In Bejing

We arrived at our hotel in Bejing at about 1am this morning. We mostly missed our 10th Anniversary day altogether since we lost a day, but still exchanged cards before going to sleep and Karl gave me a beautiful gold and silver necklace!

My first view out our window this morning was to look down and see Starbucks across the parking circle....Hallelujah! Our tour to the Great Wall left at 9am, so after a peppermint latte, we were good to go. Thankfully we booked a private tour for this outing so it was just us, the driver, and Wendy, our guide. She was very nice and knows A LOT about Chinese history!

We made a quick stop at a jade factory (apparently this is mandatory for tour operators) and purchased a jade pendant to give Keira one day. We then drove to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. We decided to take the gondola up to a higher section and then walk the rest of the way to the top. I did take some pics and Karl took some great pics, but we are having VPN issues and I can only post through the iPad right now, which won't post pictures :(  Hopefully we will not have this issue in  Xi'an and I can add the pictures in from there.

The Great Wall was really cool to see and we also did a drive by to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube from the Olympics. Really, what I found most astounding, are the rows upon rows upon rows upon rows of high rise apartment buildings. Usually between 6 to 20+ stories, there are huge complexes of them everywhere. It was quite amazing.

Tomorrow, we fly to Keira's city and meet our daughter for the first time! I am praying that she isn't too afraid or traumatized and that her little heart will accept us. This is our last night as a couple - tomorrow night we will officially be a family!!

More tomorrow!

Keira's Room - After!

And here is how it looks now.............

A place prepared for Keira, like Jesus says in John 14 that he is preparing a place for us!

Actually she has already made it into our hearts, before the moment we get her in our arms!

Keira's Nook

Hope she's not afraid of owls....

Ready for an outing

The girl's got some stuff!!

....and more cute stuff!!!

Hope you enjoyed the tour! Next post will be from Bejing,China!!

Daddy's Room - Before

I know I've been promising pictures of Keira's room for a while now...but I remind you, blogging is not my strongest skill! Anyways...here are some before shots to start us off on our journey!

The Gym

Keira's stuff piled on the filing cabinet

Pink paint on and ready to move

Our small group work crew!! Love you guys!!

Off We Go

It's Thanksgiving and we are going to enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner American Airlines style. What better way to celebrate this holiday than leaving to get our beautiful daughter! When we arrive in Bejing, it will be our 10th Anniversary, so it is just celebration central around here! Please pray that we have safe travels and no traveling issues. Next post will finally have some before and after photos of Keira's room! Signing off for now from the SNA Admiral's Club.

Here We Go...

We got our....

Now waiting for our Consulate appointment so we can buy our tickets.  I will post our itinerary during our stay in China soon.

There is so much to do now that my mind is blowing.

We will be there to get you soon, sweet baby girl!!

While Waiting...

While we are eagerly waiting for our Travel Authority and getting everything ready for Keira's arrival, we sent her a package to help her get ready for us. It has a recordable book "Under the Same Moon" and Karl and I each read a sentence on each page. We sent her a little felt-covered photo album with various pictures of us, her grandparents, her great-grandma "G.G.", and her aunts, uncles and cousins (including god-cousins). All are labeled in English and Chinese. We also sent a little t-shirt, a blankie and the bonding doll I blogged about a couple posts ago. We hope all these items will help her feel more comfortable with us and attach to us more easily. She should get her package any day now.......

Then I got a surprise email from our agency with new photos and measurements of our little angel. She is 32" tall, weighs 24 lbs and her little feet are 4 1/2" long....pretty small! Check out how cute she is....

This is the first time we have seen her smile!

 Here she is looking more thoughtful...

And finally just hanging out...

It is harder and harder to wait to go get our sweet girl, but I'm so thankful we are able to get these updates!

Under the same moon

Happy Mid-Autumn Moon to our sweet girl! We are thinking about you, praying for you and dreaming of you under the same moon you see every night.

Hopefully we will be there to hug and kiss you in two more months of moons!!

(photo credit: This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.)

Twinkle Baby

Last week, this little cutie arrived in our mailbox, sent by my sweet sister-in-law, Courtney, my brother and their kiddos!

Since arriving, she has been lounging around in our bed with us. She is getting ready to take a little trip to China, in hopes of becoming Keira's new favorite dolly. Why is she lounging around in bed with us first, you ask? Thankfully, not because we have weirdly begun sleeping with dolls, but instead so our scent will be familiar to Keira when we finally get to meet her (at least, that's the idea...)!

Twinkle Baby is a "bonding doll" made by a really cool company based in Santa Cruz, CA.

You can check out their very cute items HERE!

Thank you Jamo, Courtney, Olivia and Rory for the cutest little doll........she will be on her way to China soon and then back home to California with her new owner, not long after that!

Keira's Birthday Party

Not only did we get new pictures of our Keira at her birthday party...we got two videos!!  This one is the orphanage staff singing to her with the cake we had delivered. I don't think she quite knows what to think about the whole production. It will be interesting if we get to visit the orphanage where she has spent her time when not in the foster home, because there is a lady speaking English and the other nannies seem to understand her. I wonder how much English Keira has been exposed to....

This next video is really short, but shows her looking at the camera for a couple seconds and then completely ignoring the camera....and singing to herself. I love getting these little previews of our daughter!

And finally a few new photos that Ann at Red Thread China sent of our Birthday Girl:

 Notice the Angry Bird sandals....love it!!

Oh, I can't wait to have her in my arms!!

Happy Birthday to our Girl!

Today Keira turns two.

Without us.

Thankfully she won't have to celebrate another birthday without a family who loves her and without a joyous celebration of her life! I'm so thankful I get to be her mom and celebrate with her for all the rest of her birthdays.

I  feel very sad thinking about her first mom and how hard today must be for her. I know she must feel an over-powering sense of grief and loss, no matter the circumstances, for not having her little girl with her today.

I sent a "Birthday Package" in hopes that Keira would get it either at the orphanage or at her foster home.

She will have a birthday cake delivered, this little stuffed panda, some candies for her foster family, a disposable camera that someone will hopefully use to take some pictures of her little party and a short birthday note from her mama and baba (that would be us :), translated by Ann at Red Thread China, who we ordered the package from. Hopefully, Ann will get the pictures from the camera sent to her and she will email them to me.

This is the plan. I have no idea if the plan was actually executed - I guess I will know when and if I get some photos. If I do, I might get updated information on her size too.

Happy Birthday baby girl - we are coming to get you soon!!