Good Morning from Guangzhou

Good morning (or should I say Good Evening for all of you back in the states).  It is 7:00 a.m. on Friday morning.  Although we were very tired last night due to our transition from Beijing to Guangzhou, sleep was a little hard to come by last night for some of us due to the anxiety of today's event.  Today is Gotcha Day!  This afternoon, while all of you are in a deep sleep in the USA, our families will expand by one as we receive our precious new daughters.  It's hard to believe that after 4 years and 11 months, we will be holding them in our arms today!  Hopefully, by the time you wake tomorrow morning, we'll have posted pictures of our new girls so that you can share in the joy.  We hope you all have a good night, as we enjoy our great day!

Guangzhou

We  made it to Guangzhou today about 12:00.  Finally got checked into our rooms and we are now relaxing.  Had a good dinner (something other than Chinese) at Lucy's and ice cream at the deli next door to the hotel.     We will get to meet our daughters tomorrow afternoon, I'm thinking around 2:30 or 3.  It really hit home today when they brought us our baby bed.  Just one more day as a family of three.  Can't wait to post pictures of all the girls big and little.

The Great Wall of China

It sure doesn't look as steep in the pictures as it actually was!

Michelle representing Brookside Elementary at The Great Wall!

Lillian representing Highbridge Aquatics at the Great Wall!

Amazing views of the wall in every direction you look!

The Sisler's

Lillian, Kari, Jae, and Sophi (in front) after having climbed The Great Wall!

PS.... I know many of the pics are of Lillian and the Sisler family. We're still getting Tracie and Donna set up so they can access and post to the blog. Sorry for it being so one-sided. Also, remember that if you want to see a larger version of any of the pictures, just click on it.

Birds Nest and Water Cube

We have to do our homework before we go sight-seeing.

TThe Bird's Nest, home of the 2008 Summer Olympics

I couldn't resist: C-A-T-S, Cats, Cats, CATS!

Lillian sporting her HA t-shirt!

The Olympic Torch that was once on top of the Birds Nest stadium.

The Water Cube aquatics center.

Lillian. The swimmer in her wishing she could be in the pool inside the Water Cube!

Beijing: Day Two

Ni Hao! For those of you that don't know, that is Hello in Chinese. Once again, we were up very early today after a much needed rest from yesterday's adventures. Today was much less strenuous on the bodies and we all did very well. Today, after Jae, Kari, Lillian, and Sophi did a bit of school work, we set off for the Chinese Olympic Green where did a walk around the venues built for the 2008 Olympics. We saw the China's National Stadium, better known as the Birds Nest. It is so big! It is an architectural wonder. We also saw the Water Cube, which is the China National Aquatics center where Michael Phelps and all the worlds greatest swimmers competed during the games. Additionally, we saw the Gymnastics Stadium and many other olympic sites. Unfortunately, we couldn't go inside any of the venues (even though Lillian beg to go swimming in the Water Cube). Afterward, we stopped by the Tomb of one of China's great Emperors. Actually, in the area are the tombs of all 13 Emperor's of the Ming Dynasty. It was very interesting. Then it was lunch time at one of the many Friendship Stores in Beijing. It's a restaurant and a store (kind of a tourist trap). I'll bet you can't guess what we ate. If you guessed Chinese food, you guessed right! Our final stop of the day was The Great Wall of China. It is amazing (and STEEP!). The girls wanted to climb as high as they could go, and they did (which meant we did). Some of us didn't make it as high as they did (it's not fun being old). It is amazing to think that the wall was built by so many men that far into the mountains. It truly is one of the great wonders of the world. Tonight after dinner (pizza, YUM!), we started packing. Tomorrow morning, we leave for Guangzhou, our final destination where we will spend the remaining 14 days of our trip. And then, on Friday................. BABIES!

Summer Palace

Summer Palace

Summer Palace

Emperor's marina

Here's on of the many McDonald's we saw. We didn't eat there, but I'm sure we eventually will.

Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City

Exit gate of Forbidden City

Garden within Forbidden City

Kari, Sophi, Jay, and Lillian

Emperor's Throne in Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Glasscock's in Forbidden City

Sisler's in Tiananmen Square (Forbidden City in background)

Tiananmen Square

Beijing Day One

Good morning! It's 8:30 p.m. here in Beijing and we are all very tired after a long day of sight-seeing. Beijing is a big, beautiful city with many, many people. The population of Beijing is almost 17 million, half of which seemed to be at Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City with us today. Tiananmen Square is a vast area of concrete containing many monunments, one of which is the tomb of Chairman Mao, who is cherished by the Chinese people. The line of people waiting to see his tomb was so long that it was estimated to be 2-3 hours. The square was filled with so many people. We then entered The Forbidden City, which housed the Emperor of China from the 1400's to 1925 (over 500 years). The palace is huge with many beautiful buildings. It was hard for us to imagine that people actually had once lived there. After a quick lunch (Chinese food, of course), we visited the Summer Palace, which was a summer home for the Emperor and his family. The palace was built on a mountain at the edge of a lake. Again, there were many beautiful buildings within the palace walls. It was a great (and long) walk to burn off our lunch. We ended the day at a theater to watch the Chinese Acrobats. It was an amazing show, although most of the girls slept through it. After having walked 3-4 miles in the sun, they all were wiped out. Anyway, it was a great day and we enjoyed seeing Beijing. I've posted some pics of today's adventures. Enjoy!

