Packing pics

Eiley is ready



Mia is ready (and posing, of course)

This is not even all the suitcases.



Mia's t-shirt with Jon Wiley's pic. I can't believe how many other adoptive families recognized us from this picture.



Nana is getting ready to take us to the airport. You can see the 4 pink backpacks (including the one on Mia) in this pic.

Weary travelers

We did it. We made it to Beijing. I'm too tired to see straight, but I want to let you all know that we are safe and at our hotel, and our luggage made it, too.

We had to sprint through Tokyo Narita, as I feared, but I needed the exercise after the 12.5 hour flight from Detroit.

I'll post more when my brain is working.

Lift off day

Yesterday, when Eiley got home from school, she said, "I thought today was never going to come." I second that!

And yet, here we go. The bills are paid. Courtney is safely ensconced in our abode and educated in the fine arts of running our household and managing our menagerie. I hope our bathrooms provide ample puking places for the middle of her first trimester. The bags are packed, inventoried, double checked, and loaded. We have the necessities (passports, check... immigration papers, check...money in money belts,check) and some luxuries (fabulous Brighton charm bracelet, check). My stepdad showed up last night with some pediatric antibiotic samples -- thanks, Papa! My mom will drive us to the airport at 6:30 this morning.

On our drive to San Antonio yesterday, Scott was musing that the next time we see those familiar sites, we will have Jon Wiley with us. I wonder what he will think of it all. Probably, "What in the world is going on, and where are these crazy people taking me?"

I managed to sleep 4 hours last night, which is more than I thought I would. You see, sleeping and eating are for mere mortals. If one is going to accomplish seemingly impossible feats, one has to join the ranks of super heroes and simply do without lowly things like food and sleep. It is not for the weak spirited and faint of heart to sell a house, buy a house, travel to China with 3 children and return home with 4 children all in the space of 2 weeks. I need some sort of super hero name, though. Anxiety Lass? Sphincter Girl? The Jaw? -- as in clenching. I'll work on it.

We will wake the girls up in about an hour so they can get ready with time to spare for repacking the backpacks and donning of the passport necklaces. Oh yeah, and breakfast.

Our backpack situation is fairly hilarious, as we discovered when heading out from home yesterday evening. Our routine is that I call out the bag, and Scott makes sure we have it, which went like this the first time:

Blue hard sided. Yes.
Black checked bag. Yes.
Two red rollers. Yes.
Pink roller. Yes.
Gray roller. Yes.
Black roller. Yes.
Two camera bags. Yes.
Pink backpack. ..............Uh, several.

So now it is:
(Devyn's) Pink and green backpack. Yes
(Eiley's) Pink Nike backpack. Yes
(Mia's) Pink butterfly backpack. Yes
(My) Pink and brown backpack. Yes
Black backpack. Yes
Poor Scott, left out of the pink backpack club -- but he will soon have company.

Later today I will post some pics of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pink Backpack.