WHERE ELYSA WAS FOUND!!

Elysa's biological mom must have cared for her very much to leave her in such a public area and one where she could get medical care asap if she needed it. Elysa was found in July at the front gates of the Xincheng District People's Hospital (in Fengcheng). Her mother had placed a note with Elysa. We hope to recieve this note when we meet the orphanage director. After Elysa and all babies are found in China a finding ad is placed in the local paper before they can officially be put in for adoption. We contacted Brian Stuy to find Elysa's ad. Her ad said she had long black hair and red skin....and as we all know is a very beautiful baby girl!!!

ELYSA AT ONLY ONE OR TWO DAYS OLD

HOSPTIAL GATE

T-MINUS 7 DAYS AND COUNTING!!!

In one week we will be checking into the Deboe Hotel in Beijing, China and doing some very fast sightseeing of some very cool places.....The Great Wall, some art factories, The Temple of Heaven, Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden city.

DEBOE HOTEL


GREAT WALL


TEMPLE OF HEAVEN


TIAN'ANMEN SQUARE


FORBIDDEN CITY


GALACTIC INTERNATIONAL HOTEL in NANCHANG, CHINA 5/7/07


WHITE SWAN HOTEL in GUANGZHOU, CHINA 5/13/07

HOUSE IN TRAVEL DISARRAY!!!

Well, Elysa's room was nicely decorated and well organized at one time....What the heck happened? It will be all perfect before we leave but I had to take before pictures....

Yep, were ready for China travel......NOT!! I am not sure everything on this bed is going to fit in our one suitcase....hmmmm, time will tell!! This is my pre-packing state...I have everything, I think!






YOUR FRIENDS ARE WAITING FOR YOU!!!!!!!




AND YOUR BED IS READY FOR YOU!!!


WE LOVE YOU AND CAN'T WAIT TO BRING YOU HOME!!!!

CHINA ITINERARY!

We have our travel itinerary and flights. Here goes:

May 3: Leave Portland, OR (PDX) en route to Tokyo, Japan and Beijing, China.

May 4: Meet other three families in our group at the airport and check into the Debao hotel.

May 5: Visit to the Great Wall, and some art factories;

May 6: Visit the Temple of Heaven, Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden city;

May 7: Fly Beijing-Nanchang, check in Galactic Peace International hotel;

May 8: Meet Elysa at civil affairs in the morning, registration and notary;

May 9: Shopping if needed;

May 10: Visit People's Park;

May 11: Check notary documents, pick up passports;

May 12: Visit Tengwangge;

May 13: Fly Nanchang-Guangzhou, White Swan hotel;

May 14: Take pictures; medical test; visa paperwork;

May 15: Send visa paper to the consulate in the morning and pay it in the afternoon;

May 16: Family swears in the consulate and pick up visa,

May 17: Return flight Guangzhou-Tokyo-Portland; Due to the dateline, we also arrive home on the 17th.

DREAMING OF ELYSA EVERY DAY!!

Here's the bike cart we bought for you so you can go biking with us. Your cousin Aidan is trying it out and of course it passed the test. Baba was able to make it up our big hill so we are ready to go biking as soon as you get home. We so can't wait to take you!!



These are the hats mama has been knitting and will take with us as gifts to the orphanage for your little friends. We will also be making some fleece hats this weekend to take with us too.


Elysa's pretty clothes....but baba has put a halt to the clothes shopping...but, don't you worry Elly we will get lots in China and more when you get home especially after we know exactly the size you wear.


Here are the care packages that baba and mama sent you, your foster mom and your little friends and caregivers. I really hope everyone got their gifts from us. We also sent disposable cameras and asked them to take pictures of you, your surroundings and all your friends and caregivers so we have this to show you when you grow up. We want you to know you were loved and cared for by very special people before mama and baba were able to get there to bring you home.

Here is the care package for Elly's little friends and orphanage caregivers. (candy, toys and clothes for girls and boys)


Elly's care package for her and her foster mom (candy, toy, blanket, rabbit lovie, and small photo album with popo, mama, baba, dog, cat, house and her bedroom)


Mama, baba, I know I left it in here, now, where did i put that darn racquetball??? Yep, I could see Elysa doing this some day....taking all her toys out of her toy box looking for one particular toy...then has that look of being surrounded by all that she took out of her box and still not finding what she's looking for......

