KaiLi's latest picture from our Travel Approval document!
Wait...wait...wait......wait...RUN! Such is the timeline of an adoption. I had this grand plan of "nesting" and preparing for our new little girl after the rush of the holidays. I am still in shock that we received travel approval in only 3 days on 12/22 vs the 2-3 week estimate - the best early Christmas gift EVER! But of course that has ensued a great rush to prepare for our journey and to bring this precious girl home.
Our adoption agency requested the following US Consulate appointment dates: Tues 1/19, Wed 1/20, Tues 1/26, or Wed 1/27. Unfortunately, we couldn't book airfare until we received this confirmation. Beyond notifying our respective employers about the earlier adoption timeframe, we weren't able to get much done before Christmas. We were still shopping for stocking stuffers and had pre-scheduled gatherings with family and friends that we didn't want to cancel.
The Week After Christmas
We didn't received word of our Wed, 1/20 appointment until late Monday 12/28 while MeiLin and I were down in Houston visiting my sister's family. Based on available flights, it was either 9 or 10 days until we travelled to China! GULP! We were hoping to use our airline miles to book Business MilesSaver seats. The system showed 17 open Business Seats heading there and 19 heading home but only for full fare. I called my Aunt Wanna to see if there was anything she could do. American Airlines was in the middle of a system upgrade, so the seats hadn't been made available as MilesSaver like they normally would have. She had transferred departments and all of her contacts were out for the holidays. So we went ahead and used our miles to book coach seats since our adoption agency needed the flight confirmations to book the domestic China travel arrangements. My Aunt was going to follow up to see if she could magically help with issuing the seats in the background. The fun part is that the Coach flight left on Thurs, 1/7 while the Business flight left a day earlier on Wed, 1/6, so we weren't sure what day we would be leaving...
Though I was on PTO this week, I had to start preparing transition materials for being off of work. What I thought was going to be a 2-3 week transition had just turned into a 1-2 day transition. I also had the realization that although all of my immediate coworkers knew I was leaving for an adoption, I hadn't yet registered it officially with HR - oops!
And shopping was a must...poor KaiLi didn't have enough clothes for the trip! I finally had a chance to go through all of the clothes our amazing family and friends had given us over the last few weeks. After washing and sorting them, it was a surprise to see there were only 2 pairs of 18-24M pants. (We have lots of adorable dresses, shirts, sweaters, and shorts along with larger size pants!) So off to Target I went to load up on 5 more pairs of pants for our trip and some pjs. I lucked out since they were having a big sale!
Not to mention the fact that KaiLi didn't have a single pair of shoes. MeiLin was wearing shoes when we picked her up, but they were a sight. (I regret not taking a picture!). They were bright yellow boots (imagine Big Bird!) with yellow feathers hanging down. We had feathers in the hotel room and in our suitcase for the whole trip. HA! So I guessed at her size and bought both Size 4 and Size 5 boots. Worst case, I will just buy some shoes while we are there!
Another item on the list was planning MeiLin's 5th birthday party. (She is a Valentines Day baby!). Since there was a good possibility that we might be in China then, I hadn't started planning anything. I tried to be creative and searched through North Dallas kids birthday party venues but nothing really spoke to me. I found that the Perot Meuseum does parties, but they were booked. So I looked up trusty ole' Chuck E. Cheese and they were wide open. Thus, MeiLin is having her birthday party at the same place two years in a row. She seemed really excited and that is all that really matters! Then I created an Evite invitation. (Yep, it is what it is.). And lastly, I printed out little flyer type-invites for the kids in her class, since I don't have their parents e-mails. Birthday party planning complete - check!
Before heading out, I checked the calendar for any events we would miss. We are so sad to be missing Paw Paw Art who was coming to visit from Colorado! Also, I hated to un-RSVP for Christie Telshaw's Baby Shower that Katherine Blachly is hosting on Sun, 1/10 and that we are missing sweet Rachel Gooch's 3rd birthday party (a fellow Gladney baby!). Lastly, we realized that we will be in China during MeiLin's 3rd Gotcha Day on 1/21 - pretty awesome! To celebrate, we have a tradition where we go to Build-A-Bear where she can pick out which ever stuffed animal she would like. The first year I was trying to push the panda while Brandon was loving the Hello Kitty, but MeiLin wanted the monkey! He, he. Then the 2nd year, she declared that she wanted an elephant. I was like, "Sweetie, they don't have elephants, but there are lots of things to choose from." She was very adamant in the fact that an elephant would be there... On her Gotcha Day, I was so worried she would be disappointed. I remember discussing it in length with my coworker Gina Northcutt. We walked into the store...and then she spotted an elephant! I was amazed! I told our helper, and she said we were VERY lucky, that the elephants had just arrived that week! Score! But I digress... For MeiLin's 3rd Gotcha Day, we decided to take her to BAB early, so she could bring her new friend with us! For this year, she choose Chase from Paw Patrol! This was one happy girl!
