Xi'An

We made it to Xi'An this afternoon and were amazed by a couple of things. First off ... The smog is so bad that we are surprised anyone can breathe. The smog in Beijing was bad when we there a few years ago in August, but I contributed some of that to the heat. Our driver from the airport said the smog is always this bad. I can't even imagine. People walk around wearing face masks all of the time. They have become part of a fashion statement. Some say Nike. Others look like an animal and others are all lace.

The second thing that we noticed was the extreme poverty as we drove into the city. We saw some of that in Beijing, but nothing compared to what we saw today. Heartbreaking.

We got to experience true China driving today at its best. We actually saw two accidents today, which is the first time we have seen an accident here. We were told everyone drives crazy, but by some miracle there aren't many accidents. I have no idea how anyone's car remains unscathed.

Our hotel is amazing. We were upgraded to a suite and did not even know it. Our first apartment could fit in to this place. Downtown Xi'An is surrounded by the only city wall that remains in its entirety. It is very neat to see and drive through ... You almost feel as if you are entering into the palace gates.

We went out walking this afternoon and found our way to Muslim Street. It is a street full of street vendors. Lots of interesting smells and foods to purchase. There weren't too many things that you can find in the U.S. We also saw the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. Both are under construction, so we didn't get to see their full beauty but they were still magnificent.

Xi'An City Wall

View from our hotel room

Michael in front of the Bell Tower

Pig feet anyone?

We ate at a Brazilian restaurant tonight. Yep, that's right ... We traveled all the way to China to eat Brazilian BBQ. It was very good and the waiter, Fernando, took an interest in us. He wanted to know where we were from, why we were here and what we thought about Xi'An. We continued to have an interesting and eye opening conversation with him. I want to write more about this conversation, but it will take me awhile to put it together. Stay tuned to hear more about Fernando.

We are going to try and sleep more than 4 hours tonight. Goodnight from Xi'An. Tomorrow - Terracotta warriors!

 

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Hong Kong

We made it to Hong Kong last night after traveling all day. Needless to say, we are tired and are trying to figure out what day of the week and what time it is both here and at home. :-) We flew to Chicago from Cincinnati, had a 4 hour layover, and then took our flight on Cathay Pacific for over 15 hours to Hong Kong. Our flight was good and flying on Cathay was very nice. The meals were good and we had a huge selection of movies and tv shows to choose from.

We wish we could see more of Hong Kong because it looks like a very fun city. We are about to fly to Xi'an in a couple of hours. We have met two adoptive families already who were both on our flight from Chicago. One of the families is from Indy and she and I are on a Facebook group together, so it was nice to meet her in person. The other family is from Wisconsin. We are all excited and so thankful to finally be here.

We were able to Skype this morning with the kids and they are having lots of fun with their grandparents. Here are a few photos to share for now. We should have a lot more once we get settled in Xi'an and we start touring ... We are really excited to see the terra cotta warriors. And ... we only have a couple more days until we get to hold Eli in our arms for the first time!

 

Our last photo as a family of 5!

Going through immigration in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Marriott Lobby

Hong Kong Bay through the fog (correction smog)

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China - Here we come!

It has been a whirlwind!  We received our Travel Approval (TA) on Wednesday, the 9th and we are leaving this coming Wednesday!!  Our agency has been wonderful in getting us to China and home before Chinese New Year begins.  This was our prayer and we are so thankful that we are going to see Eli very soon.

We will try to blog and post updates and pictures daily while we are away.  Here is our itineray:

Wednesday, January 16th - fly out of Cincinnati (4 hour layover in Chicago) and then a LONG flight to Hong Kong
Thursday, January 17th - arrive in Hong Kong and spend the night
Friday, January 18th - fly to Xi'an (We are staying in Xi'an for a couple of nights so we can tour, get acquainted with the time difference, and see the Terracotta warriors)
Sunday, January 20th - take bullet train to Zhengzhou, meet up with our travel group.
Monday, January 21st - Get ELI!!!
Tuesday, January 22nd - Complete adoption registration and then travel to Luoyang (where Eli is from) to apply for Eli's passport.
Wednesday, January 23rd - free day (may see if we can go back to Luoyang to visit the orphanage)
Thursday, January 24th - Receive notary documents
Friday, January 25th - Receive passport
Saturday, January 26th - fly to Guangzhou
Sunday, January 27th- free day
Monday, January 28th - Eli's physical appointment
Tuesday, January 29th - prepare paperwork for consulate appointment
Wednesday, January 30th - Consulate Appointment
Thursday, January 31 - receive Eli's Visa
Friday, February 1- travel to Hong Kong and then fly home!!!  (And hug 3 kids that we will miss terribly!)

Thanks everyone for all of your support, encouragement, prayers and help during all of this.  We could not do it without you!  Please pray for us as we travel.  Please also pray for our kids who we are leaving here (in the wonderful care of their grandparents), but who we will miss terribly.  Please pray for Eli as the only people and home he knows are about to forever change.

I have been continuously singing this song by Chris Tomlin("Whom Shall I Fear") and I wanted to write a few lyrics as we prepare to leave our comfortable home here and travel across the world to grow our family ...

I know Who goes before me
I know Who stands behind
The God of Angel Armies
is always on my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a friend of mine
The God of Angel Armies
Is always by my side

Love to you all ...Next post will be from China!!

 

Christmas Break 2012

It was so hard to get back into the routine this week after being off work and school for a couple of weeks.  We had an amazing Christmas break and enjoyed every second of it!  We were able to spend lots of time with famiy and friends and celebrate Christmas, New Years and Bella's birthday!

