Wow! One more sleep and we board the plane to China tomorrow morning.
I can hardly believe it! Actually, I've been saying that a lot lately!
Another dream of ours is coming true... and we are amazed that the Lord has given us another beautiful girl to raise in His word. And to love and cherish with all our hearts. We are so thankful and truly blessed to be taking this journey again.
Lilah jumped out of bed this morning and ran straight to the calendar on the fridge to 'X' off the last day before we travel. She is beyond excited! We've been packing over this past few days and like always, any time we are packing for a vacation, she is just beside herself with excitement, running and jumping and talking non-stop. She simply can't wait to meet her sister.
I have downloaded VPN, so I am hoping to be able to blog while in China. In the mean time, I'll post our itinerary...
September 05th - Fly Ottawa/Toronto/Beijing
September 06th - Arrive in Beijing
September 07th - Free Day
September 08th - Free Day
September 09th - Fly to Changsha (Hunan)
September 10th - Forever Phebe Day!
September 11th - Apply for Phebe's passport
September 12th - Sight Seeing in Hunan
September 13th - Visit Changde SWI (Phebe's home for her first 2 years)
September 14th - Pick up Phebe's passport
September 15th - Fly to Beijing
September 16th - Apply for Phebe's visa
September 17th - Phebe's medical examination
September 18th - The Great Wall
September 19th - Hutong Tour and Drum Tower
September 20th - Free Day
September 21st - Pick up Phebe's Visa
September 22nd - Summer Palace
September 23rd - Fly Beijing/Toronto/Ottawa
Yikes, it all looks kinda busy! I guess that's all part of life now, so I better get used to it!
Two weeks today, you will be in our arms and we will be a forever family, our precious Phebe girl.
And we plan to love you, every single day for the rest of our lives.
We are busy preparing for you right now and counting down the days. Our greatest prayer, is that the Lord will prepare your little heart for our family.
Just when I thought nothing could top off my week, after all, I got that fabulous movie of my precious little QiQi and what is better than a movie? Well, today I received two emails full of pictures of my sweet little baby girl.
Oh my! She was celebrating!
No, it isn't her birthday! However, a few weeks ago we sent a care package, it was the day we received our Letter Seeking Confirmation. My thinking was, if we are celebrating this huge landmark, then she should be too. Well, it seems the SWI staff had better ideas, they've probably been busy this past few weeks, with the heritage tours coming through and everything else that has been going on in their busy schedules.
So it would seem they bought the cake yesterday, dressed her in a special dress and popped a birthday party hat on for good measure. And voila... I have the sweetest pictures of my beautiful littlest girl, devouring some cake.
I am positively in love with this child. I haven't met her yet, but those eyes... they are full of soul... they just make me want to protect her and hold her and love her. And I can't wait to do just that.
Four more weeks to little QiQi.
I almost feel like I can touch her.
Our sweet little QiQi.
Jennifer's 8 year old daughter took this little movie of QiQi when they were visiting the SWI a couple of weeks ago.
In fact, Jennifer didn't know Meileigh had taken it, until she was downloading the pictures, from her daughter's camera this week.
I have no words, other than thank you.
Thank you Meileigh - this is such a gift to our family.
Today the final official document to get our Phebe girl arrived, from the CCCWA.
TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!
We are ready! ...well, not quite, I still have to pack those suitcases! Four weeks today, we will have arrived in China, ready to embrace this new chapter of our lives. I can't even put into words how blessed I feel.
QiQi, you're 22 months old now!
Very soon your life is going to change baby girl, in a big way. Only 38 days to go, before we hold you in our arms, on September 10th. I know we've been waiting for this moment, for a long time now, but we know you haven't. I pray that we'll have the strength to give you the time and space you'll need to get to know our family. And I pray that our love for you will help your little heart trust us. We are SO excited to meet you QiQi. Tonight your big sister was telling me how much she loves me... a couple of seconds later she said, "I love my sister as much as I love you, Mama." She meant that with all her heart... I get the feeling that your big sister is going to spoil you!
Also, since we are now into the month of August, we attached a calendar to the fridge this week and each morning your big sister puts an X to mark off each day, as we count down the days until we fly to China and meet you, baby girl. We are so excited!
Jennifer is incredible. A couple of days ago she passed on some amazing information after meeting my sweet little QiQi on July 15th! I felt so indebted to her, and still do, her news made my heart sing! She mentioned that she was pretty sure she didn't have any photos of QiQi. And that was okay... I knew we'd be seeing her in 5 weeks, so I was okay with that. But then today, she was going through her photos from their heritage trip and guess what? YES! She found a picture of my baby girl!!
Oh my goodness. I could hardly contain myself. QiQi is simply adorable. You have no idea how badly we want to hold our girl.
Just look at her, she is so intrigued with whatever is happening on that camera - I suspect the gentleman is possibly showing her a movie he's taken or some pictures. A camera though... seriously? Someone is already doing the ground work for me, getting her used to the big black dslr!
Oh my heart is full. QiQi, I love you... more than I can even comprehend right now.
Today your big sister looked at this new picture longingly, and said: "Mama...no more pictures! I want her for real."
