October 9th - Registration and Notification

We had to go to the registration office today to sign our legal guardianship papers for Lucy and then we took a trip to the notary to get the documents notarized. Lucy and Landry napped the entire trip!

Signed!!!

Gotcha Day

October 8, 2013 - Gotcha Day - The long awaited day!
Photos that capture the moment we met Lucy.

 Landry wouldn't stop hugging her!

Signing agreement to take care of Lucy!

Playing on the floor - waiting to talk to people from the orphanage about Lucy.

Flight Delays

On Monday, October 7th, we got up early to fly from Beijing to Zhengzhou, but when we got to the airport there was a two hour flight delay because of smog!  Seriously, the smog is unreal.  Finally, after the delay we got on our flight and made it to Zhengzhou (sounds like Jungjoe).  The only pic we have from this day is the one we got on our flight.

The Great Wall

On Sunday, we went to the Great Wall of China, which was an incredible sight to see in person.  We weren't expecting it to be as steep as it was in many places, nor did we think it would be as narrow as it was at times during the climb.  Sadly, it was very smoggy and the pictures we took didn't capture the Wall's beauty.

After the wall we went to The Beijing Enamel Factory where people were painting beautiful pottery.  On the top floor we were served lunch and given some free time to look around and shop before heading back to the hotel.

In the evening, we met back up with our friend Adam and brought along our new friends Jeremy and Daleena.  He took us to a great dumpling restaurant - which I didn't get any pictures  because Landry wanted to run around the entire time. 

China Day 1 - Beijing

We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel;  it was a traditional Chinese breakfast mixed with some french toast and hash browns. After breakfast, we met the 6 additional families who are with our group and will also have new additions by the end of the week :).  If I can remember correctly, 3 families are from Florida, 2 are from Oregon and 1 is from Pennsylvania.  After a short introduction in the lobby, we were off to a tour of Beijing.

Forbidden city and Tiananmen Square

It was a very smoggy day in Beijing, some of my pictures didn't really turn out because of the smog.

If Landry ever makes the comment, "nobody likes me" - we can remind him of this day in Tiananmen Square and show him this picture.    Everybody loved him! Because a person with blonde hair and blue eyes is not a common sight,  Landry got his picture taken everywhere we went.  It was so cute, people would come up to him and try to say "hello baby" in English and stand with him to get a picture.  He took it all very well, smiling, waving and saying hello.

Many people in China are off for the holiday, which made it very crowded.  

We also toured Old Beijing, rode in rickshaws and had a traditional lunch at someone's house.  The house was three buildings built around a small courtyard where they grew veggies and housed pigeons.

The streets were really narrow, but the rickshaws were a perfect ride to take in the sights.

Dinner was with our friend, Adam, who currently lives in Beijing.  It was so nice catching up and getting to spend time with him.

Below captures Landry's evening enjoying Peking duck!

 Here is our table of food

Thanks Adam! We enjoyed everything.

Made it to China!

We made it to China!

We are so grateful that there just happened to be an empty seat in between Cody and I for Landry to sit in during the flight.  For those who will be traveling with kids in the near future, call the airline and when you set up your seating, see if this is possible when you have an infant lap child.  We really lucked out because Landry took advantage  of the space!  He loved flying- the napping, television, games, books, window and people.  He didn't cry at all and was an amazing international traveler.

Here we are in Denver right before getting on the flight to LAX

Landry and Cody were happy after we got to Terminal 2 in LA, got back through security and made it to our connecting flight (we only had 1.5 hours)

Three pics of Landry enjoying the space!

Cody and Landry with about 2 hours left in the flight - poor Cody had a television screen that didn't work - so he took my seat for the end of the flight. 

After arriving at Beijing, we made it through customs and were greeted by a lovely woman holding a sign that said - Welcome CCAI families! She escorted us to our hotel where we hung out for the evening, got some dinner and tried to catch up on rest.  I wasn't feeling well after eating the airplane food...why did I think I could eat pork on an international flight, when I don't even eat it in the US??? Thankfully, I'm feeling a lot better this morning after pepto and some rest. 

Reflections and Fortunes

2/9/2009 - Orientation at CCAI
5/20/2009 - Application to CCAI
11/25/2009 - Dossier to CCAI
3/5/10 - Dossier to China
3/15/10 - Log in Date
9/25/11- Medical Checklist
3/25/13 - MATCH!!
4/10/13 - Letter Of Intent
4/16/13 - Preliminary Approval
4/22/13 - Letter Of Acceptance
5/20/13 - I800a
7/17/13 - I800a-NBC
8/16/13 - DS 230 delivered to Chinese Consulate
8/30/13 - Article 5 drop off
9/6/13 - Travel Approval
10/3/13 - Travel
10/8/13 - Gotcha
10/16/13 - CA

Looking back at this timeline...we can't believe that we are finally at our travel day!
Thanks to everyone who has supported us at all points in our adoption process.  

Tonight we each opened a fortune cookie as we await our journey ahead and meet our new family member.  Here is what we opened in honor of Lucy.
Happy news is on its way to you!
You will be fortunate in everything you put your hands to!
You will always be surrounded by true friends!
Three great fortunes for our little girl.