This mommy was spazzing and being a grouse.
The suitcase was packed with O so much care,
with hopes it wasn’t overweight, but it might be…so there!

[lol] well, a poet I’m not, really. And in truth, I am still working on packing the suitcase. I’ve had to wash Georgia’s outfits…and even now I’m not sure if I’m taking too much or not enough! And I’m SURE I’ll forget some important things… luckily I know if I truly need some items I can get them in Beijing or Nanjing… or rely on the kindness of others in my travel group — as they can on me if I have something they need.

Its been hard to do last minute things because (by my own choice) I’ve kept my big boy Thomas home with me today. (Rather than put him into daycare which he does seem to enjoy.) This will be my last day with him for two weeks….and, whether he realizes it or not (he has mild-to-moderate autism)… its his last day as an only child. After this he’ll have to share his parents affection. (Did I mention he’s a real momma’s boy?)
So far we’ve taken a walk outside, gone to the park, played on the Wii…and later the plan is to take him to the pool. (I may ask daddy to do this so I can finish some cleaning around the house and packing).

Royce and Thomas will be staying here at home while my mom goes with me to get Georgia. She’s excited about welcoming this fifth grandchild into her life. Even if it means flying to go get her. (My mom is NOT fond of flying…so I say that’s a testament to her love for Georgia and me that she’s willing to do this for us.)

I need to get a few things from the store… a soft hairbrush for Georgia…and I wanted to get stickers to put on the calender for Thomas…so he and daddy could see how long mommy would be gone, and when she would be coming back.

I also need to pay our bills… I handle the bills…and did I mention I can’t find the #$%#$ checkbook? I know if I have to, I can use some of our checks out of order, but I hate hate hate to do that.

I’m excited to go… hate to go (and leave my guys)…nervous….

Yeah, I think its gonna be a benadryl night… or I’ll never get any sleep!!

Father’s day is a bittersweet day for me. It has been ever since 2001. The sweet is that is the year my son Thomas was born. It was also the year I lost my father. (He passed away in January of that year, Thomas was born in June.) My father never got to see my son in this life, although I’m thankful he knew Thomas was on his way. My dad successfully predicted Thomas was a boy, even though we never found out his gender from the ultrasound…we wanted to, but Thomas was being a stinker and hiding what he was. We like to think, in retrospect that he was giving us a pleasant surprise to look forward to after the shock and grief at losing my dad.

Simply put, my father is, was, and will always be my hero. I thought there was nothing he couldn’t do. He was a quiet man who let his actions speak louder than his words. And I knew without a doubt that he loved me and my brother…and would do anything for us or my mother.

My Father-in-law was also a neat guy. He has also passed on from this life, but not from our hearts. I didn’t know him nearly as well as I would have liked, due to the fact that he was also a very quiet, private man. But I know he was a good husband and father…and his son, my husband, is a lot like him in many ways.

As for Royce… he is a good man and a good father. People talk about looking forward to seeing me with our girl and I look forward to that too…but I also really look forward to seeing Royce with his daughter. Before we had even seen her face, Royce would half-jokingly say that our daughter wasn’t dating until she was 30. To which I’d reply, “Good luck enforcing that one, daddy.” (hahaha) He’d have better luck playing the “Good cop” to Georgia’s future dates and asking Uncle Dave or Uncle Steve to play “bad cop”.

One last thought about… even though both of our dads passed away years before we saw Georgia’s face, they knew of our plans to adopt….and they approved and supported us in our desire to add to our family through adoption.

On mother’s day, I wrote some thoughts for Georgia’s first mother and her nannies. For Father’s day… my thoughts go to her first father…I don’t know if he was part of the decision to abandon Georgia or not. If he was, my wish is for some measure of peace to his heart. And my thoughts, well wishes, and deepest gratitude to Yangzhou CWI director Huang Wenlong. I am looking forward to meeting him and thanking him in person for his care of all the orphans, and especially for putting forth Georgia’s paperwork so she could be adopted.

BUT…they were able to get them eventually! Our confirmed consulate appointment is for July 8, 2008. That means travel will be on either June 25 or 26, 2008. (I say or because if we choose to arrive on June 25 we could take part in a day of extra touring provided by the travel agency our agency recommends. I’ve contacted the agency to see what is involved in the touring, and how much it costs.

Tentative group travel schedule:
Depart US June 26, 2008
Arrive in Beijing June 27, 2008 (if we leave on the 25th this would be the day of touring from the travel agency)
Beijing tour June 28
Fly to our province June 29
The day we meet Georgia: June 29 or June 30
Fly to Guangzhou July 5
American Consulate appointment July 8
Family goes to AC to pick up passport with visa and take oath - afternoon July 9
Earliest to depart China after 9pm July 9 or anytime July 10

WAHOOOOO!!!! Oh Georgia, you are busy playing with friends and loving them and your nannies… you have no idea that mommy and Grandma Kathy are looking forward to meeting you and bringing you home. (And relatives on both sides of the family — as well as friends and coworkers…can’t wait to meet you!!)

You are going to be sooooo loved, little lady!

They are currently trying to schedule our consulate appointments for the week of June 23rd. If they are able to do that (once confirmed) our departure date would be June 12th!

Wow!

The trip is approximate 2 weeks from start to finish. There is SOOOO much to do in the meantime!

I am very, very blessed to have quite a few special women in my life.

Number one, is my mom. I am very lucky to have a mom I not only love very much, but one I consider one of my best friends in the world. I know that any mistakes she may have made when I was growing up were done out of love and with the best of intentions. But no mistakes come readily to mind. I’m sure she made some, we are all human and make them… I know I’m probably going to do more than my fair share with my kids… but I feel in all honesty that everything good about being a mom, I learned from her. The mistakes I make will be my own. (To give an example of how cool my mom is… she absolutely does not enjoy flying… yet guess who will be accompanying me to China to get Georgia while my husband stays at home with our son?)

