Details on Gotcha Day

Woohoo! Only 2 weeks and we will be in China picking up our baby girl. Got word it will be June 12 at 4pm and a man will come from the orphanage to our hotel in Nanchang to have us sign papers and a woman with Jailyn. So thrilled! In just a matter of weeks she is ours officially. We have our hotels in Nanchang and Guangzhou. Everything is coming into place. Happy as can be! April 1 was our happy day the first day we saw our baby girl and June 12 will be the day we become a forever family for Jailyn. Here is the video of us seeing Jailyn's picture for the first time on our referral day April 1, 2011, at 4:27pm.
2 weeks and counting the days!

Woohoo! Gotcha Day moved up to June 12, 2011!

What a week and it is still as busy as can be and we are only 2 weeks from travel and soooooooooo excited! Best part is today got an email from our agency that our Gotcha date has been moved up a day! Best news ever! We travel 2 weeks from today. Matter of fact we would be boarding for China in Los Angeles as I type this late tonight. How surreal it is all coming together. So we will arrive in China June 11 and in her provincial town NanChang after lunch and meet our travel coordinator and get to our hotel. Since we are arriving early they are giving Jailyn to us on that Sunday. They are bringing her to the hotel and then on Monday we will have our Civil Affairs appt which means all the paperwork to complete the adoption will be taken care of that day...... I AM SO THRILLED ONE DAY EARLIER!!!! IT BRINGS SUCH TEARS OF JOY TO MY EYES! That means we get her and can start bonding with her and on our own turf so to speak. YAY! I truly believe my prayers are being answered as I wanted less emotional trauma to our daughter as she makes this transition to joining our family. My hope is that she is coming on a bus from FengCheng that day and right into our arms. I would hate for her to spend the night alone in the orphanage until she can be with us. I am so happy! Just have to finish a few things we need to do before travel like notarizing, shopping for the trip, take care of all the going out of town logistics, phone, money, laptop accessibility in china.......and start packing and get us there and back. It is just a matter of 2 weeks and she is ours! How blessed we are!!!!!

WE had a fabulous weekend with our family reunion. Which was a surprise for my mom and dad as we celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and their 80th birthdays this year with everyone. We had a pizza party at our home Friday and then our family dinner and surprise for my parents at the Oriental wok on Saturday. All was well. See the pictures of Mike and I and the whole family and only Jailyn and my nephew Drew were missing. This week has been all about travel meds....Mike and I started taking the Typhoid Vaccine and we only made it through the dosing halfway. We took 2 of the 4 vaccines. Mike was having terrible side effects and I just did not feel well. We opted to stop taking them and believe having a healthy immune system before travel was more important than getting ill over this preventative measure that may or may not work should we be exposed to Typhoid fever. We will take our chances and pray God will keep us healthy. We have travel meds for Jailyn and her 4 hour clinical with Children's Hospital is set for July 13 to check her out head to toe. We will be back from China for 3 weeks, hopefully on a schedule and have celebrated her 1st b-day before we put her through the trauma at Children's.

Getting closer and so happy! Have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Countdown to Jailyn 25 days until Gotcha day!

Well I can only imagine how my life is going to change in the next 25 days. So much to do however it is starting to feel manageable have 3 weeks until we travel. It has been a busy week and now have some time to breathe. So happy we have our passports and visas and tickets booked. Waiting on hotel information from our agency to coordinate. I have the most incredible customers in all of Mary Kay. They came to my open house this weekend and celebrated Jailyn with me bringing me well wishes and presents too and purchasing lots of Mary Kay. Thank you! I am truly blessed to have a home based business I can work around this adoption craziness with terrific customers. Not to mention my fabulous cousin Betty who made the yummiest cookies for my open house. Betty thank you so much. She makes me look good! And my awesome neighbor, Rita, who was my hostess while I helped everyone with their products. Thanks so much Rita! I am so blessed to have so many wonderful women who support me in my endeavor. Lots of fun things are happening this week my neice graduated from College and celebrating her tomorrow, and we have a family reunion this weekend with family that has not been together for over 25 years what a treat. My nephew Drew just turned 25 and will be the only one unable to come to the reunion as he is traveling for work in Denver.

