Tessa's Room

When I started on Tessa's room, I had no idea or theme in mind. The first thing I picked was a quilt, and matching shams. Love Home Goods! I found the lanterns and butterflies below and decided to go with a "Princess Garden" theme. (I totally made that up). However, I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I think it's something that will last awhile.

One of her bedside tables.

Okay, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these. Perfect mix of Asian influence and garden theme!
My ever-so-talented Mom made Tessa a gorgeous curtain! It hasn't quite made it's way above the window yet. Baby steps!
There's a flower garden sprouting behind her door!
Gorgeous sign hanging right above her light switch. Thank You Aunt Maggie! The words bring tears to my eyes.
Birdcage decal, with butterflies. Unfortunately, you can't really see the birdcage and branches above it. That's just gonna have to wait to later to be remedied.
It's going to be a miracle when this is all finally cleaned off.
Changing pad cover. Personalized of course. It's just how we do it in the south.
Part of the disaster zone.
Softest blanket ever!
The chandelier over her bed:-)
Her bedding.
A personalized sheet! So cute with her little name!
Yes, her pillowcases are monogrammed.
Yes, her bedskirt is monogrammed.
Count the tu-tu's.
Well of course she has a chandelier in her closet. Doesn't every girl?
My SIL sent this for Tessa, and it's already full! She's gonna have more hair bows than she knows what to do with. Isn't it adorable?
Another adorable hair bow holder! I go to a women's life group/bible study on Tuesday morning, and my sweet friends had a surprise shower for Tessa!
The view from the door.

The wooden blocks, lanterns/butterflies, decals, all came from various shops on etsy. Feel free to comment if you want more info! The furniture is from Haverty's.

Travel Plans!

Not much time around here to blog, but I'm trying to make time for you faithful readers! :-)

We leave Charlotte 12/1 early in the morning, heading to Chicago. From there directly to Beijing, arriving Friday afternoon.

12-4 Fly to Changsha

12-5 WE HOLD TESSA FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!

12-9 Fly to Guangzhou

12-14 Train to Hong Kong

12-16 Fly home!!!

For those of you making plans to welcome us home at the airport, we arrive Friday evening at 7:04 pm. Just know you need to stay out of my way- I will be pushing you out of the way to get to my boys!!! After they get covered with kisses and snuggles I can't wait to hug the rest of you!

TA!TA!TA!TA!

You read that right, we received our TA in 8 days!!!!!! That's super duper short in the grand scheme of TA waiting. We could theoretically go to China the last two weeks of November. But, we already have plans and plane tickets to go to Buffalo for Thanksgiving, so we are going to stick with that original plan. We won't be doing any traveling with Tessa for a while, so we really want to take this trip while we can. We are likely leaving December 1st. We've made a request for a consulate appointment on December 13. I hope to have a finalized itinerary by the middle of next week. We are so excited and pretty prepared for the trip. Tessa's stuff is organized and packed. I have Eric and I organized (by lists) but we can't pack until we return from Thanksgiving in NY.

Now to finish buying Christmas presents, and get some wrapping done! Oh, and put up fall decorations and get out all the Christmas decor!

Where is Tessa?

A little pictorial for you all. Eric and I will fly into Beijing. Look to the top and right of China. After a day of sightseeing there, we will fly to Changsha. Look below Beijing, a little over halfway to the bottom of the country. See it? That's where our girl is! We will spend 6 days in Changsha. Then, we go to Guangzhou. Look even further south, and then more to the right. See that one? That's where we spend the last 5 days, in the city where the American consulate is. We'll probably take a van to Hong Kong and fly out of there.

We are still waiting on Travel Approval, and I don't expect it til next week at the earliest. As soon as we get it, we can book a consulate appointment and AIRFARE TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!!

Eric and I are both going. The boys are staying here, which hurts my heart. But I know it's the best decision for them, for us, and for Tessa. Her room is pretty much finished. Pics to come later. Her bed is covered in suitcases. The packing has started. I've been obsessing over my packing list, but have recently started to chill out a little about that.

I've gotten a really good start on Christmas shopping:-) Now, to wrap it all. Still gotta get Tessa a carseat. She's gonna LOVE being strapped in that, seeing has to how they don't even have carseats in China.

Paperwork uPdate

This lovely post brought to you from our new iPad, which we are getting fine tuned for our trip. Our article 5 should be picked up this week (wed) and then we wait on TA. Thats travel approval!!! We are still hoping to go the first two weeks of december. Tessa's room is coming along beautifully, and I promise to share some pics once it's finished. No other news here, we are just crazy busy!

I800 and cable!

Our I800 approval came in the mail last Friday! I was so happy to see that piece of paper! I emailed the NVC (National Visa Center) on Monday, and got an email back on Tuesday saying we'd been cabled. Woo Hoo! That means they've sent the info for Tessa's US visa to the consulate in China. It is yet another big step! Now we are waiting on our Article 5, which takes exactly two weeks from drop off to pick up. We are hoping and anticipating getting our travel approval in mid November. We are hoping and anticipating traveling the first two weeks of December. We are getting even more excited, if that's possible.

I had a dream about her a few nights ago, that I was holding her. Oh my, my heart is just aching to hold her now. The dream was SO real. Eric and I were just talking a couple of nights ago, about how sad I'll be if she only attaches to him at first, and not let me hold her or touch her.

Her room is painted, and the furniture is delivered. We are working on the decorations now. I dropped her linens at the monogram store yesterday, and hope to get those back by the weekend.

Travel is approaching very quickly, and my to do list is quite long. I've become a professional delegator! I'm giving people jobs left and right. Before we know it, we'll be home and celebrating Christmas as a family of five. We can't wait!!!

I800

Our I800 application was approved, according to our officer on the phone. I spoke with her on Monday, and was thrilled to hear that news. Hopefully we'll get the paper notice of approval soon. Now, we wait on that approval to be sent to the National Visa Center, who then cables the info to China after putting in into the computer system. I hope to have that done by the middle of October. There's not really anything for us to do, but just try and keep track of it all:-)

After that gets cabled to China, we wait on Article 5, which takes exactly two weeks. I hope we have that done by the end of October.

Then? We wait on TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!! Woo- Hoo!!!! We hope to have travel approval by the middle of November, and be gone to China December 1-15. I guess we'll see soon enough what God's timing is. I can't wait to see it revealed! Eric and I still aren't sure what the best timing will be for us to travel. I hope it's the beginning of December, but we'll see! In other news, Tessa's room is starting to come together, and I love it!