Post written early Thursday am

This post from the trip to Charlotte to Chicago:)

We've had so many inquiring minds and people truly interested in our travels, and in the adoption as whole. We appreciate the sincere concern and interest, and I wanted to share some more.

Our first prayer request is for safe travels, but that is really our least concern. Eric and I are comfortable traveling internationally, and aren't nervous about that part.

Secondly, please pray for my boys safety and my parents sanity as they spend two weeks together. Please pray they don't miss Mommy and Daddy too much.

The prayers we are asking for the most are for Tessa’s sweet heart. She has lost more in the first 35 months of her life that I can imagine. Tessa was found on January 16, 2009, and they estimated her to be around ten days old. So, she first lost her birth family. She was in an orphanage until she was 13 months old, being taken care of by the nannies. She then went to a foster home, where she’s been until now. So, after losing a birth family, her nannies, and now a foster family, there is no reason whatsoever for Tessa to think we are anything different. For all she knows, we are just some fun westerners with toys and lollipops. Tessa may come to us distraught, screaming and terrified. She may come shy, withdrawn, or shut down. She may come smiling and happy. No matter what her outward appearance is next Monday, this is a HARD transition for her. She will be traumatized and grieving. We pray that God touches her heart and lets her feel our love. That he lets her feel comfort in our arms. And that she starts to let us in, a little bit at a time.

I promise to keep this blog real as we travel. I’ve really enjoyed reading other families blogs as they’ve made this journey, and the ones I’ve liked the most are the blunt ones. I’m all about keeping it real! I probably won’t be able to access blogger, but will be emailing posts and pictures to my aunt Barbara, who will update blogger for me. Thanks Barbara!!!

So, you want some trip details? Since I’m locked in this plane for another 2 hours (until Chicago), you’re gonna get them!

We fly direct from Chicago to Beijing. It’s a fourteen hour flight, and we land at 330pm on Friday. Beijing is 13 hours ahead of the east coast time zone. We didn’t have to go to Beijing, in that there is no official adoption business there. But, that’s where the major sightseeing is, And you can’t really go to China and not see the Great Wall or the Forbidden City! We used Eric’s Marriott points for our hotel there, and planned the sightseeing without our agency. Remember when we sent Tessa a care package back in the summer? Well the lady who runs that business from the China side is going to be our guide! Her name is Angela, and her business is www.ladybugsnlove.com. She did an amazing job getting our ten questions answered, and new pictures. We are excited to meet her in person and tour with her Sat/Sun. She is meeting us at the airport with a van for all our luggage:-)

We will crash Friday evening/night, and be up early Saturday morning! She is taking us first to Forbidden City and Tian an Men Square, then to lunch. Then we head to the Great Wall of China! She is taking us to a section where we can walk on it, then ride a chair lift further up it, then take a tobaggan ride down. CRAZY FUN!!! Sunday we will sleep in a little, and then she’ll come and take us for a rickshaw ride/hutong tour. This is when we really get a glimpse into Chinese family life and culture, and we are really excited. (Well, I am. Eric has no clue what touristy stuff we are doing in China).

Sunday evening we fly to Changsha, in the Hunan province. This is where our little princess is.

Our guide for the week in Changsha is Shirley. She will meet us at the airport, and take us to our hotel. The guides don’t drive, we always have a separate driver. And apparently it’s a BIG deal to get to be a driver. Kids don’t use carseats there b/c there are supposedly so few wrecks. Interesting.

We will get unpacked Sunday night, since we’ll be in Changsha until Friday evening.

MONDAY IS TESSA DAY!

It’s actually called gotcha day by most families, and I’m sure that’s what we’ll eventually call it too. We don’t know the details of this day yet, as far as times. From what I’ve read, families usually meet their guide in the lobby after breakfast, and head to the civil affairs office. Changsha is the capital city of the Hunan province, so that’s why we stay in that city. (b/c the civil affairs office is there). Tessa hopefully won’t have far to travel, because she is assigned to an orphanage in Changsha. We do not know if she is still with her foster family, or back at the orphanage. It’s common for the children to be sent back to the orphanage in hopes of “unattaching” them from the foster family. We have requested they NOT do that, that they let her stay with her foster family until the last minute. We won’t know the result of that until the day we get her. When we get her, they check our passports and a few papers, and let us ask questions of the orphange staff that brings her to us. Our guide stays with us to translate. She will be the only one who can speak English, more than likely. We get to take our sweet baby girl back to the hotel with us, and get to know each other for the rest of the day. There are no other plans, and they recommend you just pretty much stay in your room to bond and relax. It’s a very stressful and tiring day for the children, so keeping it low key is for the best.

