NiHo (Hello)from Beijing,
We had an amazing flight on Air Canada from Toronto to Beijing, it really was comparable to the size of Air Force One - it seems to go on for a long time and fits a bunch of people. You are thinking how is this big bus going to get off the ground?! It is amazing the advances that have been made in the last 100 years!! When we started to board the plane, we had to pass through a K-9 line and the dog alerted on Cali - I got nervous, but he alterted on Cali's money belt - all he had to do was show the guy that he had less than $10,000 Canadian $ and everything was good! :0D At first we thought we had really hit the jackpot!

There were 2 entrances to the plane, one for first class and the other for econonmy - obviously we are not first class, anyway, when we stepped onto the plane, there were these little pods with chairs that fold out like lazyboys. Cali & I were just staring at each other and then we saw past this section to the next section, which was your traditional plane seating. For a second we thought we were going to be living large! :0D Actually it was still very nice, before we boarded our flight, we asked the gate attendants if we could be moved so that we could all sit together on the same row. She gave us seats on the same row, but sat us with an empty seat between each seat, so we had lots of room! I think she was impressed with Cali's attempts to speak to her in Chinese! :0D

It was about a 13 hour trip gate to gate - We all watched a bunch of movies, slept a little, and ate till we were little ticks. They fed us 3 meals and still we turned down a cup of noodles, we were full to the brim!! We walked straight through all the scanning equipment and customs and checkpoints without any problems at all! Yeah prayer team!!! Once we came through the doors in Beijing, our guide Rosa was waiting for us and took us immediately to the van and straight to the hotel - it only took about 40 minutes to arrive. Rosa took care of everything for us at the hotel! All of you who know our ladybug stories will love this - someone had put a ladybug sticker inside the van right by where we were sitting - I got a pic of it!

Once we made it to the hotel, Calixto passed out for the night, I passed out for about and hour and then woke up so we could get things ready to begin our first day of sight seeing! Unbelievable, that 24 hours ago we were half way around the world from here! Can't wait to post about our adventures tomorrow!!

Teresa, Cali & Calixto

Toronto, Canada

Hello from Canada - so far so good!! We had a nice flight on a small plane and are now sitting around the airport waiting for our flight to Beijing. We just got done surprising our oldest with his early birthday present!!! For the last month, he has been making it very clear that he desperately wanted an I-touch for his 14th birthday. We just kept telling him that it was just not in the budget with the adoption and behind the scenes we had already been discussing getting one for him for the trip - for all the sitting around while we fill out paperwork, etc. Anyway, we had him convinced he was just not going to get one. It has been a real game for Cali & I, so we came up with a plan on how to catch him off guard. We decided that we would give it to him at the airport here in Toronto, so if he was thinking that we might surprise him when we left on the trip, it would throw him off our trail. Anyway, Cali had it in his backpack and we played it off like we were doing something with the camera and asked him to get a cord out of Cali's backpack for him and then Calixto unzipped the bag and saw the I-touch and was totally in disbelief!! It was so fun to bless him!! He is loving playing with it!! We are loving watching him really enjoy his one and only birthday present!! :0D WE are really looking forward to spending this special time with our first born son and our first born daughter! :0D Still can't believe it!!!
We will try to download the video of the surprise and post it later!!
Thanks for all the prayers that are coming our way, we can feel the blessings just surrounding us!!
xoxo,
T

Leaving Now!

Just a few quick pics as we head out the door!!
Next post from Canada, if we can! :0D
Of course it isn't working, so sorry,psyched you out!
No photos for you! :0(

Trying to get on China time!

OK, so I thought that I was pretty ready to go! And then it just seems like all of the last minute little things piled up to be a big bunch of stuff that has kept me up late enough to say, never mind going to bed, just stay up and get on China time! So that is what I am doing! Cali just went to bed about 20 minutes ago, so he will get a couple of hours shut eye, while I wax my legs, make a few more lists for my mom, try to get the songs I would like on my i-pod, etc., etc. etc.!!!!!
I am so excited to leave, I CAN NOT believe that I am going to be holding my baby girl in just a few short days!!! Still doesn't seem real! Maybe it will feel more real tomorrow once we are on the plane!
Please pray for smooth traveling, no quarantines (darn swine flu!), restful sleep on the plane rides!
Sorry no pictures today, just think mad scientist and you will have a great visual of how I look and how things are going! :0D

Packing, Packing, Packing

Well, after church yesterday, I spent the rest of the day packing!!! Hours and Hours of packing - China has a 44 lb per person weight limit on checked baggage and Zoe doesn't get a bag, so I am trying to pack 4 peoples things - in 3 suitcases & 1 maybe 2 carryons & 3 backpacks - Ha! Anyone who has traveled with babies knows how much stuff you need just to take care of them! Somethings I can buy in China, some I need to bring!

