Our Itinerary!!

We have our itinerary from CWTS (China Women Travel Service). We were thrilled to learn that Jade will be brought to us the day before our Registration and Notary visit. The 17th February is our new Forever Family Day. Here is our details...

12th Feb - Depart for Hong Kong.
14th Feb - Train to Guangzhou.
16th Feb - Fly to Nanchang arriving at 17:15 - taken to Galactic Peace Hotel.
17th Feb - meet baby (Jade is 9 months on this day)!
18th Feb - Registration and Notary.
19th Feb - visit Luo Tian Village, Jing Tai Village and Shui Nan Village.
20th Feb - visit Yinchun City, the finding place.
21st Feb - the Teng Wang Pavillion.
22nd Feb - get passport.
23rd Feb - fly to Shanghai departing 10.25am - Arrive 11:45 am get taken to Bund Hotel.
24th Feb - the Yu Garden and the Cheng Huang Temple Market.
25th Feb - Medical check for Jade and apply for Visa.
26th Feb - the Bund area, and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.
27th Feb - the Zhou Zhuang Water Town.
28th Feb - get Visa.
29th Feb - Free Day.
1st March - Free Day (Alex's 45th Birthday).
2nd March - Depart for Melbourne at 20:20pm 3rd March - Arrive in
Melbourne 13:30 (via Sydney)

It is getting very exciting:
7 days of work left.
13 days until we travel.
18 days until Jade is placed in our arms.

Still counting !! :-)

NTT's have arrived!

The department sent a message today to say that our Batch NTT's (Notice To Travel) have arrived from CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs). Without this we were unable to travel and it means our travel plans can now be officially locked and loaded, and paid for.. (we had jumped the gun there - so it is a relief!)
Not long now Jade - I now have 10 more working days until my leave starts, and 26 more sleeps until we can hold you...
p.s. I have finished my 100 good wishes quilt - finally! Not a moment too soon...

The Working Mum!

You may have noticed, I have 3 biological adorable boys - & I was sooooo lucky to have that very first year with each of them, while we were in the process of still growing my career... It was a very, very precious, irreplaceable time. I loved the bonding with them - the breastfeeding - the total reliance of the newborn on me... Alex will tell you, he loved their age later - when they were giving back - from later in the first year to toddler hood, that was his favorite time. He has now been home for 11 years - when Liam turned 1... (& what an amazing Dad he is!)
But I feel really ripped off this time. My 4th child - whom I love totally, but as a working Mum supporting everyone, I simply cannot take the year off. I get a total of 5 weeks, 3 in China. The max I can get. Perfect for Alex as she is going to roll into that perfect age for him, but I grieve for what I have lost...
Silly I know. I have worked for so long for this to get to this point, let's go with the flow...
Thanks everyone for being on this journey with us X
Cindy...

We know our Forever Day!

We met as a travel group on the 9th Jan, and it looks like the Handover date will be the 18th February - when we hold Jade in our arms for the first time... We are flying to Hong Kong on the 12th February and are staying the night at Kowloon, then it is onto Macau for some family R&R for a few nights before a train/bus trip to Guangzhou for some shopping. We fly to Nanchang on the 16th Feb, then onto Shanghai on the 23rd, before flying out to Melbourne on 2nd March. Alex will get to have his 45th Birthday in Shanghai! I am so excited... I can't believe this is all actually finally real and happening!!!!
In the meantime - Josh's 16th Party went really well last night. They all seemed to have fun - a terrific bunch of kids - and Josh went to bed at 6.30am!!
We are gearing up for our annual caravaning trip to Beachport in SA before we pack for China. Alex, the boys and Josh's Moni are going for a week. I get to go to work but I catch up by flying to Mt Gambier in time for the long weekend. (as it is more time I can have with Jade).
39 days till 18th Feb and counting...
Cindy...

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to everyone! 2008 is going to be awesome for us and I hope it is for you too!
I am feeling much happier about the travel as we now have some tentative flights for the 5 of us to get to China and home again with Jade booked - and we have to pay the money on the day of our travel meeting (9th Jan). At this stage we fly out of Melbourne on the 9th February with a few days stopover in Hong Kong. This may get extended depending on when the handover day is scheduled.
I did some shopping on the weekend with the boys - we bought some bottles and nappies and wipes and things... Very exciting! Also a few little clothes, but I really want to wait for China for her clothes shopping. We had a shock when we weighed our cases - they weigh 7kgs when empty! So luckily we will have 5 x 20kg limits... I will try and take a couple of empty ones...
We have placed Jade's photo all over the house, up in the family room, on the fridge, in the lounge, by our bed etc etc The boys (& Alex) have her photo in their wallets, and Josh has her photo in his phone (of course). At work she is my laptop wall paper, in a frame on my desk, in my purse, on my work pass and I even have one on a "photo" watch on my wrist, so I see her face constantly... How crazy is that hey? :-) This photo will be 5 months old when she is in our arms & I wonder how she would have changed? But this one will be imprinted in my mind forever... Take Care, Cindy...