A LOVELY MOMENT

Alice . . . kissing the television!

Yes, the television is on, I was listening to the Radio 4 programme again this afternoon. (Very interesting . . . this time I picked up upon very different aspects!)

Part-way through the programme Alice got close to the television, peered for several moments at the speakers, looked around the side and then kissed the screen - at the beginning of her investigations I was speaking (on the programme) and by the end of the kiss it was our travelling companion C - Alice very obviously knew our voices! x (that's from Alice for C and me!)

TRAVEL TIPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

I have lots of experiences - packing and shopping to share, when I get home!

(C - I think we need to chat, too much to type!)

VIEWING BLOG

. . . is not possible for me in China (I don't know how other people do it, but according to the Neocounter they do!)

So C, if it looks wrong please edit it.

EVERYONE - this will act as a journal for Whatshername, so PLEASE comment so that she knows how many people already care for her.

LEAVING IN AN HOUR!

I hope to blog from China. We don't get to the hotel until about 4-5pm tomorrow (China time, UK 9-10 am), so don't expect to hear anything until Sunday?

Hopefully I'll lose the butterflies en-route!

For any AUTUMN DREAMERS - every bit of luggage has orange ribbons, mostly gingham (until I ran out!)

The waiting's nearly over.

x o x o x

PACKING AND PREPARING

The suitcases are nearly done . . .

I've still got to:

• finish the luggage tags
• email myself and selected other the docs I may need in China
• check the paperwork
• prepare a photo album for the orphanage director and foster parents
• do the ironing
• get some sleep!
  

COUNTING? . . . WELL WHAT DO YOU THINK?!!

4 and a half days to my baby.

That's 106 hours or 6380 minutes.

Excitement is growing as is my packing pile!

ITINERY REVEALED!

Friday 29th June	pm flight, Heathrow – Beijing
Saturday 30th	am arrive in Beijing pm arrive in Kunming in Yunnan, stay at the Harbour Plaza Hotel
Sunday 1st July	Meet Whatshername
Monday 2nd	Adopt Whatshername and name her! Apply for passport
Tuesday 3rd	Free day in Kunming
Wednesday 4th	Free day in Kunming
Thursday 5th	Free day in Kunming
Friday 6th	Receive passport (hopefully!)
Saturday 7th	Fly to Guangzhou in Guangdong, stay at the Victory Hotel
Sunday 8th	Free day in Guangzhou
Monday 9th	Consulate appointment for Whatshername’s entry clearance to UK (unless passport delayed)
Tuesday 10th	Free morning in Guangzhou (unless passport delayed, if it is then Consulate visit will be today) pm flight to Hong Kong and then Heathrow
Wednesday 11th	am arrive at Heathrow and then go HOME!

While I'm away, the dogs will be at home, dogs and house are being looked after by the wonderful T.

I'm hoping to blog on this blog - depending on laptop and China setups allowing me to!

STRESSED!

I'm definitely on the edge today.

Drove to Cardiff in tears at the thought that my baby has just gone through another upheaval going back to the orphanage in preparation for next weekend's adoption.

Email issues,
IT problems,
leaving work (I hate goodbyes),
decorators at home,
trying to organise the last bits for travel,
trying to assemble a pushchair,
trying to burn DVDs from the hard disk recorder.

They're all getting to me a bit and then I remember the long journey (physical and emotional) and the huge changes that are coming, and that little baby who is and will be going through so much more with no control or understanding of what's happening.

I know that nobody said life was easy, but today remembering that isn't helping!

WHAT A DAY!

My last day at school, for a while and MAJOR technology problems.

The interactive whiteboard (in the classroom) crashed on me twice before I gave up and went back to old fashioned technology (photocopier!). I then spent 2 hours (and a 40 minute round trip back to the store) for them to tell me the diagram was misleading (took them 20 minutes or so to work that out!), near crash on the way home and now my email etc won't work on my desktop (but the laptop, using the same wireless technology is fine at the moment!!) After that I checked one of my Yahoo groups (after a chat with a friend and reference to emails that I haven't received!) to find that my membership is on hold as my email address is bouncing.

I'm stuck, I don't know how to resolve the desktop problem or the Yahoo Groups problem.

I'm giving up and going to bed, avoiding all technology on the way!!

One positive note - my ITT arrived today, it's official, I can go to China and get my little girl.

ITTs, AN EXPLANATION!

. . . for those readers in foreign lands:

An ITT is an Invitation To Travel - it's the same as a TA (I think). The ITT permits us to get a visa (though I got mine with a copy of the acceptance letter) and allows the adoption process to happen in China.

