4...3....ITINERARY!!!

At long last, the plane tickets, passport and itinerary arrived first thing this morning! Here's the scoop:

August 25 Sat Depart Newark Airport to Hong Kong 3PM
August 26 Sun Arrive Hong Kong 6:50 PM Stay at Regal Aiport Hotel
August 27 Mon Bus Ride from Hong Kong to Guangzhou - MEET HANNAH EN MING!!!
August 28 Tue 10AM Registration in Guangdong (at White Swan Hotel for next 10 days)
August 29 Wed Guangdong Public Security Bureau - adoption permission
August 30 Thu Bonding time with Hannah
August 31 Fri Bonding time with Hannah
Sept 1 Sat Adoption process completed by end of today
Sept 2 Sun Preparation for Visa interview
Sept 3 Mon Rest and day trip - time with Hannah
Sept 4 Tue Hannah's medical examination
Sept 5 Wed Rest and day trip - time with Hannah
Sept 6 Thu Visa interview/Consulate appointment - Hannah becomes a US citizen!
Sept 7 Fri Bus Ride back to Hong Kong - Stay overnight at Regal Airport Hotel
Sept 8 Sat FLY HOME WITH HANNAH EN MING!!!

We are beyond excited at this point. Just have to make it through the next 71 hours and we'll be on our way! Haven't been sleeping too well - just like right before I gave birth to Riley. Interesting. China, here we come!

5....

Today was a wonderful day spent with Miss Riley Jane Bissinger. We packed up her backpack for the first day of school, we watched "Magic School Bus" together, we played at the playground and I videotaped her riding her bike with no training wheels! Despite the overcast weather, we really managed to have a great, relaxing summer day. Thanks to all the family and friends who have started calling and emailing to wish us well on our journey. We are incredibly blessed to have such thoughtful people in our lives. The families from our agency who were traveling to other provinces got their babies today and a few have posted pix on their blogs. So exciting to see people we met at our travel meeting 10 weeks ago holding their daughters at long last! In about 6 1/2 days, we'll be posting a similar shot! Surreal. Life is beautiful.

Another delay....6 days to go!

Yes, our departure has been pushed back 2 days so that we're now leaving on August 25th. So, Saturday it is! Hannah En Ming will be 19 months old when we meet her a week from tonight!!! Very exciting. We have a return date of September 8th which is also a Saturday. This is great news for Riley as she was starting to stress that she would have to miss some of the first days of 1st grade just to pick us up at the airport. This child of mine really likes school! We are pretty much all packed but the babyproofing is giving us some trouble because we have renovated the kitchen since Riley was a toddler and now all the stuff that used to keep the drawers and cabinets safely closed to her in the past doesn't quite work with the new kitchen. We are headed to Babies 'R' Us for help today! My final night as a waitress was predictably insane with heaps of high maintenance customers seemingly hand picked to remind me how nice it will be NOT to have to deal with them anymore. Hannah couldn't possibly be as much trouble as they were. (I'm tempting fate here in case you hadn't noticed). Well, it's the home stretch...we should get our tickets and itinerary on Tuesday or Wednesday and I'll post again then!

1 More Week and We're on a plane!!

I realized at about 4PM today while playing in the pool with Riley and her friend Bridget that Rob and I will be literally flying to get Hannah a mere week from that moment! There's no good way to describe the mixture of anxiety, excitement, frustration, joy and anticipation that I'm feeling now. It's completely surreal. Unbelievably, we STILL do not have our plane tickets, itinerary or my passport(Rob got his back early for his London trip)! I think that our agency enjoys torturing us. Every time I see a FedEx truck, I get a knot in my stomach and my heart beats faster. That's not right. I did make Hannah's first pediatrician appointment with Riley's doctor for Sep. 10th, so I really hope we're back for it. Who knows? Rob is starting to tap into my nervous streak and has joined me in freaking out which is comforting in some bizarre way. I do have to say that we are pretty prepared to go in terms of our packing list. We plan to do major final babyproofing this weekend and pack our clothes,too. I will work my last night at Cathryn's this Saturday. A momentous occasion after 7 years of waiting tables there. Rob only has 3 workdays left. I think the 2 weeks that we're going to China is the longest time we have not worked since before we got married! What a phenomenal trip this is going to be! Time off from work and a beautiful new daughter to bring home.....it doesn't get any better than that!

10 MORE DAYS The Countdown begins!

So, now we're really getting close. I got my last bit of US paperwork done today(thanks, Camille, yet again for being a notary!) and Hannah's suitcase is packed! I found out today that our agency is aiming to get us home by September 5th or 6th so it's definitely a 2 week trip. Hurray! Riley will most likely start 1st grade AND get a new sister on the same day!! Crazy, huh? Gotta go play with Riles. I'll blog again soon!

2 MORE WEEKS!!!

Well, we're getting close now. Not much to report. The Skyping did not go well while Rob was in London and now our camera is messed up so we may have to settle for audio-only correspondence while in China. I will still be blogging, though, and will take tons of pictures to post, so that will have to do, I guess. No news on our return date. I sent an email to our agency today begging for info so we can write the "Countdown" numbers on Riley's calendar, but still no word. I went to see The Police at Giants Stadium this past Sunday and felt so great that I finally got to see my all time favorite band live! Never thought it would happen! The show was fantastic - Stewart Copeland's still got it, Andy Summers is way better than he used to be and Sting is still Sting (singing too often over Stewarts amazing drumming but looking incredibly hot, so you forgive him.) Very satisfying performance. Riley had sleepovers at her grandparents' and her cousins' and Rob traveled to London this past week for work. I am experiencing the calm before the storm that will be China. Please pray that the next 14 days fly by!!!

Skype,anyone?

Rob and I just set up a service that will allow us to call our home computer from his laptop while we're in China and not only hear each other but SEE each other!! (We got a little $25 video camera that perches atop our screen at Radio Shack) We are totally psyched about this!! If any of our wonderful family or friends would like to have a sneak peek at Hannah while we are in Guangzhou, all you need to do is download the program for free off www.skype.com and get yourself a little camera and plugin headphone/microphone($5) and we can have ourselves a videochat. The future is now, my friends. We will also be getting a "pandaphone", which is a rental cellphone in China, to keep in touch the "old-fashioned" way. I am nesting like a madwoman. Got Riley signed up for her fall gymnastics, soccer and piano and made a second visit to Target to ferret out all the hard to find items I missed on my 1st try. I'm starting to feel a bit more prepared for the insanity that will soon be my life! Still no word on the return date - I'll post it as soon as I hear.