All I can say about these last two weeks before take-off is OMG!

My "to do" list grows every time I let myself stop and think.

This weekend I did manage to buy gifts for the officials that were made here in our state or at least represent our region (Celtics stuff for the men).  But that was just the beginning.  Every day between now and next Friday will probably be spent doing some errand or something else on the list.

This is so much crazier than getting ready for any vacation or taking time off for surgery could ever think of being.

 
 

It turns out that our adoption specialist and the other adoptive mother were on the phone at the same time I was, and both of them were being told to hold as well.  So we managed the telephone conference by cell phone.  It was great to hear my travel mate's voice.  She lives only about 30 miles from me and we are both teachers, but our attempt to get together and meet before travel was canceled when she had a family tragedy.  So I emailed my photo to her so that she will recognize me at the airport.

This is so exciting!  Our specialist warned us not to be surprised by the lack of "personal space" awareness by the Chinese-I think that is true in most non-English countries, though.  She said that the people and especially the children would probably be very fascinated by LB.  I expect they will love her 3-1/2 feet of hair. 

I also put in a request to go to Chimelong water park before leaving Guagnzhou.  What four year old boy wouldn't' love a trip to that place?  It is sort of like a Chinese style Disney World.

 
 

I'm one of those people that is late if I'm only five minutes early.  But I waited to call in for our "travel meeting" which was to be by telephone conference call tonight at 7:00.  The host had not yet arrived, so every 20-30 seconds the service said, "Please continue to hold".  I held.  After 25 minutes of holding I hung up.

So I sent an email to our contact and she called to say she was on the phone getting the same message at the same time that I was.  She's now on her cell phone with the other lady traveling to adopt while I'm on hold-let's see if we can get a three way conversation going after all.

In the meantime, here is what I do know:

I do know what hotels we are staying in and how much $ I have to send to the China coordinator for in-country lodging, travel, and tourism.  I also know how much the orphanage donation is going to be and approximately how much our son's expenses are going to be for his medical exam, visa, passport, etc.  What I don't know is the logistics of some of these arrangements.


 
 

You can see the sports theme, of course; there is also a sports rug in the attic still in its wrapper which I need to get down.  The basketball backpack also has a little lunchbox on the bottom of it. (detachable).  I got soft sneakers and sandals in case his feet are bigger than expected and a few matching games, since I remember LB being pretty obsessed with those at four and five years old.  Then we have the Elmo slippers hanging on the closet doors.  RB was jealous when I bought them, but they didn't have any in his size at that store, so I got him a pair a few weeks later and he wore them to bed (he loves Elmo and Thomas equally).