Michael and the boys hit the slopes a couple of times during the break.  Aidan loves the moguls and Keenan is the speed demon.  They actually went again today and Michael said that he told Keenan to go ahead and "get down" the slope first.  Michael said that once Keenan was half way down the slope, he stopped and literally "got down" by dancing Gangnam style while on skis and all.  Michael and Aidan said they were cracking up as were everyone that was on the ski lift that saw him.  He is such a clown!  Here is a pic of Keenan getting ready to hit the slopes ...

 

 

Both of our skiers!

 

 

We made several trips to Southern Indiana to visit family and have Christmas celebrations.  It was so nice seeing everyone and getting to see extended family that we don't get to see very often.  At one family event we got to see our ring bearer and flower girl.  Made me feel so old ... one of them is engaged and the other has a boyfriend and is driving!!

 

Keenan, Hunter and Aidan with their Mamaw on Christmas Eve 

 

Family Pic (can't wait to have Eli in here with us!)

 



 

We took the kids one rainy day and went down to Newport and had lunch.  We then took them to the Museum Center to see the trains.  At the end of the train exhibit, they visited with Santa.  We had so much fun getting out and touring the museum. 

 



The kids with Santa

 

 

Another evening we went to the Creation Museum and went to Christmas Town.  We had heard a lot about this, but had never been.  It was so AMAZING!!  We got to see live stories of the preparation of the Ark and also the Nativity scene.  We also heard from a WiseMan who told us about his journey following the star to Jesus.  The kids loved it!  The lights were also beautiful and they also had camel rides and a petting zoo.  This will be a family tradition for years to come!

 

 

I love this picture of the kids because it shows their excitement before going to bed on Christmas Eve.  It is the one night of the year we don't have to tell them twice to go to bed. 





Bella turned 7 on New Year's Eve.  We had a princess party for her and she loved her cake!  She cracked everyone up after she opened each gift because she exclaimed, "Thank you everyone!!" each and every time.

 

We brought in the New Year with friends.  We went to the Festival of Lights at the zoo and had a great time.  There was a train ride, funnel cakes, animals and fireworks.  Loads of fun!

 

 

We pray that everyone has a very blessed 2013!  We are excited to see what God has in store for us this year as we bring home our son!

Late Christmas Present

The day after Christmas we got a late present from our agency, updated photos of Eli. It looks like he has grown some and he is walking along objects and sayings some basic words. We hope to be getting our travel approval soon. Please keep him (and us) in your prayers.










 

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Getting Closer!

It has been a while since I have blogged so I thought I would catch everyone up on our progress.  Currently our paperwork is with the U.S. Embassy in China and should be there another week.  It will then be picked up by our agency and taken to the Chinese placing agency and we will then officially be waiting for our Travel Approval!!  We are praying that we will get to travel in January and be there and back before Chinese New Year starts in February.  If we don't make it before Chinese New Year, then we will be delayed for another few weeks because EVERYTHING shuts down in China for Chinese New Year for a couple of weeks.
We are currently making our "To Do", "To Pack" and "To Buy" lists.  We are waiting for an update on Eli and are anxious to get it.  Once we get that, we hope to have a better idea of his size so we can get some clothes, diapers. shoes .. you know, the fun stuff!
We have been blessed by everyone's prayers, bracelet orders (we recently received an order for 24 bracelets from someone in Alabama!) and puzzle piece purchases.  If you'd like to donate or buy a bracelet, let us know!  We have to send our donation for the orphanage by the end of the year and are honestly scrambling a bit to get the $$ together. 

We will post as soon as we know our travel plans and hope that everyone can follow along with our journey to Eli!

Praying you all have a blessed Christmas and wonderful New Year to come!

LOA, Halloween, and the average week at the Garland household!

This was our first week with no soccer ... no soccer practices, no soccer games, no tournaments to get ready for and no uniforms to constantly wash.  Have to say, it seemed like a very quiet week, but put Halloween and parent/teacher conferences in the mix, it all of the sudden did not stay so quiet. 
Halloween was fun even though the weather did not cooperate this year (cold and rainy!).  Bella lasted 30 minutes of trick or treating, but the boys made sure they went to every single house in the neighborhood.  And when they got home they were a muddy, wet mess.  I wish I had taken a picture, but I was so concerned with getting them dry I did not even think of it.  We had a wounded hockey play, a beautiful mermaid and a gorilla ninja living in our home that evening.  Here is their pic before they stepped out into the cold and rain ... 

 

 

Aidan had Spirit week at school.  One day was crazy hair day and he wanted pink hair to support Breast Cancer Awareness month.  It was so fun to see all of the kids on the school bus with hair painted about every color of the rainbow (and then some!)

 

 

I also had my meeting with Keenan's 1st grade teacher this week.  Keenan, as many of you know, is our clown in the family.  His teacher told me that he is very considerate and really watches out for his little sister.  She even said she has had no sitings of "Keenan the clown" during classtime.  So thankful for how well he is doing this year in his new school and new routine.  Here is a recent picture of Keenan and LuLu ...

 

 

And last, but not least, we received our LOA for Eli on November 1st!!  This is the letter from China giving us their approval to be his family.  The LOA arrived at our agency on the 1st, then arrived at our door on the 2nd.  I ran it around to get Michael's signature and to say "yes, we accept!" and then quickly took it to the FedEx store to be shipped back to our agency.  We think we will travel in 2-3 months and are praying we travel before Chinese New Year begins in February.  The next steps are new to us as they are different from what we did when we adopted Bella and there are several steps to go through.  The good thing is that we will be notified as each step is completed so we will really have a better idea of when we may travel as each step is marked off the to do list.

 

So thankful that every day we are a little closer to bringing Eli home.  And so grateful for our God who we know is watching over him and all of the other precious children each and every day.