Last day together as a family of 6

We fly out late tonight, actually very early tomorrow morning. Today will be our last day spent together as a family of 6. I just have to brag on my kids for a bit. They are amazing! They have all willingly sacrificed so much for us to be able to bring Daniel home.

For those of you who care, here are a few things they've had to give up:

*Time with mom and dad as the complete piles of paperwork.
*Time with mom and dad while they complete adoption education.
*A much anticipated visit from close family friends. I'm talking bosom buddies here. They were supposed to arrive to visit us tomorrow--we are flying to China instead. The kids from both families were super bummed, they'd all been looking forward to the visit since we moved far way from them last July. Huge sacrifice! Love you Renschlers!
*Anything that costs more than $5. We've lived here a year and have not gone to Disneyland, Legoland, Seaworld, Universal Studies, etc., etc. Just not happening.
*Missing out on going to a close family member's wedding last weekend. Ok, the kids were bummed about this but I was probably the one most bummed about missing it. So scratch this from their sacrifice list and put it on mine.
*Having an older sister as a piano teacher. Ok, this one might need to go on my sacrifice list too! Not an always smooth sailing or drama-free plan.
*Only one child getting to visit Idaho with dad. Add this one to my list for good measure as well.
*Eating out at their favorite places. Insert Olive Garden slogan here.
*Samuel would love to do a bunch of sports all the time. He still gets to do some, but not as many as he'd like. By the way, I figured out I am not a good flag football mom. Nope, not for me!
*Moving to a smaller home.
*Both Emily and Kaila would love these boots. Since I think they are beyond atrociously awful and ugly, I wasn't too sad to have tell them they are too expensive.
*Emily was willing to change high schools if needed to be closer to where Daniel will be receiving treatments. She was also willing to move to a different high school to be able to find a cheaper home. This would have been a ginormous sacrifice for her. Luckily, we were able to stay in the same district for her.
*Three girls sharing one small bedroom. 'Nuff said.

To most of the world this might seem like a gripe list. Not to me! To me it shows that our kids get it. They understand what truly matters. They see that what we are doing is very important. A little boy needing a family matters more than comfort, entertainment, or owning a bunch of stuff.

So back to our last day as a family of six!! Enjoy the pics, crazy as ever! Next time we are together the post will read, "First day together as a family of seven." Can I get a hallelujah?



Samuel and I with the crazies

 

The next two weeks

We have had many people ask us what our time in China will look like. So here goes.

 

It’s going to be hot, sauna like hot!

 

We are going to miss our kids at home. We know they’ll be having lots of fun and be well cared for, but the fact remains that we have not ever been away from them for this long.

 

We are praying facetime works. See above reason.

 

We will be about 14 hours ahead of the West Coast.

 

Here is our schedule:

 

June 27^th Head to LAX for a midnight departure. We have a layover in Seoul, South Korea.

June 29^th Arrive in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China around noon. It is advisable to try to stay awake on this first day to try to quickly adjust to the current time and fight jet lag. We will certainly try, but no promises!

 

June 30^th We will visit Chan Academy. This is also my 37^th Birthday.

July 1^st GOTCHA day!! One less orphan in the world day! Make that 147 million orphans minus 1.

Daniel is being flown down to Guangzhou from Tianjin. His home province is Guangdong, however, he was moved last October to Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village an hour south of Beijing. He has received excellent care there and he looks healthy. He is undoubtedly in better shape physically and emotionally than he would be in the SWI. Gotcha takes place at the Guangdong Province Adoption Center in the afternoon. Not sure what we’ll do all morning. I’m sure the clock will be going very slow at this point.

After gotcha we sign guardianship papers for Daniel and get to keep him overnight with us in the hotel. This is a time for adoptive families to spend with their child before signing the final adoption paperwork.

July 2^nd We return to the Adoption Center in the morning to complete the adoption proceedings. At this point, he becomes our son!

July 3^rd We review adoption notary books, apply for Daniel’s Chinese passport at the police station. 

July 4^th Complete Daniel’s medical exam required to apply for his US visa. We will visit Yuexiu Park in the afternoon.

July 5^th We will receive Daniel’s passport in the afternoon.

July 6^th Return to the medical clinic to receive exam results.

July 7^th Free day! We will probably head to Shamian Island for some shopping and to drop off laundry.

July 8^th We have our US Consulate appointment in the morning.

July 9^th Receive Daniel’s US visa at the US consulate in the afternoon. This is the last thing we need to be able to leave China with our son!

July 10^th We depart Guangzhou at noon

July 10^th 3:50 pm arrive on US soil with a new US citizen! We have been told that going through immigration will take at least an hour. Hopefully around 5 pm we can walk out and hug our other kids. Any of our local friends are more than welcome to come to the airport. This might be your only chance to see little Daniel for a while since we will be cocooning at home until we feel he is ready to venture out. If cocooning is a new concept to you, please read this excellent blog post.

 

Please pray with us for safe travels, health and well being for our entire family (at home and in China), and for Daniel who's life is about to change once again.

 

 

T minus 3 days

Packing, organizing, crossing things off the to-do list.

Babying my 2 sick daughters.

Praying for a very sick little girl ourplacecalledhome.blogspot.com

Working on a grocery list for a major haul tomorrow.

Laundry.

Stalking Facebook to see which friends will be traveling at the same time as us. Praying that two friends get the news they are hoping for in the morning, and they can finally have their much planned pool party at The Garden, and I can meet them and their precious new kids, Regis and Olivia.

Praying for 3 dear friends who are on a very long and painful LOA wait journey. 

That's about it, that's what's going on today. 3 days until we board the jet plane for this little guy.