Tuesday morning we go back to the civil affairs office to finalize the adoption from the Chinese side of things. We do fingerprints, an interview, and lots of papers. Once that is done, Tessa is OFFICIALLY OURS!!! WooooooHoooooooo!

Wednesday we are scheduled to visit the Provincial Museum, Thursday the Embroidery Museum, and Friday the Yuelu Academy. One of these tours will get cancelled for our orphanage visit. Once we arrive in Changsha, our guide can request through the civil affairs office that we want to visit. We will also tell the orphanage staff that on gotcha day. When we visit, we will take the pajamas we’ve collected. WE HAVE A TON-THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! What a wonderful gift that is for these children who have to layer on the clothes to keep warm.

It’s very important to us to see the place where Tessa spent the first 13 months of her life. We want to meet her primary nanny from that time, and just get to learn more about her life before us. This is the day we will also get information about her finding spot. Our guide should be able to take us there, and I’m sure that will be a very emotional thing for me.

Friday afternoon they give us Tessa’s Chinese passport, and we fly out that evening! We arrive in Guangzhou around 9pm, only to be met by another guide:-) We’ve requested Elvin, who is apparently fabulous! Our friends had him back in August.

First thing Saturday we head for Tessa’s medical appointment. That’s when I’ll get her long awaited height and weight so everyone can start shopping! She gets a basic medical check up and TB test. Prayers that is negative!!!!

Sunday we are scheduled for visiting the Yuntai garden, which is supposed to be gorgeous. GZ has Florida like weather, whereas Beijing and Changsha are COLD. Monday is supposed to be Six Banyan Temple, which we don’t care to do. We’ve paid for the safari tour, which will likely be this day. Can’t wait to see some pandas! We also get Tessa’s TB test read this day.

Tuesday is the BIG DAY- Consulate Appointment! It’s at 8:30am, at the US Consulate. This is where the US side of things gets finalized. It’s actually pretty short, and I’m not sure what we are doing the rest of the day.

Wednesday we pack up, get Tessa’s visa at 3:30pm, and take the 6:20pm train to Hong Kong. We are doing Hong Kong on our own, but do have our hotel reserved. We’ll just take a taxi to the hotel. Thursday we are doing Victoria’s Peak in HK, which I’m really excited about. HK is pretty westernized from what I’ve heard, and easy to do without a guide. Friday morning we head to the airport for an 11am flight to Chicago. We get into O’Hare at 11:05 am. A five minute flight, Woo Hoo! Okay, so it’s really 14 hours, but there is that little time change factor When we land in the US and go through immigration, Tessa legally becomes a US citizen. She is legally Tessa Ilene Qiaohui Kirsch before we even leave China. We have a 4pm flight to Charlotte, and arrive at 7:05 pm. Can’t wait to see everyone at the airport!!!

Okay, so I didn’t mean to write a book. But, we’ve had so many questions and curiosities along the way, I really wanted to share this. We have so many people praying for us and thinking about us, and we feel so blessed. It takes being locked in an airplane to finally have the time to do this. It was weird going through security without the kids this morning. We had to actually wait in the regular line!

The boys have preschool today, and are leaving for Florence as soon as that’s over. Yoli, our au pair, is holding down the fort at home, and helping my Mom when the boys are home. They will be back in Charlotte next Monday, to be ready for preschool again next Tuesday morning. I’m bummed to miss their Christmas parties and program, but my parents will get to enjoy that with them. Fortunately, my Dad is off the second week we are gone, so he’ll be in Charlotte with my Mom then.

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here, and feel free to ask any questions you have!