And so it begins

Day 1 : Travel Day
Our luggage : 3 big bags / 2 backpacks /1 bag for orphanage donations and snacks and 2 carry ons.

I tried really hard to do things for the girls to help them not miss us. I made a Chinese lantern countdown, a calendar with tidbits of information so they know what we are doing each day, made a basket of "happies" to open every few days with dollar store and target treats and surprises, wrote them a note for each day we are gone , and went to the library and picked out a dozen books having I do with Chinese culture. Finley assures me that she is not going to miss us because she is going to be having fun with all her grandparents.


We left our house at 3:45 am. Karen was gracious enough to take us to the airport while my mom stayed at home with the girls. Jordan and I both needed one more snuggle from Finley and Khaki and were so glad we got one extra kiss from them both. We flew to Dallas with no complications and I was able to sleep a little bit. We got a quick bite to eat and now we are just waiting to board our next plane which will take us to Seoul , Korea. I have to say that I am already Intrigued by our fellow passengers. Most are of Asian descent and I have already caught myself staring at precious babies. I also find the stewardesses to be so beautifully elegant. Their hair is tied back and Intricatly braided or done up in a bun. They place chopsticks in the center of their design. We are downloading books on our iPads now and Jordan has already had me laughing this morning We are off to a great start. Next little bit will be from Seoul, Korea

We made it to Seoul. We loved our airline , Korean Air; fabulous service. But we are very tired. We now have been up for 24 hours and we are very much in need of a nice hotel . We are about to board the plane to Beijing.

We are finally to our hotel and we are about to hit the hay. We met our guide George outside of customs and met up with two other families both of which are part of my Facebook adoption group. The city is very smoggy and huge. We face timed the girls just now. All is well on the home front. It's been a very long day. Night y'all

TRAVEL APPROVAL

On Wednesday, FEBRUARY 27, 2013 @ 3:36 PM we received an email that we had been anticipating for MANY days. WE GOT TRAVEL APPROVAL! This allows us permission to come and get REX! Our agency requested our Consulate Approval based on the premise that we told them that we wanted to leave as soon as possible. We got an email the following morning that our Consulate Appointment is set for March 27, 2013 and therefore, we will be leaving March 13 to begin our journey to bringing Rex home. GOTCHA DAY is March 18!!! And yes, I just started crying as I typed those words out....aghh, GOTCHA day...what a beautiful sound, right!?  I have already packed REX..In fact, Rex has been packed for a long time. HA! I am sure that I will add some things at the last minute, but he is pretty much done.  This week I will finish cleaning the house and preparing for the girls to be without their mama and daddy for 17 days.

To my sweet baby boy, Rex
   Your daddy and I have fallen in love with you from afar. We have stared at your picture a million hours. We have studied your features..we have memorized every update we have received. We can't wait to feel you in our arms and to stroke that sweet head of yours. We promise to love you every day of your life. We can't wait to introduce you to your family..and boy, you have a large one. You have 3 uncles, 3 aunts, 2 sets of grandparents, 2 beautiful big sisters, you have 10 first cousins, you have great aunts and uncles, and second cousins...you have two great grandmothers that are still living, great uncles, great aunts and ALL are so excited to LOVE you and to watch you grow. You have a family waiting for you, my sweet boy, and we can't wait till March 18th.....you will have a FOREVER FAMILY. oh my sweet boy....we are coming! Hold tight...it won't be long now.
Love your forever mama and daddy

A little update

We got an official update on Rex today. It was so awesome to hear some personal details. He has 14 teeth, can run, walk, climb stairs. Outgoing, loves to eat congee and steamed dumplings. I can't write his  nickname in pinyin, but it means "baby of the family", so he obviously has taken to the nannies at his orphanage. I think that we end up calling him by his nickname for a while to help him acclimate to his new American name. He is 27.5 pounds, and about 30 inches tall. He is so precious and I really can't wait to get my hands on him. !!!!

His room

I have been busy moving the girls around and cleaning out closets.  I have taken a gazillion trips to Goodwill and Salvation Army and have made room for our sweet boy.  I painted the nursery a taupe color. Khaki wasn't to sure of the whole process but after a few days it sunk in that this was her brothers room now and not hers.  Anyways, I chose this sweet little fox as my inspiration.  I bought in Brookhaven while visiting for Thanksgiving,  I fell in love with the color combination the minute I saw it.   this is also where i bpught my very first BOY outfit. My mom came home to Tampa during christmas so we took one full day to go shopping together. We had so much fun. Our first stop was Little Peeps. I chose an aqua and orange stripe fabric for the bed skirt and am having two crib bolster pillows made in an orange / white polka dot Material with a solid brown fabric for piping and side panels.  For s rocking chair, I am having it covered in a very cute, masculine vintage print that I found at fabricworm.com.   I adore it.   The bedding should be here in about three weeks   I have been blessed with several bins of hand me downs from Raquel , Katie, and Smythe.  I have purchased him a plane outfit and some Jammie's and some sweaters and coats, but the clothes from them are a blessing. I also was given a sweet little backpack from a dear friend who is also an AP - I had it monogrammed this past week and it is waiting for his precious little hands to carry it around.

The fox started it all 

Backpack from Angie :) 

First boy outfit that I purchased...in Brookhaven during Thanksgiving 

Pillow TALK

Well, I have had a pillow made for my sweet baby boy. This company makes it in china and then sends it to the orphanage. The hope is that he will become familiar with our faces and his sisters. We have sent him a photo album as well, but I just love that this will be in his crib the entire time while he waits for us.

Care Packages and MORE JEWELS

At the beginning of December, I was able to send a care package to Rex. I tracked this package every few days, and it finally was delivered on CHRISTMAS day. Then I found out that Rex was trasferred back to his orphanage and I was very concerned about his new surroundings. I knew NOTHING about his home orphanage and because SB had taken such good care of him, I was worried. I enlisted the help of a woman who is well known in the adoption community as Ann...and she put together another care package for us. We provided hats and gloves to the other children and also outfitted Rex with a new jacket, hat, gloves, mittens and shoes for the BRISK cold weather that Jiyuan is experiencing this winter. In return , we got a few pictures of our sweetie and update measurements. He is very healthy and we are so thrilled to see him being snuggled by many caretakers. Because it is so cold there in Jiyuan, they put a GAGILLION layers of clothes, so it is tough to know exactly how much he weighs, but the information we received was that he was 31 inches tall, wears a size 6 shoe and weighs 27.5 pounds. I am not sure if they weight him with all the layers or not, but one thing is for sure...he has the sweetest chubbiest CHEEKS and this MAMA can't wait to kiss them. 

Here are some pictures of the items that were sent. 

Donation to the orphanage/ Rex's care package

New warm Jacket to keep snuggly warm 

New shoes for my boy's feet 

i am sure the REX will love this picture when he is standing at his rehearsal dinner.
They bundle them up so much, that he can barely keep his arms beside himself. 

A fun way to start the weekend!

We received notice that the United States has granted our IMMIGRATION request for sweet REX. Whoo hoo....Won't be long now. Things are moving quickly and this makes this mama's heart very happy. I just looked at the weather in Jiyuan and it is a bitter cold 19 degrees. Praying that my sweet baby boy is all snuggly warm under 9 layers of coats and his head is covered and his toes are warm....
Oh, Lord Jesus, protect him and the other sweet precious children during this time.