Jilliana not sharing with me

Here is a link to JIe JIe's Video Blog about our Journey

Jie JIe Video Blog,

Click above to go to Meghan's Video Blog of our trip.

Tomorrow we get Jilliana!

 In front of our Hotel

 Love this sign.  I think it is letting you know that their fashions are new

Tomorrow is the day!  We are posting at www.pomafamily.com or click on Jillian'a picture and it will take you there!

WE GET OUR LITTLE VALENTINE ONE DAY EARLIER!!!!!!!

We are here and I have posted on Jilliana's website. Just click on the picture above to go to her website!

On the Final Countdown! We leave today!

 Cutting the last link this morning at breakfast!  We leave today!  How are we spending the day you ask?
Well, Mike took Emma to the Dr. because she has one tonsil that looks huge and swollen.  She had a strep test and a mono test.  She does not have strep and we are waiting to hear on the Mono test.  I took Lily and Meilynn to school on their 99th day of school.  They turned in all of their 99th day things and their Valentines.  Grandma Jeanie brought over lunch for us and now the girls are dancing.

Grandma babysitting Hello Kitty and baby Ming Jing.

We plan to take showers soon since we will be on a plane for 15 and 1/2 hours.  I think we are packed!
I am at the excited one moment, nervous one moment, what are we doing? one moment stage.  All feelings that I know are normal whether I am physically having the baby or whether it is a child of my heart.

I want to say something profound here, but it is just not coming.  I do want to thank all of my family, friends, and internet friends who have always been so encouraging to us.  We feel that support and we feel honored to have such great people in our lives.  We do not know what the path ahead will be like but we do know that God does and it is his perfect plan.  We feel blessed that he has chosen you to help us carry it out.

Two More Days Until We Leave!!

Remember This?  

This was our countdown paper chain so the girls could see how long until we go to China.

And This is how it looks tonight!  I cannot believe how fast it has gone.   This adoption has taken 6 months from start to finish.  We cannot wait to see God's perfect plan for Jilliana.

And today we did a little cleaning.  Everyone has been so good and cheerful even while cleaning!  That is my little Emma.  Oh and before I forget she said one of her cute little things the other day.

Lily and Emma were playing the wii "Just Dance Kids".  Emma must have done something wrong because I overheard Lily say, "Emma, God is watching you."  And then I heard Emma come back in her little scruffy voice, "Well Lily, Uncle Sam is watching you!"   Doesn't she just say the cutest things?

You may wonder how does she even know about Uncle Sam?  Around here there are people dressed up like the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam trying to get you to come in to get your taxes done.  The girls saw these people and asked me about them.  I explained that Uncle Sam was just a figure for the Government and sometimes people like to say "Uncle Sam" is watching you to let you know that the Government is watching you.

So I guess when Lily said that it was the strongest thing that Emma could come back with.

Meilynn and Lily cleaning, well you can see Lily is.  Meilynn is usually more like the supervisor.

And I have been doing a lot of this in preparation.  Today we washed all the sheets on all the beds and put them back on.

And finally, I got this today!  It is the first card that I have got from someone congratulating us on Jilliana.

Tomorrow will only be one more day and I am feeling like we are getting it done.  I think I only have to pack my bag for the plane and the electronics.  I haven't done the final weights of the suitcases, but it looks like we are going to make the weight limits.  We have 6 suitcases and each of us has a personal item for the plane.  And then we have one carry-on suitcase.  I know that is a lot, but we have 6 going over and 7 coming back.  I don't know how people can possibly do this carry on only.  There is just no way I could do that!  But I admire those that can!

Yuan to USD conversion chart

Here is the  conversion chart (click on conversion chart) I used to make my little cheat sheet.  I just run it off and then laminate it.

Three More Days! And 99 days of school!

