My Village

My stress level is down now. My village came through as it always does. Thanks to all my friends! I have such a wonderful support system. My mom was always so impressed by how we all helped each other out. I know I'm usually such a laid-back person, but I've been such a goof lately. Working too many hours, involved in too many things, and too long a winter. I need to take a friend's advice and go for a walk in the sunshine.

Itinerary

Coming soon....

Got the bill, it's higher than I thought!

By a little over $1,000 even with my adjustment for the new added fees my agency added the middle of last month. We needed an extra half day in the hotel in Shanghai due to a late departure time, airfare from Shanghai to Guangzhou was higher than I expected, and they are charging an extra amount per day for the 2 extra days in Beijing. Seems the agency is nickling and diming every little thing. Their portion covering guides, buses, and whatever else they do (meaning it doesn't include any airfare or hotel fees), is now just under $4K. Big increase - actually that alone was the low end of travel expenses including hotels and in-China airfare in the travel guide they sent me in December! I really thought having twice as much as last time I went - for the travel portion (airfare, in-China, adoption fees, orphanage donation) would cover it. Maybe I was naiive, but I had more than double what it cost last time so thought I was okay. I'd probably still be fine if I had more paychecks between now and travel, but I don't. I already paid for airfare so unless something tragic happens, we plan on leaving as scheduled.

Tuesday Update

Yeah! The iPod giveaway fundraiser is working or perhaps it's just that I leave for China in 2 WEEKS!!! It's still not real to me.

1 - So our passports are at the Chinese Consulate in Chicago getting our Visas. They will be picked up on Friday, so I should get them next Monday.

2 - I've started packing.

3 - I have a list. Actually 3 lists. One of things to pack. One of things I need to do before we leave. And one of incentives for my children - items they can do to make my life easier that will earn them roughly $1 per time they do it - dishes, laundry, not miss the bus, not make us late, go to bed on time, do homework, clean various areas of the house. They want to earn more money and I need them to help. They seemed on board with it last night.

4 - I've contacted all their teachers and let them know we'll be gone and requested homework ahead of time or to bring along. The girls have spring break next week and I thought it would be nice if they could do any homework they can ahead of time.

5 - I have my ride to and from the airport.

6 - I found my iPod!!! Jessica borrowed it months ago and neither of us has been able to locate it. I was in Jessica's room last night looking around her closet, reached up wondering if there was a little shelf something could be put on and my hand immediately touched my iPod. Yeah! Jessica's is still missing, but at least mine is found.

Things I still need to do:

1 - I'm still debating on the dogs (toy poodles) and cat. I've had 2 or 3 offers to bring them to someone's house, but I really prefer they stay home. I put human emotions on my pets and feel they would feel less abandoned if they were at home with someone coming to check on them. I'd prefer someone I know or at least someone who knows someone I know rather than just a petsitting service. I know friends could cover some days and the weekends, but I think it's better if I just find someone to cover the whole time.

2 - find Jessica's camera (do you see the theme?) and find the cord to charge up my camera.

3 - pay for the in-China portion of travel

4 - make arrangements for all those nice, crisp $100's I need to bring. This is the first time I'm not obssessed with finding those. If I find them - yeah! If not, what are they going to do?!

5 - those darn girl scout cookies. I need to enter everything on the computer and make sure everyone's paid up, incentives entered, etc. Too big of a job this year. Probably should have asked for an assistant early on.

And again - I LEAVE IN 2 WEEKS!!!!

Two Checkmarks Off My List

Better late than never, I finally got everything together to apply for our China Visa and put them in the FedEx box today. I thought I had everything together then realized the girls needed to sign their applications, then I thought I'd lost Anna's visa photo and was going to try to get another taken before school. Then found a copy with her Chinese passport. Hopefully it gets to it's destination (There's Always Hope!) and gets done and back to me by the last week of March. I also lined up a friend to take us to the airport and then pick us up when we get home. Whew! That was something I would have asked my mom to do since we're leaving during the day and I didn't want to ask a friend to take off work. But of course my mom passed away unexpectedly in October and that brings a whole other set of emotions to the table. I need to get my list out where I can see it (instead of just my head), so I can actively work on checking it off. I just realized we're leaving in less than 3 weeks - 19 days to be exact! So much to do.

Excited. Worried. Typical Things.

