Arrived

Ni hao!!  Okay, I'm here in Nanning.  Blogger is definitely blocked.  I can't access it so I'm updating my blog from within my e-mail.  I'm getting your comments though. I'm not sure when I say "publish" the comment whether it's going thru to my blog or not.  So either way, keep sending the comments for me to read and also to let me know that my e-mailing of posts to my blog is actually working!   The flights were fine.  My bag didn't make it to Beijing thanks to lovely JFK and American Airlines.  So, after 22 hours of flying, I'm sitting here in the same clothes.  I guess my idea of showing up to meet Ava-Meiying looking like a fairy-princess-godmother isn't going to happen.  Instead, I'm going to show up, wrinkled, disheveled, smelly, wearing black and exhausted.  Everything was in that bag (my clothes, her clothes, toiletries, gifts, the wooden bowl, her backpack of things I bought for her, etc.)  Basically, what I have w/ me now is my camera, my laptop and the adoption papers!  Um, I'm thinking my camera cord that sincs to my computer was in there too, so I might not be able to upload pictures?!   Skype works.  I already called home and saw Derek and Eliza; and of course, started crying.  I feel so far away, duh.  During the long 13 hour flight, I thought so much about Eliza's adoption, Eliza's life, all the while getting myself more and more worked up and homesick.  I finally had to turn off the thoughts and emotions.  But getting to Beijing and finding out my bag didn't make it, somehow made me feel even more isolated and lonely.  They're just material things, but they were from home.  Oh wawwww!  I'm just tired.   So, in about 9 hours, I'll be meeting Meiying.  I'll feel better once I can go into mommy mode.  By the way, Air China was very nice, food wasn't bad and Beijing airport is beautiful.  It is so efficient.  I got thru the temp check for Swine Flu, Immigrations, Customs, Baggage and Lost and Found, and checked in for the next flight all within 1 hour.  It took me 1 hour just to get thru security at JFK!!!  Ridiculous.   More later...

Ta da....T-day...that is "travel" day.  Finished packing yesterday; got all the updated Guilin family photos that those families sent me of their children put into an album to give to the orphanage; gifts packed up; documents packed up...a little nerve-wracking when one spouse does not travel for the adoption (extra documents, extra notary forms, powers of attorney, etc.)

I haven't gotten a walk in once this week.  Hogan really needs to take ME for a walk...and I need that too; so he and I are heading out now.  Need to stretch those legs, breathe fresh farm air, take in the sight of the early morning mist rising off the ponds before I get couped up in a plane and airports for the next 22 hours!

I feel relaxed today after a week full of nerves.  Next post, from China! Xie Xie everyone!

My stomach has been doing flip flops and is full of butterflies...already and it's only Tuesday.  Woke up to this yesterday a.m.  I'm just about packed.  A few more supplies (meds, sleep aids, Yogi tea) and I should be done.  I know, why am I bringing tea when I'm heading to the land of teas?  I love Yogi brand and my internal system has gotten used to a few of them to keep the plumbing harmonious!

Also, if you haven't updated blogger to the new posting features, go do it (found on your dashboard).  I love the new capability for uploading pictures and then dropping/dragging them around.  Fantastic!  Thank you blogger!!  So, here's the latest...

The absolute necessities in bribery and late night cravings!

The chocolate in China is very bland and waxy tasting.  If Ava's not a chocolate girl (like Eliza), how could she atleast resist a Starburst?  Allie can't believe I'm not opening them to share before my trip!?  Last week I bought candy for the trip only to have it eaten aleady so this stash is now ziplocked and in the suitcase!

The very scary room that Eliza refuses to sleep in!

This used to be Eliza's room and now it's The Girls' Room...

We added Ava's bed and suddenly Eliza stopped going up to her room...ha, ha.  Does this room look scary to you?  I think she'll be fine once Ava comes home.

My birthday present from Dave; this one is Oak and NOT for the foster parents!

Look what I just brought home. This beautiful, maple bowl handmade on a lathe by my sister's boyfriend is for Meiying's foster parents! Isn't that wonderful! I loved how Dave signed with "USA" too. He was very proud of that and posted to his wood-working group that he was sending this bowl to China! He wants me to take a picture of it in China...I'll have to find some creative setting for it. Thank you so much Dave. It's an amazing piece of art and this was so generous! I only wish I could be there when it's presented to the foster parents.

Saturday...next Saturday, I will be heading to the airport.

On this Saturday, I'm heading to our favorite chinese restaurant with 2 letters in hand for translation: 1) a letter to Meiying to be read to her by the SWI representative at our first meeting (after I overzealously hug her tight, then gain composure and practice adoption-101 space control); and 2) a letter to her foster parents.

On this Saturday, I'm also packing the VERY important essentials to have on hand for a mom-and-7 yo bonding experience:

Check...ziplock bag of Eliza's PEC cards (picture exchange communication) of important words and tasks because when in doubt, "visual" communication (i.e. a picture of a car, toilet, person eating, etc.) will certainly be understood better than my little chinese.

Check...ziplock bag of assorted hair accessories fit for a head of long, black hair.

Check...self-sticking, press-on nail jewels.

