Coming down to the wire

I apologize for sharing the big news of our TA and then disappearing.  I have good reason though.  We have nailed down our travel plans and will be leaving this Monday!  We have been busy making lists, crossing things off them, add new ones, etc...shopping, packing, making decisions.  Now that we have finally nailed down the details, like flights and hotels, we can breathe a little bit better.  So that's some good news.   (And for those of you who were also losing sleep like me over the camera backpack, have no fear; I found one! lol.  You can sleep well at night now.)  Anyway, here is the quick rundown on our itinerary:

June 10: Fly to Beijing (arrive June 11)
June 11-16: Sightseeing (Summer Palace, Great Wall, Forbidden City/Tian'an men Square, and maybe Bei Hai Park), train to Taiyuan, Shanxi
June 17: Forever Family Day- receive Havi
June 18-21: Process adoption paperwork, visit Jinci Temple and Pingyao ancient city
June 22: Fly to Guangzhou, Guangdong
June 23-25: Medical exam for Havi and process her immigration visa, visit the Zoo, train to Hong Kong
June 26-29: Sightseeing...TBD
June 30: Fly home

That's it in a nutshell.  We are actually preparing for Madeline's dance recital, and today is the big rehearsal.  I had planned on snapping a few photos of the girls in her class before the rehearsal gets started.  However, today is going to be a soaker, thanks to Tropical Storm Andrea.  So dancing around the streets of downtown won't be happening.  Bummer.  Maybe I can still pull something else off.  The actual recital is Saturday afternoon.  I hope to share photos before we leave for China, even if it's just a few.

Now to completely change subjects with no segue at all... we took the dumplings down to the river to go fishing a few weeks ago.  They just casted from the pier. Although they didn't catch anything, they had a blast.

Two big letters.........TA!

Can you believe it?  God has done it again!  

Our agency said to expect TA in 2-3 weeks.  That was almost 2 weeks ago.  Yep.  He's in the details.

Well, I was sitting in the kitchen munching on an apple and texting my sister and hubby when I noticed I had some new emails.  I could see that one of them was from our China coordinator, and when I saw the words "Congratulations.  BAAS received your TA this afternoon," I almost choked on said apple.  For real!

So now the planning is kicking into high gear and the packing must commence.  Unfortunately the new camera/laptop backpack I purchased last week was waaaay too big on my petite frame.  So I need to ship it back and try again.  Ugh.  I really want to wear a backpack to tote around all my gear so that I can wear Havi in the carrier without having to keep a bag from falling off my shoulder.  So I really need to pick something quick.  We are hoping to leave mid June after Madeline's dance recital.

Anyway, enough rambling.  Now for some photos.  Shame on me; I didn't get either hubby to snap a photo of me with my sister the weekend of our birthday/Mother's Day.  Pathetic, I know.  I did, however, follow all the littles around as they walked over to the playground and played wildly one night after dinner.

I love watching Caleb take Josh by the hand.  It's a foreshadowing of the weeks to come.

These last two photos crack me up.  I wanted a shot of all the kids together. So Caleb corralled Josh.  Madeline and Leah jumped into the shot.  But I couldn't convince Madeline to put her knees down so she didn't flash the world.

She couldn't take it and up and left.  And the other three came crashing down.  Not quite the end result I had in mind! lol

Anyway, I'll be sure to keep you all posted on our travel plans when we nail them down.  I plan on blogging when we travel. So be sure to check in on us and leave some comment love.  It'll mean a lot to us while we're half way around the globe.

A little getaway and birthday wishes

Yep, today was my birthday....and my sister's too.  Love having a sister to celebrate our special day together.  LOVE being a twin.  Can't imagine life without being one, really.  We will be getting together this weekend to celebrate.  That makes me happy.  I celebrated today with my dumplings and hubby.  It was F.U.N!  More on that later.

Anyway, these photos here are looooong overdue, as in almost two weeks overdue.  But here they are.  I kept my promise....better late than never.  So I'm posting them.  Our trip to Ponte Vedra Beach...

(with a mix of iPhone photos thrown in) 

Havi came with us.  This is how she travels all the time in Patrick's car. So he decided she'd get away with us too.

After we settled into our hotel room, it was time to grab dinner.  We walked over to this great little Italian restaurant, where my sister and her crew met up with us.

I tried to get a shot of Caleb with his cousins.  Tried is the operative word.  Josh has a mind of his own. I guess I better get ready for that when Havi comes home. lol

The kids played a little as we sorted out rooms and keys.  Caleb was so precious with Josh all weekend.  He is ready to be a big brother to an itty bitty sister!  He's so helpful and compassionate.

Next morning we grabbed breakfast and hung out a bit in the rooms before we headed to the beach.

Yes, that's sand you see in those beautiful, long eyelashes!  It was all over his precious little face!

That night my sister and BIL watched the dumplings while Patrick and I went to a pre-wedding party.  Dinner was held at a restaurant overlooking the water.  It was breathtaking!  And here is the gorgeous couple, Jesse and Shylie.

We had such a fun evening meeting new friends.  We sat at a table with two couples from Alabama.  They know the bride's mom and dad from when they all used to live in Alabama.  To say we hit it off would be an understatement.  We laughed all night!  Seriously.  My mouth hurt from laughing and smiling so much!  New friendships were formed that night.  It's amazing how much we all had in common.  Crazy.

Next morning we had breakfast, or rather attempted to have breakfast.  We waited an eternity for our food to come out.  We were quite grumpy about the whole thing because the littles really needed to eat.

Caleb tried to keep Josh busy by playing with him.

Then it was back to the room/s for chill-axin, as my kids call it.

Then Patrick and I had to clean up for the wedding.  My sister snapped a few photos of us before we left, with my DSLR and iPhone.

Then she snapped a few of Madeline, who escorted us downstairs.

Then there was the wedding.  Ah, the wedding.  Shylie was gorgeous.  Jesse was handsome.  The setting- surreal. It was held at the TPC Sawgrass.  For those of you that aren't up on your golf courses, it's kinda like the 5th Major.  A-mazing!

And this was the view from the clubhouse overlooking the 18th green (beyond all the people.)  I had to keep pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming this up.  The ceremony was absolutely perfect.  So moving.  So full of love.  The atmosphere was sensational.  The music, the dancing...oh Patrick and I were cutting it up!  We truly had a fantastic weekend.  We couldn't be happier for Shylie and Jesse and feel so blessed to be in attendance at their wedding.  And I have to give a big shout out to my sister and BIL for watching the dumplings so we could attend all the events.  We couldn't have done it without you two, or should I say four. lol.

Well, even though today is my birthday, the celebration is going to continue into the weekend.  So I will have lots of photos to share.

Oh, and on the paperchase to Havi, we should have had our Article 5 picked up from the consulate yesterday and overnighted to CCCW@ in Beijing. So the official wait for TA has (likely) begun!  Though I probably still need to confirm it.  We should expect our actual invitation to travel in another 2-3 weeks.  We are getting so close, I really need to do something for the girls' room!  lol. And time to start nesting!