First full day

Well, it is 5 a.m. Sunday morning, I am up. I will try to stay awake the rest of the day and try to get myself on a schedule. Going to force myself out of this room. Yesterday I just felt terrible. Emotional and exhausted. I tried to go downstairs to get something to eat but the restaurant appeared to be a sit down only. I had more take out on my mind. Finally at about 8 last night I ordered room service. SOme kind of spicy noodles. I was looking forward to it. Looked great when it came. I was thinking maybe udon noodles or something. Nope, came all the way to Chin@ and had good ole spaghetti in my soup. It was good anyway, Everyone working at the hotel seems really friendly. I am a little confused on the whole tipping thing here. I heard that you don't tip here, but it doesn't feel right. What have you done here? How about at the breakfast bufffet? Going to email a few of you in a minute and ask before I head down. Anyway, I am about 29 hours from meeting our girl!! Wow. So many emotions. Every time I open my eyes I wonder how it is going to go. How sad will she be? I can only wait and find out. Will post more later if I get out. Will try to get some pictures. Here is my fancy spicy spaghetti :-)

 My fancy spicy spaghetti

 Leaving Shanghai

 from what seemed like the basement of the airport. A smell I will never forget

Leaving my love at the airport

I'm here!

I'm here. I got in at about 11 last night. Arriving at night left me pretty scared to get out on my own. Maybe if I would have arrived during the day I could have checked out the area driving in. Right now it is 6:30 in the evening and I haven't left the room yet. Wondering what in the world I was thinking making this trip alone. Hopefully I will get out tomorrow. I think for today my big outing will be to go downstairs and get some food. So far I have had a granola bar and some m&m's. G bought me a laptop for the trip so I could Skype with him and the kids. PRICELESS! The benefit of this has outweighed the price of the computer a hundred times over. I also added $10.00 to the skype account so that I can make phone calls. It is about 5 cents to connect and 2.3 cents a minute. Great deal. Way better than 1.99 a minute with the at&t international plan. The driving and the horn honking is insane. As i sit here, 19 floors up, all I hear is horns honking on the street. It's interesting to look out and watch the traffic. It's incredible that there isn't crashes all over. Guess i'll go find something to eat. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about tomorrow, I meet my guide downstairs at 9 on Monday and should meet Ella Kate by about 9:30. I wonder if they tell her about what is going on. I sure hope they are preparing her in some way.

Heading out!

I leave very early tomorrow morning to start my trip to Chin@. I can't believe the time is finally here. I am excited to get this going and get home. I am incredibly sad to leave my husband and kids. I will miss them so much. Hopefully skype will work and I can see them every day. A huge mix of emotions this past week.

Jordan is 14!!!

Yep, Jordan turned 14 today. Where has the time gone. It seems like just yesterday that we stepped off the elevator at the hospital to go deliver Jordan. Was that really 14 years ago? Jordan has grown into such a kind, polite and funny boy. I love him more than he will ever know. I can't wait to see what life has in store for him. The sky is the limit.

CA!!

So, we got TA on Monday and got the call yesterday that we have CA on July 31! YAY! This is fantastic news. I leave next week, a week from today, bright and early, ugh well, still dark and early to head to Chin@. I am beyond happy but trying to book these flights is kicking my ass. The stress is unreal. The prices are ridiculous. If I were traveling in a few weeks it would be less than half of what we are paying now. Would I wait 3 or 4 weeks to get Ella? We would save ALOT of money. NO WAY!! I'm going to get our girl!!! She will go to bed 10 more nights without the love of a family., without a mommy to tuck her in at night. I will not let her wait one single day longer. She has a mommy, daddy and 3 big brothers that can't wait to have her home. Mommy is coming baby girl!

TA!!!!!!!!

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!!!!!!!! Woooohooooo!! That's how I feel today. We got word of or TA today. So excited. I can't believe that I will have our sweet Ella Kate before the month is over. It was nice because the hubby was home for the call. Unfortunately he hurt his back today so he came home early, but the up side is that he was here for the call. He got a little more emotional about the call than I did. Very sweet. The agency is requesting our CA for 7/31, 8/1 or 8/2. If we get any of these dates I will leave next Friday!!! What?!?!? Yep, less than 2 weeks from now. If we end up with one of the other 2 dates, then I won't leave until about 7/27. If that's the case, then I will meet Ella on my dad's b-day. I would love to go sooner because that gives me more time before the boys start school. The first one starts 8/10.
 Excited, scared and nervous. Those have been the emotions of the day. Can't believe that I am traveling to Chin@, alone, to meet the daughter that I have waited a lifetime for.

Baby girl has a room!

We are now waiting for our TA. I can't believe we have finally made it to this point. Our Art. 5 was picked up 6/28, Chin@ time (that's what the email said, I'll take it).  I would love to leave 7/20 but it will probably be 7/27. Works good for me either way. Of course I would love to get her a week early, but the later date puts her gotcha day on 7/30, my dads birthday.
 We finally have Ella's furniture in and I purchased her bedding and a few decorations for her room. Now all we need is our precious daughter. Come on TA. we are ready!!!! Here are a few pictures of her room.

It won't be long now!!!