 The time is getting closer, some how it still seems so far away.  Today we went to Church and I realized that the next time we come to our Church it will be with Jilliana.
I made my yuan-USD cheat sheets.  When we go shopping or buy anything it just makes it easier for me, especially when I know my hands will be full and my brain will not be able to figure it out.  Mike has no problem in this area and thinks that it is silly for me to do, but funny thing, I do remember him asking me for the sheet a few times on our other adoption trips!

 It was kind of a low key day.  Mike and I watched Super Cross (which we follow more than football) and then the Super Bowl.  The girls 100th day of school takes place on Thursday, the day after we leave.  The 100th day of school is a big deal in Kindergarten.  They have been working towards this day and have been looking forward to celebrating it.  Since we are going to miss it by one day, I told them we could have a 99th day of school party.  So they each had to count out 99 things to take to school for Wednesday.  Here Meilynn is just beginning to count out 99 candy hearts.

 Emma counting out 99 little notepads

 And Lily counting out 99 boxes of raisins.

 Meilynn with 99 candy hearts!

 Lily with 99 boxes of raisins

And Emma with 99 notepads!

After we put the girls to bed we finished watching the Super Bowl and then we watch a few "Gotcha Day" videos on You Tube.

Wow, did that bring back memories and make it feel closer.  Please pray for our health, and safety, but most of all for Jilliana's little heart to be open to receiving us and for our other little girls to feel the love that we have for them as our family grows together.  God has blessed our family and so many times I wonder why we get be the ones to receive these blessings from God.

FOUR MORE DAYS! (A day to relax)

First of all a couple of answers.  When someone comments I want to answer, but often times there is no way to know how to contact the person who comments.  If I answer in the comment section, I am not sure if the person who asked the question will see it.  So I will try to answer here the questions that I remember from the comment section.

Our agency is Lifeline again and we love them.  They never make me feel like I am bothering them when I ask a question.  Karla is great to get back to me even after hours much of the time.  I have always got a really fast LOA and TA and I think that is due to the respect that Lifeline and Lily and Rebecca have from the CCAA.  The in country guides are outstanding.  This time we will have Celine in Xian.  I do not know anything about her, but if she is anything like Rebecca we are in great hands.

We will be staying at the Hyatt Regency.  The funny thing is that I just saw the Travel Chanel, with Samantha Brown last Saturday and she stayed at the same Hotel and we got a few great ideas of places we want to see while we are in Xian.  I also have got great ideas from a few of the people that have been there before.

Sammy, that is a great idea on the doll.  I do need to narrow it down, as much as I want to take it all I just won't be able to.

Here is the 10 day weather Forecast.  We leave for Xian on Wednesday and get there on Friday,  February 11.  It looks like we may see some snow.  I have put off some of the packing waiting to see the weather and now it looks like I will need those warmer clothes.

Today
Feb 6

Partly Cloudy

60°
33°

0%

60°F

Mon
Feb 7

Sunny

60°
34°

0%

60°F

Tue
Feb 8

Partly Cloudy

57°
32°

0%

57°F

Wed
Feb 9

Rain / Snow

37°
29°

60%

37°F

Check Flight Delays

Thu
Feb 10

Rain / Snow

39°
25°

60%

39°F

Fri
Feb 11

Mostly Cloudy

40°
25°

20%

40°F

Sat
Feb 12

Scattered Snow Showers

43°
24°

30%

43°F

Check Flight Delays

Sun
Feb 13

Sunny

44°
24°

0%

44°F

Mon
Feb 14

Partly Cloudy

49°
28°

0%

49°F

Tue
Feb 15

Partly Cloudy

42°
27°

10%

42°F

Last Updated Feb 06, 12:41 PM Local Time

Printable Forecast

Details

Video

Text

Averages

Today I told the girls it would be their day.  We decided that they would stay in their pajama's and watch cartoons as long as they wanted and then they could eat in their pajamas.  They really only stayed in them about thirty minutes longer than on a normal school day.

The girls got to help plan the rest of the day.  I made what they call fancy bananas, which are just bananas rolled in sprinkles.

A fancy banana that Meilynn has eaten off half of the sprinkles.