The baby gate is going up this week and I am doing baby laundry and starting to plow through our final punch list of things to do and starting to pull out what needs to travel to china with us. It is still very surreal however after spending time with Lynelle and Jeremy and Alyssa it is starting to hit home. They have shared the dos and don'ts of their travel to China. Alyssa is darling and so cute and she checked me out big time with a stare into my soul. She was doing well and appeared to have gained a few pounds already and was quite active after one week home. She went to the Pediatrician which was not fun with her first check up and shots and the dreaded blood work however she survived and was a little trooper with lots of tears. She has been through so much and it just broke their hearts to put her through more unhappiness. Keep praying as she adjusts and for Lynelle and Jeremy as they deal with the new challenges of first time parents. Their journey gives me so much hope. I love you guys so much! God had big plans for us to share our journey.

On the countdown and enjoying this time!!!!

Gotcha Date - Travel dates - Emotions

Wow what a week! Best part is Lynelle and Jeremy are back with their bundle of joy and Alyssa is darling. Attaching a happy picture of Lynelle and her baby girl. It was so special to meet them at the airport. Then the KY Derby was a great getaway weekend with friends. We looked fabulous in our Derby hats. Won some, lost more but was a fabulous trip and Mother's day was special too. Katie and Billy had flowers at our home waiting for me when we returned and Mike bought me a MOM keepsake box from Tiffany's when he was in NYC. Mike has a first birthday keepsake box for Jailyn on her 1st B-day too. It was a great day and even better knowing Jailyn will be with us next year.

Emotions were quite overwhelming finding out our Gotcha Date and travel are later than sooner. The tears of more waiting flooded my emotions. We get our daughter June 13 - how ironic the exact date of our log in date with China 5 years ago. We thought it would be sooner than later. I am hanging on and just want my daughter now. Now a few days later I can see the light and accepted it is only a week or so longer. I am focusing on a count down to Jailyn today 32 days until we have our baby girl in our arms. Woohoo!

I want to say I have the most amazing husband in the world. We have been saving AMEX rewards for the past 5 years and were able to use his Platinum Rewards to book tickets. WE did a business class upgrade on the China leg home to LA and round trip for the three of us was $6400 and then we received a credit of $3700 and now all three of us are traveling on the most ideal flights June 9 and home June 23 for only $2720.20. My husband is all in and making our dreams come true and saving us lots of money. It makes my heart flutter and I am more in love with my husband every day as he does so much for our family already and making things happen with a heart full of love to realize our dream of being parents (me a mom for the first time) and most importantly a mom and dad to our daughter Jailyn. I am so blessed with so much love and hanging on everyday as we get closer to Jailyn. Jailyn has no idea how much love is on it's way. Truly the best is yet to come.

Today I am visiting Lynelle, Jeremy and Alyssa to hear about their journey and for them to help us as we prepare these next couple of weeks. Another big ole blessing that has come over the years to have my BFF Adoption girlfriend, Lynelle, who has walked the journey along with me and now has her little dream come. God is good!

So our Gotcha Date is JUNE 13 and that is a BIG OLE DEAL!!!!!!! I am so happy and can't wait for Jailyn to have her parents who have been loving her from afar.......

Keep praying!

With much love the New Momma,

Still Quite busy!!!! Off to the KY Derby!!!

Oh my stars do the days pass quickly. We officially received our travel approval which is good for 3 months to come pick up Jailyn. We are requesting early June. Got word they would like us to come in late May however, they have to meet our time table on when we can travel too. So still waiting for these appts to be set and then we can book airfare.....We are in the process of getting our visa's through the Chinese Consulate in Washington, DC. WE are thrilled Lynelle and Jeremy are on a plane home and plan to see them tomorrow night when they arrive in Cincinnati. So happy their journey in China to bring Alyssa home is coming to an end and their journey as a family in their home begins. I can't wait to see them Happy! A family now after all these years of waiting. God is good. It has been a long time coming and I understand it has been quite a journey in country. Best part is Lynelle gets to celebrate her first mother's day with Alyssa. Awesome!!!!

We are taking a well deserved trip away this weekend and going to the Derby. Bring it on as it has been non stop busy with work, preparations, jumping through hoops to get things done and just to busy to say the least. Ready for some fun and time away with just the two of us and friends.

I am hoping only 4 weeks and we will be on our journey to Jailyn.
It brings tears to my eyes that it is really going to happen for us!
Happy Mother's Day weekend!