My Kid Circus

Well, our agency told us today that we will not be able to travel next week because they were not able to get our Consulate Appointment.  I am majorly disappointed.  Here are our 2 options:

Option 1:  The US Consulate assigned us an appointment date of Oct. 17.  Working backwards from this date, we would then be leaving on October 5.  We would have 3 days of touring in Beijing, followed by a week in Henan, where we will get Hannah Min, and then some time in Guangzhou, in the South of China, where the US Consulate is located.

PROBLEMS WITH OPTION 1: a)We will have to wait 4 weeks to travel.  b) October 1-7 is a major holiday in China, so we will be trying to visit the Great Wall and other sites in Beijing during peak tourist times.  In a country as populated as China, this is not a small detail.  c)The tail end of the trip will be during a major trade fare in Guangzhou.  Hotels are at least triple the price.  Many agencies don’t even let people travel during this time because it can be so crowded.

Option 2: The Consulate is open 1 day during the holidays, on October 6.  They will let us travel, leaving September 21, and returning October 8.  The good news is, we could meet Hannah 2 weeks earlier.

PROBLEMS WITH OPTION 2: a) The trip would have to be 3 to 4 days longer.  We are leaving D and K at home, so this is a major detail to me.  b)  We would essentially be ON OUR OWN from Oct. 1-6, without the benefit of our guide and planned excursions and activities.  I’m not sure that I am that brave. c) We will still have to pay hugely expensive hotel prices due to being in China during the holiday.

ARG!!  This is a bit difficult to swallow.  I am planning to call the Consulate myself and BEG for a late September appointment, but that is definitely a long shot.

If anyone reading this has traveled to China during China’s National Holiday, or during Guangzhou’s Canton Trade Fare, I would love to hear your input!!

I know I have been MIA for a while.  It isn’t because things were dull around here, because that is never the case.  Unfortunately, I just have not been in a good place about this wait for traveling to China.  In the past few weeks, it has really just gotten to me.  It has seemed like we are so close to meeting our new daughter, and yet so far.  Some days have just felt like an eternity as I have checked my messages a million times, hoping to hear about some kind of progress.   I have been discouraged watching my online friends who I have shared this journey with continue to go through the process and pack their bags for China while we have just been stuck.  Some days I have not really been able to think about Hannah Min herself, because it has just been too painful.  I want to hold her so badly I can taste it!

The good news is that we received our Travel Approval today.  It was a phone call that I have been imagining for weeks now, and I am so grateful that it came today.  Tomorrow we should find out when we will be traveling.  At this point, it all depends on when we can get an appointment at the U.S. Consulate at the end of our trip, to get Hannah’s Visa to travel to the U.S.  If we can get an appointment the last week in September, we will be leaving on Wednesday of NEXT WEEK!!  Unfortunately, there are holidays in China at the beginning of October, and government offices are shut down, so if we miss the September window, we will not be traveling for 4 weeks.  I am trying hard not to get my hopes up too high, but I definitely have knots in my stomach knowing it is possible that we could hold our girl in less than 2 weeks!

We are coming sweet girl!!!!

Last night, my wonderful friends threw a baby shower to celebrate Hannah Min.  It was truly an incredible night, and I am so glad that I will be able to tell Hannah how many people loved her, long before we even got to hold her in our arms.

We started the night having dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  Loved that.  🙂  My fortune cookie read, “You will soon have a pleasant surprise”.  How true that turned out to be.

After dinner, we went back to my wonderful friend Julie’s house.  My first pleasant surprise was my mother, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law there to join in the fun.  (Have I mentioned what an incredible family that we have?? )

We played some games, had a toast, and I opened so many sweet, individualized gifts for sweet Hannah.

The last present was something that will be a lifelong treasure.  It was a 100 wishes quilt that my friends and family all contributed toward.  In China,there is a tradition to welcome and celebrate a new life by making a “Bai Jia Bei”, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. Traditionally, friends and family all contribute pieces of cloth for the quilt, along with a good wish for the baby. Part of the material goes into the quilt, and then a small piece goes into a scrapbook along with a note for the baby.

Words can really not express how moved I am by this quilt.  So much thought and love went into the pieces of material that are now all sown together to welcome this child from across the world.  It is an incredible treasure.  Thank you so much to everyone who shared a piece of yourselves for our girl!!

You can read more about our quilt here. 🙂

I know everyone makes mistakes.  Ordinarily I try to be very understanding and forgiving when others make honest mistakes, knowing how frequently it happens to me.  Today though, I am not in the mood to be understanding.

My agency made a mistake.  They “accidentally” didn’t send our paperwork to the embassy in China 2 1/2 weeks ago.  I didn’t know this, so I have been happily crossing off the days on the calendar knowing that today we would be officially waiting for our Travel Approval from China.

When I didn’t hear anything by today, I e-mailed my agency to find out the situation, and they admitted that they had not forwarded on my paperwork until this past Wednesday.  Now I have to wait another 2 weeks until we move on to waiting for our Travel Approval.  2 weeks is not the end of the world., I know this.  But my heart, my kids here, and my dear girl in China have been waiting long enough!  To have to wait a pointless 2 weeks at this point is breaking my heart.

All 3 kids are in camp this week.  All. 3. Kids.  I have been really looking forward to this week as a time to get busy on my very long to do list before we go to China, and before grandparents come stay in our house for those two weeks.  There is just one problem; sweet K.

Their camp is at the preschool where K will start attending 2 days a week this fall.  I thought the camp would be a good  chance for her to get used to the basic preschool routine.  I knew it might be hard, but I tried to brace myself.

Yesterday, in the car on the way she told me several times that she was scared. 🙁  It is such a blessing to have  a fairly verbal two year old, but oh, stab in the heart.  When we got there, her teacher took her from me, and the sobs began.  I stood in the hallway, hoping that she would stop crying quickly.  She didn’t, which is when my own tears began.  It was hard for each of the boys, and for me, when they first went to preschool.  Somehow I thought it would be easier doing it for the third time, but nope.  New child, fresh pain.

One of Z’s teachers caught me this morning (as I was standing outside the door listening to her cry, “I want my Mommy!!!”).  She told me that she saw K yesterday and she looked up at her and said, “Do you know where my Mommy is?”.    She said she assured her that I would be back soon, and she then asked, “Do you know where my brothers is?”.  She said she then went to get D, and brought him in to give K a big brother hug.  She got teary herself telling me how obvious it is that my kids love each other so much.  I absolutely agree with that, and I do feel so blessed with the relationship that they all have.  She assured me that if she saw K having a hard time today that she would happily bring one of her brothers to her.  That gave me the strength to tear myself away and head home.  I know they will take good care of her…