For the record, MeiLin picked out her clothes....Ha!
Mommy fail, I forgot to get an after picture!
Travel Week
Monday morning (1/4), I was back to work with either 1 or 2 days to close out all of my open items. At around 9, I reached out to my Aunt as to whether she had heard anything back on traveling Business Class. Her contact's out of office was still on and he didn't have a return date listed. Tear.
Reluctantly, I called our adoption agency to find the drop dead day/time for potentially changing our flights. Unfortunately, he stated that he needed to know in a few hours. IT WAS LIKE A MOVIE! As he was saying these words, I heard my phone ding. I looked down and lo and behold it was a text from my Aunt - she had made our dreams a reality! The Business Class seats were already setup and pending in our name! I felt like I had won the lottery! I confirmed the flights and sent all of the info. I highly recommend waiting to confirm your flight plans until two days before you leave...it's not stressful AT ALL!
Sending apologies to my bosses, Bill Manning and Sam Paul, for finding out that day, that it was my last day of work! We still had a mile long to-do list and just one day before leaving for China!
Also on Mon, 1/4 we finally received our itinerary for travel within China. Though passengers get ample luggage allowance on International flights, you have to pack based on the smallest luggage allowance during the Domestic flights/trains. (Lots of family and friends were like, did you pack this weekend? And I was like "Nope, haven't even started..."). Brandon and I jumped on the websites and confirmed that each of us get 1 carry on not to exceed 20 pounds and 1 checked bag not to exceed 44 pounds. Totally doable...especially since MeiLin adds 2 extra bags!
That evening, I was explaining to MeiLin how the flight to China would be REALLY long. To help visualize this, I took her to our big wall map and pointed to where we were, how far it was to Houston (where we travel frequently), and then to China. So she started dragging her finger on the map saying, "This is where we will fly." And I was like, "Not really." So I got out our beach ball with the globe on it and showed her how we were going to go up and over the North Pole, since that was a shorter route. She got all excited and asked if she would get to visit with Santa. He, he. I explained that we wouldn't be able to stop... This morning while she was having breakfast, she scooted two cups far away from each other and was flying her hands between them saying she was flying from the US to China. When her hand got half way between, she stated, "Now we are over Santa's Workshop!" It was just too precious to not share!
Rentals
What are the odds that our tenants at both rental units would move out at the same time while we are preparing for an adoption? Let's make that 100%, because clearly we didn't have enough on our plate these two weeks. So at one unit we had a new air conditioner installed, replaced the carpet, are getting the roof leak repaired, replaced the ice maker, hauled out bulk trash left behind, scheduled a deep clean, and addressed a rodent who had taken residency in the garage. The other one was a lot easier with just a sizable wasp nest in the chimney where Brandon had to call in the experts along with replacing the blinds and fixing a faucet. Mad props to my amazing husband, Brandon, for handling all of this while I focused on the Homefront. I am truly blessed! And thankfully, we JUST accepted a lease application this afternoon on one of the units before our flight tomorrow. One down and one to go upon our return!
The Home Stretch
So here I sit on Tues, 1/5, typing this blog, about to pickup MeiLin from daycare, and we leave tomorrow morning. I thought about KaiLi all morning; especially since today is her 2nd birthday. I hope Gladney was able to arrange her birthday party, so she felt special and loved! We are coming little one!
All of our items are stacked on the dining room table ready to be packed into suitcases, and I just got the text from Brandon that all of our to-do items are checked off of the list. Tonight will be like the eye of a hurricane. Prayers that all of us can sleep and be well rested as we embark on an adventure of a lifetime! Wheels up tomorrow morning at 10:35am CST!
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