Emma with her fancy banana.
After breakfast the girls got dressed and we went shopping for summer clothes. It may be summer weather when we get back, (we are expecting 80 tomorrow) and I just cleaned out the closets and the girls had finally outgrown their shorts that were 2T.
I don't have any shopping photos but Kami went with us and the girls spent some time in Sephora trying on makeup while I ran a few errands at the shopping center.  Lily and Meilynn bought a cute sundress and Emma bought a cute skirt and shirt with sweater.


After shopping we came home to bake in the Easy Bake oven again.  This time it was Meilynn's turn to choose what they would make.

Putting in the cake

The cake! (notice the Christmas shirt)  I have their clothes packed and we are running short on things to wear.  
The girls decided to watch a movie.  They chose Bambi.  It was their first time watching it.  I never liked watching Bambi because of the part where the Mother gets shot.  There were a lot of questions but they seemed to handle it just fine.  We will see tonight if there are any problems sleeping!

Emma and Lily snuggled up on the couch.

Meilynn cuddled up


The day is almost here and there is a calm at this point.  The girls pray every night for Jilliana and that she is not too scared when we meet her.  It is hard to believe that this time next week we will be in her province and so close to holding her.


We will be posting on Jilliana's site if we can and then here if that does not work.  To get to her site just click on her picture at the top or type in Http://www.pomafamily.com

Whats Happening?

First of all Mom, look what I put on the sidebar.  The current time in Xian so that you will know what time it is while we are traveling.  I am quite proud of myself for figuring out how to do that, since most things I accomplish on here end up being some kind of accident rather than me really knowing what I am doing!  I also put a time clock on Our journey to Jilliana's website.  You will find it on the China Travel page.

The packing continues.  I am constantly changing my mind about what I am putting in.  In the past I have only had a week to pack so there was no time for this going back and forth about what I am taking.  For example,

 This is Jilliana's suitcase and I cannot decide what doll I want to take the most.

 I love the doll on the left, because she is a "Baby be blessed Doll", she has a very special scripture that we chose just for Jilliana on her tummy.  She is soft and easy to carry around, but the doll on the right is so lifelike and she has a matching dress with Jilliana.

 Then there is the soft cuddly lamb that has soothing noises to put her to sleep (even though we don't know if she will be able to hear them) and then the little Winnie the Pooh, which we chose because she is holding a pooh in a lot of the pictures we got of her and her update said the bear was one of her favorite toys.  There is the sing-a-ma-jig that I could not resist.  I thought she would love seeing the mouth open and shut even if she can not hear it.

So you see I can't decide.  And I know it is silly because most likely she won't even care.  But I just am hoping to find the thing that will give her some comfort.

I am having the same problem with the clothes.  I have been checking the 10 day weather forecasts and there might be snow or rain in Xian and it might be warm in Guangzhou.  I don't want to pack long underwear and things if we are not going to need it, but I don't want to be without it if we do.

 Here are picture books that I am taking for other families that have adopted form Xian or are going too.  I am so happy to help them out.  I really hope that we will get to go to Hope Haven where we believe Jilliana has lived for three years.

Here is a book that I made for Jilliana.  It has pictures that we have of her for her to keep.

And here are the gifts for the officials and Nanny's and other people that are going to help us in China.

On top of this we have been approached with the idea of filming our "Forever in our Arms Moment" for a possible documentary on Special Needs adoption.  We are just in the beginning talks of this.  It may or may not happen.  We do feel that anything we can do to make others aware of adoption is a positive thing for our daughters.

And lastly, our baby Emma may have her first loose tooth.  Here is Daddy trying to get a good look.  She says it is sore and it does look a little loose, but we want to make sure that it is not something else that a Dentist may need to look at.  So we will be watching her closely.  The last thing we need is to travel with a little girl with a tooth that needs something done to it.

Staying healthy is probably my biggest worry.  Everyone except me has had a cold, or cough, or fever, in the last week.  Pray for health for our whole family.  Only 5 more days!!!!