This is it!!!!!

We leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go get our sweet girl. I have no idea what I am supposed to be feeling right now but let me tell you, it is just about everything at once. One of my good friends, Cynetha, keeps saying "you are bringing back another human being". I am so excited at the thought of finale being able to hold Gwynn, but the thought of actually having three kids makes me sick to my stomach. I am worried about the trip and worried about how Gwynn will react to us. We still haven't hashed out who gets her first on gotcha day.(that should make some interesting video, us fighting while some nanny tries to had the baby over, hee hee) And I pray that my father in law can figure out how to work the video camera tomorrow morning when he drops us off a the airport at 4:30 am. I don't know if I will know how to work anything at 4:30 am.

I have to tell you that I am so lucky and so blessed to have my family. Ethan can be the sweetest kid on the whole planet. Yesterday when I asked him what he wanted me to bring him back from China he replied "just my baby sister". It totally brought tears to my eye. There is no way we could be going away for two weeks if it wasn't for my Mother in Law, Charlene and my mom Anne who are so devoted to my kids. They are splitting their grandma duties and staying with the kids, each for about half of the time . And this is a big shout out to The Best Husband In The Whole World!!! Thank you Brad for taking me on this journey!!!

I am not sure what else to say, other than please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We look forward to posting as much as we can from China!!!

HELP!!!!! I am losing my MIND!!

It is official, I am freaking out!!! We are leaving in 8 days and I haven't even started to pack. I am totally scatterbrained and can barely sleep. You know that point in every pregnancy that you want the child out of your body but you start to realize it is really going to hurt in order to get it out. Well, I have discovered that you reach that same point in international adoption. And for those of you whom have heard me say "I feel like I am going on Vacation for two weeks" Well, you can stop laughing because that warm fuzzy feeling is GONE!!!!

But seriously, I have had a to do list 10 miles long and have been working away at it every day. It is significantly smaller and Brad is actually taking over some of the things I really don't want to do. I have all the medication anyone could possibly need in a foreign country. ( Brad is not going to experience a moments heartburn with all the crap I am hauling over there. ) But with the weather in Guangzhou being between 60 and 78 degrees I am a little confused on the packing.

We received our itinerary yesterday. Included on it are, a visit to the Orphanage, Chen Family's Temple, Yun Tai Gardens, of course the Great Wall, Tien An Men Square and the Forbidden City. It all seems to be coming together nicely. Now if I could just make myself pack we would be all set.

By the way, any ideas on What a 10 month old does? hee hee.

Can you Pick her out, I can!!!

Last week we were blessed with a new picture of Gwynneth. A family that adopted the cute girl sucking on Charlie Brown's, head sent these to us. The Cambel family sent a care package to there daughter that had a camera in it. When I posted pictures of Gwynn on a yahoo group site they sent these to me saying "We have a picture of you daughter". No question in my mind. Have you spotted her yet? She is the DIVA second from the Right, white shirt, red pants.

We were told that there are over 100 little girls Gwynn's age in the Social Welfare Instite(SWI). This SWI opened for internation adoption in December and also is a home for the elderly. We are definately keeping our fingers crossed that we will be allowed to visit and see what it was like for Gwynn's first 10 months. Someone reported that Civil Unrest in Guangdong kept the last adoption group from visiting.

Keep you fingers crossed for us, we leave two weeks from tomorow and expect to have Gwynn in our arms forever on Feb 7th. This is going to be the best Valentines day!!!

Happy New Year

We survived another holiday season, and what a great one it was. I was so unmotivated to do Christmas this year, if I hadn't hosted the December Bunco group I am afraid I would have never put up my tree. But I did and as the days rolled on I did get caught up in the spirit. This year is just a different, having a daughter that is not with us this Christmas changes the way you feel about everything.

The boys were absolutely adorable!! Ethan tried to read every gift tag and would say a big Thank You before he opened every present. I even heard him exclaim how wonderful Santa was on a few occasions that morning. Alex wanted to play with the first gift he opened and wasn't making a dent on his stack of gifts. I had to hand them to him and he would look up at me with those sweet eyes and say "AGAIN" . He obviously doesn't take after me, hee hee. Alex is really talking more and repeating almost everything ( I guess I will have to curb what is left of my drunken sailor mouth) and Ethan learned to ride his bike without training wheels on Christmas day.

Grandma and Grandpa Martin came out for a week and we celebrated Christmas eve with the entire Jamail/Martin clan. Uncle Rob brought his guitar and sang what has become our disfunctional family anthem called "The Family" it just wouldn't seem like Christmas without a little pickin and grinin.

Our latest Adoption update puts us in Beijing on Feb 5th with a gotcha day (that is the day Gwynneth will be in our arms forever) on Feb 7th. We are still waiting on Travel approval and an appointment with the American Consulate in China to firm up our dates. Just the thought of getting ready for this trip is stressing me out, there is so much to do. But I promise that when the kids get back to school I will hit it with full force and be my usual prepared self.

I think that bring us about up to speed. I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and that your New Year is full of happiness and many blessings, I know ours will be!!