I am also trying to spread everyone's stuff across all the bags, so that if any of them are lost, we will still have enough stuff to get by!!!! And I am trying to write down what is in each bag so I will know what I need if one is lost. Please pray that nothing is lost and this is all a moot point! :0D I fear that I am too administrative for my own good! :0D

The pics still don't show Cali's backpack, since he has it with him and I still have a few more clothes in the wash that need to go in the bags and then I think I am done! Yeah!!!!

Much more to get done today!!

Elijah's Birthday pics!!!

Elijah & his birthday cash! FUN!

Too Bad he owed Mom $$ :0D!!!!

This is Elijah and his live out loud personality - Had to catch it!!!
We love you more than life Bg and are so grateful for your fun loving, live out loud style!! You truly are a party waiting to happen! Can't believe that you are 11!!!

So much has happened!!

I really thought that I would be blogging every day about every little thing that is going on, but I just can't seem to find the time - there is so much to do and by the time there is a little bit of time - I am exhausted!!! :0D But since I haven't been able to find time to send out an e-mail letting everyone know about this blog in the first place Naomi, you are the only one who has to suffer through this process with me at the moment! :0D Thanks for being my first follower!! I saw Leah rearranging furniture on your blog yesterday! Way too cute!! :0D
Well, first, I wish the blog were cuter, but just can't spend any time working on that - I will be lucky to get entries in! :0D
Since I started the blog, which was once we had our travel approval, we got our consulate appointment and are so excited! That allowed us to officially make our travel arrangements! yeah!!
We should have an interesting flight - by the time it is finished, we will have offiically flown completely around the world! How cool is that!!
We leave DC on July 29th at 8 a.m. (Which means we will be up at 4 am - an hour to get ready, then an hour to the airport and then 2 hours to check in and clear security, etc.) Fun times, assuming we can even manage to sleep that night! :0D
Then we fly to Toronto Canada and have a 5 1/2 hour layover - FUN!! So wish we could leave the airport and do something fun for an hour or 2, but no such luck! Any great suggestions on how to spend our time in the Toronto airport?
Anyway, we leave Tornto at 2:55 p.m. and arrive in Beijing at 4:05 on the 30th!! Can you say JET LAG?? It should be interesting, but fun!!!
Then we start our fun the very next morning! Turns out I have an old friend from high school, who owns/runs a travel service in Beijing and his company is going to take us touring all day and then we will have dinner with Jeff that evening. We are going to go on a Rickshaw ride and have tea with a local family!! Soo Excited about this!! We will also go to the Temple of Heaven, have lunch and then go the the Great wall - we get to ride a cable car up and then take an alpine slide down!! FUUUNNNNN!!! Then we get to go the the Olympic Park and take photos in the evening and then dinner!! FULL Day! It should help us to get use to the time difference!! Then on August 1st, we meet up with our travel group - so excited to meet these people!!
We had our travel meeting yesterday, it was nice to hear people's voices atleast! We will begin traveling all over Beijing. We still don't have our in-country intineraries (still believing for another family or 2 to get to be added on last minute!!! - Please pray for Shannon and her family, specifically that their documents will arrive and they will be able to join us on this trip!) Anyway, we will have our itineraries on Monday and I will post what they are then!

Also happenings in our home - our middle son turned 11 on the 22nd - where does the time go? My mom arrived from Albuquerque the same day!! She is here to watch our youngest 2 boys while we travel to China with Calixto! And Cali left a few minutes ago for a work conference in Michigan! He won't be back until Tuesday afternoon and we leave bright & early Wed morning. Please pray that I will be able to accomplish all that needs to get done! :0D
With that, I must go and start accomplising! I really will try to start posting more during our process!
Love to all!
Teresa

Starting the Blog

Hi all,
This is my attempt to keep everyone up to date on where we are at with our adoption process. This will mostly be about our travels to go and get our daughter Zoe Faith Qingzhu. Please be patient with me as I get this thing figured out and keep up with my other duties as a wife, mom, and VP & CFO of my family! :0D