Her words made my heart stop. How I wish the same. Very soon it will be 'for real' and it can't come soon enough.
I adore her little pink dress and the little jade necklace she's wearing and touching. So very special.
And I'm so very thankful for people, like this gentleman, taking a minute to stop with my girl and show her some kindness.
It means the world to me.
I received this message, this morning, from one of the Moms on the Yahoo group I joined for Phebe's SWI.
(I may have cried)
There are times when our daughter just feels like a dream and then this little piece of reality is thrown my way. So amazing.
I feel so grateful towards this Mom for messaging me and for her children, playing with my little girl.
(I might just be crying again)
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Jill,
We just returned home from a heritage tour in China. We were able to visit the ChangDe SWI & MET YOUR DAUGHTER! She is so cute. My daughters (ages 11 & 8) played with her. We weren't allowed to take any pictures of her. We heard all about how she is on her way to Canada! ;0) My daughters wanted to take her home to Florida with us. She is so cute & sweet!
Congrats!
Jennifer
Today, Monday, I did a little spot check on the weather Phebe is currently experiencing in Changde. I couldn't help but notice how similiar today's weather is to our own! We both had thunderstorms today! Ottawa is 31 degrees, Changde is 32 degrees! But the humidity, I think 55% feels rough, so I can't even imagine what 85% feels like. Yikes!
On another weather related note, Beijing got some crazy floods this past weekend. Thinking about all these families that have lost loved ones... and praying that our little Phebe will be kept safe over the next month until we are able to travel and hold her.
While we've been celebrating the arrival of our Letter Seeking Confirmation this past week, I felt that QiQi should also be celebrating with us. So last week we had a care package with a cake sent to our sweet little girl through 'Gifts to China with Love'.
We got a little note from the SWI yesterday saying how happy they are to get the news that QiQi will be adopted in September.
I haven't gotten any pictures yet, but today we got an update on our little girl, which I love! My favorite part is that she smiles to her friends! You can not believe how excited I am to see that smile on her precious little face.
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height: 83cm
weight: 10kg
feet length: 13cm
teeth: 8 up & 7 down
QiQi gets up at 6:30am, takes a nap for 1 to 2 hours and goes to bed at 8pm. She sleeps well.
She is not picky for food. She will have 150ml milk before go to bed and after wake up.
She is an introvert girl, she is shy.
She lives in the orphanage.
She can say Mama, Baba, GerGer (brother).
She will smile to her friends.
She can climb up the floors (stairs) by herself.
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We are going to China!!
The flights are booked for all three of us... and four on the way home! We're going to be a family of four! Wow!
We leave at 11am on Wednesday 5th September, fly Ottawa-Toronto-Beijing. We arrive in Beijing on Thursday 6th September at 4:05pm. We get a few days to adjust, then fly to Changsha, Hunan and our Forever Phebe Day is on Monday 10th September! Which happens to be this day 8 weeks!
EEKS! ...I'm SO excited! We all are!!
My head has been spinning this past week. Signing our letter seeking confirmation. Figuring out our travel dates, because we want to leave for China a few days earlier to help adjust Lilah to the time difference and jetlag! And just the euphoria of knowing we will have our little Phebe in our arms soon.
So incredible!
I just want to stop and take a moment, as I have done so many times this past week... and thank my Heavenly Father.
Thank you God.
For giving us another beautiful girl to love.
For allowing us to bring her home, just before her 2nd birthday.
For Your perfect timing in everything.
You have answered my prayers... and more.
I have absolutely fallen in love with this sweet little girl, my daughter. I feel immeasurably blessed to call her our daughter.
God is so good - always.
I don't wear jewellery much. But while I miss my Phebe girl, I had this necklace
made by eclectic wendy designs on Etsy, so I can wear her name close to me.
our little family
C ♥ J
LILAH
PHEBE
Oh my favourite three letters in the whole wide world!
It arrived today, day 119! And we are over-the-moon excited! I mean, REALLY excited!
Finally, the count down is on!
We will be travelling to get our sweet little QiQi on either the 6th or 7th of September!
We'll have our baby girl home just in time to celebrate her 2nd birthday on October 1st.
SO incredibly blessed.
If you know me well enough, you'll know I have a tiny obsession with hair accessories! Lilah has more hair clips than I care to acknowledge, and the great thing is that Phebe can share these hair clips with her big sister!
However, her name is not Lilah and since Lilah has quite a few personalized hair clips... well, it only seems fair that Phebe should have her own collection too! I am slowly building it up... as we speak!
Personalization however, it not my biggest dilemma right now. Looking at the most recent pictures of our beautiful Phebe girl, I'm afraid she's subject to the good old buzz cut! Ahh yes. How hard is that for this Mama that loves hair and hair accessories! I know the SWI have a very good reason for this though, so I totally understand. Anyway, all that being said, it looks like my littlest monkey will be needing a few extra teeny tiny baby hair clips.
I'm working on it, well Etsy is! What would I do without Etsy?
I can still hardly believe that I've been blessed with another daughter. Thank you Lord.