You are the best, mom!

Then there is her mother, my grandma. Her name is Imogene. I am blessed to have her in my life, and so glad my children can get to know her…their great-grandma. (Thomas calls her “Grammy”) This is the same name I used for my own great-grandmother, whom I was fortunate enough to know.) My Grammy Julia died at age 99 when I was a teenager.

And then there are three of my aunts Donna, Millie and Mary. One is aunt by blood, but all three are my aunts by love. In fact, when I really think about it, it was they who taught me that FAMILY… real family…. was not a matter of blood but love. I have more aunts than those three, and they are special too, but to name them all would turn this entry into a real book! (hahah)

Also, there is my mother-in-law. I am fortunate enough to both like and love her. She’s a special lady who raised the kind and considerate man who became my husband. She is one heck of a cool lady!

Another special lady I know is the one I call my sib, Elena. She is not my sibling by blood, but heart…. I always say she is the sister I would choose if we were allowed to choose our siblings. And this isn’t meant as a “dis” on my dear brother … I think I’d choose him too! (Just kidding, Dave… I know I’d choose you!)

Then there are the ayis (”aunties”) in all the orphanages in China, but particularly in the Yangzhou orphanage where Georgia currently lives. From what others have said, I know these special women not only care for the children but love them. According to her translated growth report, Georgia loves to give hugs to those she is closest too, and cries if her hugs are rejected. That tells me she is loving and giving… and while a person’s natural inclination might start off that way, it will only continue if it is nurtured.

And last, but not least…. I want to honor Georgia’s first mother. When I think of her, I feel an overwhelming rush of sympathetic sorrow…and gratitude. Both centered on the fact that because of her choice, I get the chance to be a mom again. There aren’t words enough to really express how I feel. The most challenging thing in the years ahead will be to keep what I feel seperate from what Georgia feels. I want to support Georgia in whatever she feels toward her first mother… let her know its okay to love her.. its okay to be angry…and its okay to feel both at the same time!

Happy mother’s day.

We found a wardrobe and a chest of drawers that compliment the mural and decor in Georgia’s room nicely. (blue, not the pink and red!)

Royce liked the chest of drawers best, because it is low to the ground and easily acessible by a toddler. I like the both pieces because we should be able to use them for all of the girl clothes she’s sure to get!

There’s even a small bed that matches nicely, but we didn’t get it yet. Our feeling is she is used to sleeping in a crib, so we’ll start her out in that…but when the time comes, we might get that bed that goes with the “set”. Its a nice size for a young girl, and low to the ground so even if she fell out, she wouldn’t really get hurt.

Of course, I’m going to let daddy have the fun of assembling the stuff! He may pretend to grumble, but he’ll do it.

Basically our agency wanted a copy of our I797C (in some states called a 171H) which is basically the document we have saying we are allowed to bring a “foriegn orphan” home. Ours was approved April 23, 2007 and is good for 18 months, which would be October 23, 2008.

But the fingerprint expiration it shows was December 22, 2007! We had our prints renewed on November 23, 3007 but somehow never received an amended form showing our new fingerprint expiration.

Not knowing how much of a problem this might or might not be I went into complete panic mode. Thankfully, Royce was calmer and said that we would call our agency on Friday and see what they had to say. (I love him for being calm even when I was completely wigging out…even though part of me wanted to smack him for being so calm..if that makes sense.)

Our agency told us to send a copy of the form as is…but note we were waiting on the amended form.. then they gave me the email to the Baltimore USCIS because the phone hours to reach a live person were fairly short. They said they would email in addition to the one I was going to write, detailing the situation.

And, for its part, the Baltimore USCIS was very quick to respond. I received an email right away stating that they would be sending an amended I797C to reflect our renewed fingerprints.

So we are good to go!

In the package now to be overnighted to the agency: our official acceptances (one for our agency, one for the CCAA), parent information, travel information. Once those reach the agency, they will start working on securing our travel approval.

YAY!

and

I figure she was about 18m old at the time…. and these glimpses are worth their weight in gold!

I had the FedEx tracking# from our agency. So I knew when the package containing Georgia’s official referral information (medical report, growth report, official letter of acceptance, etc) was due to arrive.

Well, you know how they say a watched pot never boils? I think that’s based on reality. I was so full of nervous energy, even though I knew the delivery was guarenteed before 3pm.. (but I was supposed to go to work 1-9pm) I ended up cleaning the kitchen and our powder room in my nervousness! (And watching through the screen door… spotted two different FedEx trucks and was about freaking out “$%^ why aren’t you the one I’m waiting for!)

Then about 12:20pm, I heard the rumble of a truck. Running outside, I managed to get a shot of the truck as it pulled into a parking spot near our townhouse.

And the lady hopped out and I think she may have been a little weirded out to see this manic woman with a camera in her hand. Because she gave me an odd look when I asked if I could have her picture. But when I explained, “Its from our adoption agency… basically you are the “doctor” delivering our baby.” her face brightened with a smile and she said, “Sure.”

Our next door neighbor (who knew the information was due to arrive that day) had been watching from her window and she offered to take a picture of the FedEx lady and me together. (I did not get the Fed Ex lady’s name at that time, and wish I had, but what can I say.. I was flustered!)

I have since emailed FedEx to tell them of our happy experience. and to see if I could get our “doctor’s” name. At the very least, I wanted her supervisor to know that she made me very happy! (Too often people get complaints, and not enough compliments… I wanted them to hear something good.)

Edited: 5/8/08 @ 11:50pm EST Our delivery person’s name is Theresa Ricks. Thanks Ms Theresa for your indulgance and kindess!