Dec  (Fri)	11:30pm	Arrive by AA187.
11 Dec (Sat)	8:00am	Visit Tian An Men Square, Forbidden City, take pictures of Olympic Park and climb Ju Yong Guan Great Wall.
12 Dec (Sun)		Fly to Nanjing by MU2802 (10:30am-12:10pm);
13 Dec (Mon)		Meet adoptive child.
14 Dec ( Tue)		Bus to civil affairs office to do paperwork;
15 Dec (Wed)	9:30am	Visit Mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yet-Sen’s & Museum of Silk Embroidery.
16 Dec (Thu)	9:30am	Visit Xuan Wu Lake.
17 Dec (Fri)		Fly to Guangzhou by ZH9678 (16:15pm-18:35pm).
18 Dec (Sat)		Have a medical checkup and fill the forms for the consulate (all paperwork got in States & China needed).
19 Dec (Sun)		Bus to Shamian Island for Sunday sermon;
20 Dec  (Mon)		Bus to clinic to check on TB test results and go shopping at pearl wholesale market.
21 Dec  (Tue)	9:00am	Guide will go to US consulate to submit paperwork.
22 Dec (Wed)		Bus to US consulate to take the oath.
23 Dec (Thu)	2:30pm	(1)   Guide will pick up visa package from the consulate; (2)   Fly to Beijing by CZ3111 (19:00pm-22:10pm).
24 Dec  (Fri)		Fly back to States by AA186  at 6:55am.

As you can see we get home on Christmas Eve.  That means Mia's first morning here will be Christmas morning!  I am pretty sure she will think she hit the jackpot!  :)  Hopefully she will not expect presents everyday.  That said, she will always be our gift.

So super excited!  I cannot wait for everyone to meet our sweet girl but most of all I cannot wait to FINALLY hold her in my arms.  It is crazy to think that after 5 and a half years of waiting we leave in 2 weeks and in 2 weeks and 3 days we will have our little girl!

So, this Thanksgiving, there is much to be thankful for!

Katie Makkai - Pretty

Love this!  It has nothing to do with adoption but I wanted to post because like many of my amazing friends who are raising smart, amazing and strong little girls, I too want to raise my Mia to know it is NOT all about the outside but what is inside that really counts.  I am not saying I do not like and appreciate "pretty".  I love pretty things, I just think it is important that it not be the only thing and not the only message our girls hear.  Fair warning, there is one swear word.  I hope you enjoy!

BTW, I recently read that Katie is almost 90% blind and almost deaf.

January 2011 - Seriously? Ugh!

We got an update from our adoption agency regarding our expected travel.  It appears that we are not going to make the December travel cut off (no one is allowed to travel to China for adoption after Dec. 9th - according to our agency).  That means we will most likely travel January 6th - 20th.  People keep asking me if I am bummed?  YES!  Of course I am bummed and you can add a grouchy on to that as well!  I have waited so long to meet Mia and I literally feel like I am going to crawl out of my skin if I have to wait any longer.  These last few months have been A LOT harder than I thought they would (and I knew they were going to be rough).  It is very difficult to think that paperwork is what is keeping me away from my little girl for six months since our referral (which is how long it will be if we travel in January).

On to a brighter note, this is how the travel schedule will break down.  We will spend the first 2 nights in Beijing and then go to Mia's province where they will bring her to our hotel room on the 3rd day.  We will stay in her province for another day or so and then go down to Guangzhou where we will stay until all the paperwork, doctors appts. etc, are all finished up and the adoption is finalized.  We are told the weather in Beijing that time of year is like Chicago would be here in the US.  I am all about seeing the Great Wall of China and Tiananmen Square (we are required to visit both) but NOT with weather like January in Chicago.  GOODNESS!!!  Ugh.  The province where Mia is now seems to be a lot like it would be in North or South Carolina, that I can handle.  Where we spend most of our time is in Guangzhou, and we are told the weather there is like Miami!  WHOOOOOOOOOO!  I can REALLY handle that!  :) 

The really hard thing is, we found out the inner country travel in China is way more strict with their luggage restrictions.  That said, I am only allowed to check one bag and it can only be 40lbs.  That means I have to pack for weather in 3 climates, meeting a new child, all the medicine they recommend bringing, gifts for the nannies and adoption officials and I have to do that in one bag weighing 40lbs?  Um, yeah right!  HA!  Not sure how that is going to happen, but I am sure I will figure it all out.

The other fun bit of news is that if we travel the dates above, we will be celebrating Mike's birthday in China!  That should be a lot of fun.  :)