I started packing yesterday. I'm trying to get by with the medium size rolling duffle (out of the set of 3 I bought years ago). I think I can do that as long as the girls each take a portion of what I've put together for the donation to babies in the orphanage. But now I'm wondering if I should pack as if I have the medium size, but transfer everything to the large one so there's room for souveniers even though a large portion of what I've packed will be freed up once I give the gifts to officials, and take out Amanda's backpack after we have her. I'm also wondering if I should try to bring a sleeping bag since there will be 4 of us in a room with only 2 beds. Or should I just put blankets on the floor? Have to think on that, but if you have any ideas, let me know. I'm always worried about money - who isn't? I did a chart and am a littl short due to the higher fees in Shanghai and my agency adding some pretty hefty flat fees to cover the guides, bus, etc. just last month. I understand with smaller groups that they want to cover things, but it was quite a jump from the amounts they listed in December. I'm hoping the Giveaway (see the link for the iPod under Fundraisers to the upper right) will bring in some funds. At least the airfare was on the low end. That helps. I need to line up someone to take care of my dogs and cat while I'm gone. I really would prefer they stay at home rather than having to board them. And I need to get serious about finding daycare once I'm home and once I go back to work. I think I can get by with only about 5 weeks until school is out, but it's hard to find someone short-term and is it fair to a daycare provider to use them for only 5 weeks? I guess if they have an opening. There's always our school district's daycare center - my backup option. They just haven't returned my emails. And I do have a list of local home daycares with openings. So I'm excited and starting to get ready to travel, but the days are quickly ticking off and there's still so much to do. Will everything go smoothly? Will my girls handle everything okay? Will Amanda adjust quickly and easily? Will any of us get sick in China? Or will everything go smoothly and I worry for nothing?

New Fundraiser!!!! iPod Touch 32 GB!!

Here's your chance to receive a 32GB iPod touch. For every $10 donation received by April 1st, you will be entered for a chance to win this. See the link to the right under Fundraisers for more details. Just use the "ChipIn!" button to the right to make your donation.

I will also give participants an extra entry for posting the link on Facebook or your blog. Just post a comment with your name and/or blog address to let me know you've done that.

Note that if I do not get enough donations to cover the cost of the item, I will give the cash collected instead.

Activities

Here are some pictures I took this week. Jessica is playing volleyball and her team is Team Lime.



Anna had a district orchestra concert last night. Her first concert. A whole gym full of strings. Kind of fun.

Jessica had a district band concert on Tuesday night, but I forgot my camera and my phone.

Happy Birthday, XiXi (Amanda)!!

Today is my baby's 5th birthday. She sits in an orphanage in Shanghai while we still wait to go and get her. Today was also supposed to be the day we left to get her until I was denied a consulate appointment because my fingerprints were expiring. How I wish I could be with her and hug her and tell her Happy Birthday! I feel bad because we're not coming yet. I feel bad because I didn't send her a cake and card. I feel bad because at one point I relayed the message to the orphanage that we were planning to get her in March and I don't know if they've told her anything yet. A sad day for me. It hit me really hard this morning.

Happy Birthday, XiXi. I hope you have a great day. We will be celebrating all future birthdays with you. And we're coming. It's just been out of my control.

Looks Like We'll Leave on April 5th

And get a couple days of sightseeing in. I arrived at midnight, did one super filled day of sightseeing in Beijing before Jessica's and again for Anna's adoptions, so this will be something different. Definitely nice for the girls. And a chance to get used to the time difference.

Confirmed Consulate Appointment

For April 19th at 8:30 a.m. We can leave for China on April 6th! Now I need to buy airline tickets. WooHoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back on the Rollercoaster!

There were no US Consulate appointments available for us to leave for China on March 23rd or 24th. Because of Tomb Sweeping Holiday, I can't leave the following week. So now my agency is trying for an April 19th appointment so we can leave on April 6th or 7th. If that doesn't work, we're back to not leaving until May.

New TA!!! Now I can go to China and get Amanda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I didn't expect it until next week at the earliest! My updated TA came and now that I have an I-171H where nothing expires until 2012, I can request a consulate date and go to China! My agency offered me either a March 17th or March 24th departure date. I'm chosing the March 24th because I'm in a total panic about all I have to do before I go. I was mentally prepared to wait until May and now I can actually leave this month!!

My heart is racing and I can't believe all things have finally come together where I can go. Now I just have to wait a couple of days for my CA and then I can get airplane tickets. Better apply for those visas now.

Deep breaths...