Summer Palace-Cont.

I think I am only going to be able to post two pictures at a time. This is T and me in front of the lake, and then a picture looking across the lake. Very pretty.

First Day- Summer Palace

Today was a sightseeing day. We got up and had a Western Breakfast. I was so excited, I almost teared up. :) Eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, fruit, and orange juice. After breakfast we headed out to the Summer Palace,  Tian'an Men Square  , and The Forbidden City. All of them were pretty cool. The jet lag has been a little issue. We slept pretty good last night. Going to bed at 8pm, but I was wide awake at 1am. We took a 3 hour nap today. I don't know if that was so smart as far as sleeping tonight. We will see. Tomorrow we have the silk factory, Olympic Stadium, and The Great Wall! I will have to attach pictures in separate emails due to size. 

I will try to explain these pictures. I don't know what order they will show up. The first set we are at the Summer Palace. This is where the Emperor and Emperoresses would spend their summers. It is not too far from the Forbidden City, but situated on a lake, and much cooler. The man writing the Chinese characters is using a sponge dipped in water. It was fascinating, and really cool. 

We made it!!

We have made it to China. That flight was not too bad. :) Our hotel is nice, and we had Pizza Hut last night. Facebook and Bloggers are blocked so I will be updating through my email. We are sightseeing today. Pictures to come.

--
Aimee Fannin
www.jacknjillsale.com

Trip Itinerary

This is a brief itinerary of our time in China. We are so excited to go! We hope to be able to post while we are there. If not we will post everything when we get back. We will be 13 hours ahead of Central Standard Time.

Brief itinerary:

Sept. 10 (Thu) --- Arrive in Beijing at 3:15 p.m.

Sept. 11 (Fri) --- Visit the Summer Palace, Tian'an Men Square and Forbidden City.

Sept. 12 (Sat) --- Visit the Great Wall, Olympic Venues and Silk Factory.

Sept. 13 (Sun) --- Transfer to Hangzhou.

Sept. 14 (Mon) --- Meet children at Zhejiang Civil Affairs Office. YEAH!!! Gotcha Day!!

Sept. 15 (Tue) --- Complete adoption proceedings.

Sept. 16 (Wed) --- Visit West Lake.

Sept. 17 (Thu) --- Visit Lingyin Temple.

Sept. 18 (Fri) --- Receive children's Chinese passports and transfer to Guangzhou.

Sept. 19 (Sat)--- Complete medical examination.

Sept. 20 (Sun) --- Visit Safari Park.

Sept. 21 (Mon)--- U.S. Consulate appointment.

Sept. 22 (Tue) --- Oath-taking ceremony at Consulate and receive children's U.S. visas around 4:00 p.m.

Sept. 23 (Wed)--- Head to visit friends.

Sept. 25 (Fri) Head home!!

Blessings.

There is really no other way to describe it other than God has totally blessed us. T was able to preach the other day, and he described blessing as something God uses to bring you closer to him. So that could mean something that makes you as happy as can be, but it also could mean that the blessings in your life are things or circumstances you don't enjoy. :) It's just something that brings you closer to him. I can say this adoption journey has been a blessing both good and hard. There have been times that we have been elated, times we have wanted to cry, times we have wanted to pull our hair out, and times that we are so overcome with joy that we just don't understand why God would choose us to parent this precious child. Yes Deacon will be blessed, but OH the joy and blessing he will bring to our family and friends.

Our church family showered us with BLESSING this past weekend. They held a shower in Deacon's honor, and did they ever go above and beyond. We are truly blessed to be apart of this church family. The people were SO gracious and giving! Deacon will be WELL taken care of for a loooong time. We are so thankful to be able to serve and walk along side these people.

Look what word was on the table. :) Not to mention the fabulous treats.
KG and EG getting their share. KG was all about the dessert table.
Friends and family hanging out.
Nana, Sweet SIL Mandy, and Mimi. I was so glad they could all come.
Some of the crowd watching the opening of the gifts.
Jessica and Katie. Jessica was in charge of taking pictures, so glad these two didn't get left out. :)

Enjoying the treats.

Table of gifts and cards.

EG and KG "helping" me out.

Travel Approval

We got THE call!!! Yeah! We are so excited. Our agency called today to let us know we had travel approval. Our travel dates are still not definite just yet. There has been a change this summer on how some paperwork is received. You used to be able to carry it over with you, but now it must be sent from here through the National Visa Center. So we are waiting to make sure they have the necessary paperwork for us to make our appointments in China. So right now we are looking at leaving in 2 1/2 -3 weeks. We are getting very anxious to get over there. There is also a LOT to be done here before we go. :) I also have some pictures to share of a shower our church gave us over the weekend. We are VERY BLESSED!!!

Letter Seeking Confirmation

Wednesday, July 22nd we received a call from our agency that they had received our letter seeking confirmation on Deacon. YEAH!!! We had just sat down to start our CPR class, but as soon as it was over, I sent T over to get it. We got all our paperwork signed and returned the next day. :) We are READY!!! Now we are just awaiting our travel approval. They have said that could take 12-38 days. Then once we receive that we will travel anywhere from 5-30 days. So we are looking at getting to go within the next 60 days. YEAH!! I am so excited, and I still have SO much to do. We will update when we get travel approval.


Here CT and KG are signing the brother/sister contract form. CT ran out of space to write his name, so he started writing really small. I told him he didn't have to stay on the line. I think he was a little relieved and finished writing his WHOLE name. :) They are very excited about the arrival of their little brother.