Check...Aveeno lotion (for that sensitive asian skin)

Check...Some small craft projects, coloring books, new box of crayons (my favorite)

Check...Sampler size perfume just for her

Check...Photo album of pictures from home and pictures of Meiying and her friends

So, as if I don't have enough to think about, I'm also pondering a few statements from the book Strange Son I'm reading, pertaining to Eliza being affected by autism:

"Perhaps in autism, there is a peripheral neuropathy in infancy. Perhaps it disrupts development. It could be the Merkle cells, or maybe the Pacian cells" (pressure-sensing mechanoreceptors found in the skin)."

"...study in the field of brain plasticity--how the brain can change and learn in response to a new environment."

***Now, Megan, don't read this to Greg and say, "see how smart Sarah is, I'll never understand any of this." It took me a year to get here and this was still way over my head and required an encyclopedia at my side!...along with a glass of wine.***

Okay, normally I keep Eliza-topics on Eliza's blog, but I thought it was important to do a cross-over today. Those of us who have adopted from China are all too familiar with the severing of ties, in one swoop, never to go back again that our children experience just before Metcha (Gotcha) day under the Chinese adoption process. Sorry to sound so abrupt, but that's how it is. There's no slow transition like some other countries; no visiting the orphanage for an hour or two; and gradually transitioning these children.

Some children handle the disruption better than others; some react right away; some, show the effects after months or years. We tend to prepare for it in emotional terms...grief, attachment. What does it do to their brains though, the wiring, the development, the science of it...forming of sensory, language, behaviors, compulsions. Most families are told when they receive their baby in China, to expect delays and expect to go back to "0" with the child. Imagine that with a 7 yo who has attached to a foster family for 4 years.

As I work to understand and hopefully unlock the veil of autism that "protects" Eliza from our over-stimulated world when it's just too much for her, I'm reminded how our world may seem to Ava-Meiying as she leaves a quieter, simpler world that she's known. Am I anxious and feeling protective? Do I want to minimize the shock to her brain and it's further development? Am I even capable of doing that? Little late to be worrying about this now, eh?

Maybe I need to go back and re-visit my checklist above and just worry about packing a pair of shorts and shirt, my sneakers and have my hand ready to be extended?

Shucks, maybe I should just have faith and go with the original check list, but include lots of snacks, candy, toys, shopping excursions, all as bribery so that she doesn't mommy-shop for a chinese mama that looks like her or sneak out of the hotel room at night. After all, I was hoping that I'd finally be able to SLEEP SOUNDLY even on those hard-as-rock beds in China, while I enjoy having the bed all to myself, without my 4 yo and snoring husband pushing me to the edge of the bed?!

As you'll see in my sidebar, I have a Shutterfly page set up where I'll post most of the pictures from China. You can link to it by clicking on Ava's picture. Comments can be left on that site and/or on this blog as well. Since Blogger has been known to be blocked in some parts of China, please make sure to check Shutterfly if you don't see any update here.

For my friends and family who aren't familiar with Blogger, you can click on the word "comments" at the bottom of this post and leave me a message. If you don't have an account, simply select "anonymous", but make sure to type your name at the end of your message. You won't need an account to view my Shutterfly pictures, but I think you will if you want to leave a message on the Shutterfly page. Just set one up; no fee; no hassle. That's it.

I will be very homesick and craving conversation, so please e-mail me and leave comments, okay?!

We did it...we got our requested CA!
Better start packing; I'll be solo-
traveling in just a few weeks!

Nope, no TA.

We weren't in the batch that came in on Monday.

Looking at the timelines,

can you believe that families have been waiting

since mid-June for TA?

That means, they waited nearly 10 weeks.

What???

For TA???

Because we're an I-600 family

and not an I-800 family,

I'm still hopeful that we will follow

the 3-4 week timeline

(we're currently in our 3rd week),

but my agency told me yesterday

that we could still be a few more weeks away

and not to expect travel in September

and even October travel might be iffy.

OMG...what a crushing blow that was yesterday.

Ridiculous!

That's all I can say.

I'm still praying for TA

to come next week and

squeaking in travel late September

and a CA after the early October holiday

so we can be home before Trade Fair?

Don't know if that's possible?

Prayers please.

VIDEO! VIDEO! VIDEO!

Enjoying a morning coffee, Clifford on in the background capturing Eliza's attention, and hitting "replay" over and over again just to hear Ava Meiying's sweet voice (thru all the other voices on the video) saying "mama, daddy and thank you".

This is truly a gift to me and I hope when Ava is older, it will be a gift to her as well.

I love how girly she appears to be in all the photos, the pink dress, pink shirts; her report said that she loves beautiful things, loves wearing beautiful things and likes to change her hairstyle each day telling her mama "1 tail today, I wore 2 tails yesterday"...

I think that she and I are going to enjoy each other since that's just how I was as a girl. (There's been a long told story in my family about all my siblings being outside shoveling snow for an hour while I was in the house fixing my hair, makeup and picking out the matching hat, scarf, mittens just to come out and shovel snow. Now, I've matured quite a bit living on a farm, and it's now a rare treat to get dressed up and put make up on!)

Thank you so much, Kirsten, for sending me this video this morning! I absolutely can't wait to meet my beautiful little girl.