We Made It!

Well, we finally landed in China. It was a long, 12 1/2 hour plane ride from Chicago to Beijing, but we are now here and just now have gotten settled into our hotel rooms. It's now almost 1:00 a.m. and Lillian, Sophi, Kari, and Jay are trying to go to sleep. They all hardly slept on the plane, so they ought to be tired, but the overall excitement of them being in China has them worked up a bit. Tomorrow, we start our Beijing sightseeing tour bright and early (8:30 a.m.). It should be fun. We'll write more tomorrow, but for now it is time to try and get some rest. Good night, all!

10 HOURS!!!

I'm not very good at this but here goes. We should be getting on our first flight in about 10 hours. I can't believe that we are finally on our way. Packing is basically done, just a few little things to add at the last minute. WATCH OUT CHINA HERE WE COME!!!

2 More Days!

Our departure day is quickly approaching and the stress level is rising. I woke up quite a few times last night in a panic after having dreams that I had forgotten some paperwork or other items pertinent to our trip! I think I'm going to take a double dose of Benadryl tonight so I can get some sleep. I'll need the sleep prior to our 13 1/2 hour flight to China on Sunday! Ugh! The picture above is of our travel group back in 2004 when we adopted Lillian, the Glasscocks adopted Kari, and the Blincoes adopted Sophi. There were nine families in our group and we all became bonded forever during that trip through our beautiful baby girls. We (the Sislers) are on the left in the front row (me in blue shirt; Michelle and Lillian next to me). The Glasscocks are almost directly behind us (Tony in the white shirt; Tracie in the red shirt). Donna Blincoe and Sophi are in the center of the back row (Donna with short, red hair; Sophi in yellow). It was an incredible journey and we are lucky to be travelling with them again on this new adventure. It's going to be an awesome trip! (click on the picture to view a larger version of it)

The countdown continues, as well as the preparation.  Although we feel like we are in pretty good shape with packing, etc., there are all kinds of little details that need to be done prior to our departure on Sunday.  It will all get done and our trip will go great.  We just have to keep a positive outlook!  Current Stress Level (1-10) = 4   We received our itineraries today.  It appears as if we will be holding our babies in our arms on March 31st (or maybe April 1st)!  Including today, that is only 8 more days!   We'd also like to tell you about the Lund family from Wisconsin who will be joining us on our adventure.  They are adopting through a different agency that uses the same China program as ours and thus will be part of our travel group.  This is their first child and we are very happy for them!  We'll be meeting up with them in Beijing next week!  If you get a chance, take a look at their blog and new, beautiful baby girl, Ariana Jaidyn.  Here a link to her blog: http://in-our-hearts.blogspot.com/

The travel countdown has begun!

Although some of you may already know this, we have officially received our consulate appointment and travel dates from our agency! Our flights our booked and we will be headed to China on Sunday, March 27th. We are so excited! All three families (Blincoe, Glasscock, and Sisler) will be travelling together on the same flight from Chicago to Beijing Sunday evening. We are so lucky to be sharing this experience once again with one another, especially since Kari, Lillian, and Sophi will be travelling to their homeland together and will have the opportunity to experience the adoption process that they went through when they were babies. It is going to be an exciting trip and we are counting down the days until we are holding Ella Rose, Rose Mei, and Savannah Dawn in our arms! Hang on babies, it's not long now!

Updated Pics of Ella Rose

Here are the updated photos of Ella Rose!

Savannah updated picture

Updated Pictures

Updated pictures of Rose Mei.

Are You Ready?!

Yesterday we received an email with tentative travel dates. We leave March 23! That's next Wednesday for those of you reaching for a calendar. It couldn't be better timing as the girls' spring break falls the first week of April. This way they'll only miss one week of school rather than the two we expected.

Are we ready?! Acckk! I suppose we are. Are you ever ready? The baby is packed. Lillian's things are in order (sort of). Kevin and I.... well, we'll figure it out.

I feel so much more at ease and have been able to enjoy the excitement for this trip. When we traveled to get Lillian I was a frantic crazy woman. This time we know what to expect and I have the best of friends traveling with me. I remember being so homesick last time. It's hard to explain how exciting it is to finally meet your child for the first time, but not have ALL (Kevin does count :)) the people you love around you to share it.