FROGGER GAME..CHINA STYLE

Well, here is the traffic in Nanchang that we will be facing soon.....It looks like my favorite video game...FROGGER....Hope we don't have to hop across the roads to many times!!! M

HOUSTON....WE HAVE TICKETS!!!!

We will be on a journey to meet our first child and will completely be out of our comfort zone! This will be a journey of a lifetime in more ways than one. We have never traveled anywhere past Kansas so we are looking forward to having the time of our lives. Yep, it will be stressful but we plan to make it fun, exciting and really enjoy this experience no matter how uncomfortable we maybe at times.
Soooo, come join us!!

A FENGCHENG MARKET WHERE ELYSA LIVES (about 30miles from Nanchang)


We found out today we will be leaving from PDX on May 3rd and will be in Beijing on May 4th. We will be there for a few days for tourist, sightseeing activities then on our way to Elysa's birth province Jiangxi. We will stay in the capital city, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. Elysa will be brought to the hotel along with all the other babies who are being adopted and we will meet her on May 8th. We will be in the province for several days to do her visa, passport, and adoption paperwork. Then we will head to Guauzhou where the U.S. Consulate is. Everyone who adopts have to be sworn in here with their children and do more paperwork, so that once we land in the U.S. Elysa is an American citizen. We will leave on May 17 and arrive in Portland on May 17...yep, same day we left.....that will be one LONG DAY!!!

ELYSA, We are coming very soon! You will be in MaMa's and BaBa's arms in no time. Here is your Easter egg MaMa made this year. MaMa and Adian had a lot of fun but MaMa's heart was thinking of you as she was coloring eggs and smiling about all the fun we will have next year when you are here too. We can't wait until you are finally home. MaMa had so much fun hiding the Easter eggs and then Aidan got to find them and open them and see all the goodies MaMa had stuffed them with. He did say he's willing to share the eggs with you next year. Good thing huh?

ELYSA'S EGG


I DID IT AUNTIE!!


AUNTIE AND I COLORING EGGS, THIS IS FUN!!!


MY FIRST NIGHT AWAY FROM MOM AND DAD, STAYED IN TENT IN AUNTIE AND UNCIE'S ROOM!


MY SPECIAL FAMILY EGG FOR MOMMY, DADDY AND JAKEY!


LET'S SEE WHERE ARE THOSE EGGS, JAKEY HELP ME?


MR. STUD BOY!


COUNTING HIS EGGS!

HERE WE COME ELYSA!!!

AND YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN IN MY HEART!!!



We have a consulate appt for 5/15 and that means we need to be in Beijing by 5/4. So we will leave from PDX on 5/2 or 5/3 depending on flight availability and leave Guanzhou 5/17. We are working with our agency this week to finalize the itinerary and then we will be getting the plane tickets and reserving the hotel rooms. We will post the itinerary as soon as we have it finalized.

OMG, its been so long and has seemed as though it all this was never going to come true, and now its all right around the corner. Are we ready.....Huh? are you kidding....I have everything piled up flowing out of the one suitcase we are taking..hmmm, hope it all fits.

Very, Very soon we will be a family of 3 plus our beautiful, ornery pets. This is my favorite Valentine's gift from my hubby...he's so sweet!!!

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE....SOON!!!!!!!!!

This is a new plane with the China Olympic 2008 mascots...of course not the plane we will be on but I thought it was cool!!! We heard from our agency today and got our TRAVEL APPROVAL...........They are requesting our Consulate appointment for May 15t. Once the Consulate appointment is approved then we will make travel arrangements to leave the U.S. by May 2nd or May 3rd. YAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!! IT IS FINALLY BECOMING SO REAL!!!!!!! We are anxious, scared and SO EXCITED FOR THE UPCOMING JOURNEY TO BEGIN!!!!!! If all goes as planned we will have Xiao Lang in our arms before her 10 month birthday and before Mom's Day....WOW what a great first MOTHER'S DAY!!!

TA ARRIVING VERY SOON!!!

ATTN: THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE!!

We are doing a MAJOR SNOOPY DANCE!!! We talked with our agency this weekend and they expect to get our travel approval no later than the end of this week. Due to the trade fair in China (Mid-Late April) and everything being booked and extremely expensive, it is looking highly unlikely that we will be able to travel before the end of April. Sooo, they were going to work very hard at getting us and 3 other families to travel together and leave the U.S. on the first of May.....WOOOOHOOOOO.... Even though that is another month until we meet Elysa, it actually would work out OK because of work issues we both have. We are finally getting closer to having a firm date with a very high probability that this will be the date....