It's a great relief to know that it will be in my hands tomorrow. Tomorrow is also my last day in school for a while, I think it could be quite an emotional day!

ITTs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

. . . are ON THEIR WAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I CAN GO AND GET MY BABY x o x o x

EMOTIONS

. . . silly things, funny things, thought-provoking things and even statistics are all moving me to tears at the moment.

10 days til I meet my baby, that's unbelievable to me at the moment. But I've focused so much on when I meet her that I was totally overwhelmed this morning as I realised that I leave a week from tomorrow - HOLY COW!

The wonderful T has been organising me, some of the time without me even realising. She's following my plans but without being asked. I went into the nursery last night - I knew that the painting should have been finished, I hadn't realised she'd hung the new lampshade (white with pink fairies and flowers embroidered on it!). The new carpet is due to be laid next Wednesday but the changing table won't arrive until while we're away.

T had also moved the corner cupboard out of the sitting room and made it fit in the dining room - where it looks good and it will probably stay (instead of being sold) which is good as I like the china it displays and it will be nice to have a more 'grown-up' room! She's also set up 1 of the 4 sets of 'BabyDans' as a fire guard in the drawing room, 2 of the others will be playpens (1 up and 1 down stairs!) and the 4th was supposed to be a fireguard around the wood-burner that I'm still wondering about, but I also need to use 1 as a room divider in the hall so it won't go to waste!

We're getting there, but no doubt there are more tears (mostly happy) to come in the next few weeks!

11 DAYS

. . . 11 days ago was the day that the cotbed was delivered and assembled, the day I bought the car seat. No time at all.

. . . in 11 days time I will meet my daughter! Butterflies are starting to flutter.

Today was a school day. The children in my class were only told yesterday about the adoption and that I would be leaving on Friday. Today was also my playground duty day - the girls swarmed round me, beaming, they didn't want to 'talk' just to be close, it was very sweet. I've told the whole class that I'll take the photos in tomorrow and tell them all about her, as soon as I started talking about it they had lots of questions! It was lovely to know that they knew - I've been waiting to tell them ever since I knew about Whatshername!

I finish work on Friday. 2 more days to go.

Thinking about what's going to happen in China. I turn up, present a special piece of paper and my passport and they give me my daughter. Then we're together, forever. There's more paperwork to do after that, but Whatshername will be with me for all of that. It will take about 9 days to complete all the paperwork and then we'll be on our way home.

Meantime, 21 days til we're home. 3 weeks to go. 3 weeks ago was half term, a busy day with lunch with friends (D & A - Whatshername's first friend) and supper with other friends. Even 3 weeks doesn't seem that long ago - I think the next 3 weeks will seem a lot longer!

UN-BL**DY-BELIEVABLE

The guide (in China) emails to say that the ITTs (last piece of paperwork needed before travel) are in the UK. [1 - it takes someone in China to tell us this?]

So I rang the UK authorities to check if they have them, they do! BUT they can't tell us when they'll be sending them out. They've checked every piece of paperwork, surely by now they know this bit's coming and how important it is to us and how we need it NOW!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

MORE TEARS!!

Apparently our final paperwork from China has reached the UK - although no word from the authorities about it (unsurprisingly!)

I can go to China and get my little girl!

EMAILING POSTS - CONCLUSIONS

Someone still has to log into Blogger to view the draft and publish it. Photos don't come through.

Decision - I might as well email the content and photos for someone to upload, emailing Blogger doesn't seem to save any time or effort!

ANOTHER TEST!

This is me according to a 7 year old pupil, he did it a while ago, but I still like it. I thought very carefully about my wardrobe choices the day I asked them to draw me – he captured the blue stripy top and the gold necklace I was wearing!

EMAILING POSTS

Verdict - it worked, sort of!

The text came through but the photo didn't as an attachment, I'll try embedding one next time. It only came through as a draft, I still had to publish it?

Ideas? Any help gratefully received!

ANY VOLUNTEERS?

While I'm in China I want to post to this blog. My friend C will also have publishing rights.

Are there any blogging friends out there who could help out? Anyone fancy editing posts - to make the layout better? Anyone fancy being the moderator - moderating comments? Preferably someone who knows blogger or who is a quick learner!

Any volunteers either email me or leave a comment that won't be published.

Thanks!

I HAD TO TRY THIS ONE!

You Should Travel to China

China can satisfy your craving for many travel opportunities in one trip. You can hang out in modern Shanghai, walk along the great wall, or visit sacred mountains.

What Asian Country Should You Visit?