Day 1 - Beijing

Ni Hao!!!! Before I forget, if you watched Samantha Brown, Passport to China then you will understand when I say........."We're in CHINA!!!!!!!!!" ; )

We had an awesome day today...tons of walking and sightseeing. We visited Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, Pearl Factory, Summer Palace and Silk Museum. So we are very exhausted!

Tian'anmen Square is the largest public square in the world. It was very interesting and I still can't believe that we were there. Forbidden City was impressive. The architecture is so amazing!! The palaces were so colorful and beautiful! Now, my favorite spot, so far, was Summer Palace......that was amazing!! It's SO beautiful and peaceful there, we could have spent all day there. The views were breathtaking.

The Pearl Factory was nice. We bought Crystina her first pearl necklace, not for now but for when she gets older. : ) The Silk Museum was interesting....lots of nice stuff. There were 4 ladies making a comforter, which was very interesting, and I (Barbara) helped strecth the silk, along with another mom and most of the kids in our group.

Lunch was great! We really enjoyed it. Dinner was okay, we actually tried Chinese Pizza which was loaded with peppers.

Overall, we had an awesome day!!!!!!! Here are some pictures of our day.

On the plane, heading to China.

Our hotel room...yep, separate beds. ; )

In the elevator, heading down to breakfast.

Tian'anmen Square...lots of nice flowers.
Tian'anmen Square (construction going on).

For the Olympics & Paralympics...very nice.

Again, construction going on for the Paralympics. Entrance of Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Gate...so nice!!
Forbidden City Check out the architecture...so awesome! We are in the Forbidden City!!

Emperor's Palace...amazing!

Imperial Garden...so nice!! In the Garden...

She's making Crystina's necklace.

Summer Palace...amazing view!
Summer Palace...love the Weeping Willows.

At the Summer Palace. And again...at the Summer Palace.

Summer Palace...so peaceful.

My favorite shot!!! Of course, at the Summer Palace.

Love the architecture and all the colors!

Making a silk comforter.

This is all for now. Tomorrow we have another busy day...and one of the stops is the Great Wall, which we are very excited about! And then the next day....we get Crystina!!!!! We are SO close to her but it feels SO far away! Please keep Crystina in your prayers, as her little life is about to change very soon.

Thank you for the comments, they really mean so much to us...but please keep them coming!

We miss everyone so much! We send our love to all and may GOD bless you!

We made it!!!!!

Greetings from Beijing, China!!!! Yes, we made it...we are here!! We made it to Crystina's birth country. We are actually in the same country as she is...just miles and miles apart. In just 3 days, she will be in OUR arms!! And that day cannot get here fast enough.

Our flight from Orlando to DC was good and short (2 hours). A little bumpy towards the end....DC had pretty bad weather when we arrived. I met a very pleasant lady that sat next to me and we talked almost the whole way to DC. If she only knew how much she calmed my nerves. She was certainly an angel (for me) sent from GOD! And I thank her from the bottom of my heart. My regret.......I forgot to get her name and give her our blog. : (

Now...our flight from DC to Beijing..............was LONG!!! That was the longest 13 hours of my life! I thought we would never get here. We slept on and off, it's kinda hard to sleep well on a plane. We flew through Canada, the North Pole and Russia before landing in China. The flight was pretty good, despite the length. The landing was the BEST part!!! ; )

We are now in our hotel room...thinking about going to the local store, which compares to Wal-mart, to buy water and a few things. Since it's raining, I really don't want to venture out but I think we just have to. Especially if we want some dinner.......KFC sounds really good right now. : ) HA HA HA HA!!!

We will post pictures later on...right now we are way too tired to even think about that. We just wanted everyone to know that we made it, safely! Thank GOD!

Oh, mom can you please tell Abuela "Thank you" for the travel pillow that she let us borrow...that was the best thing that we carried on!! I'm actually going to be using it EVERY night to sleep...if Crystina doesn't take it from me in a few days.

Okay, this is all for now from China. We will post again tomorrow, if not tonight with pictures (highly doubt it)...we have a very busy day tomorrow and hope to have some really good shots of Beijing.

Much love to all and we miss everyone dearly!! God Bless!

We are ready to go....

Okay...so we are all packed and ready to go! Except for my nerves. I have been SO nervous for some weeks. But I'm sure with time and LOTS of prayers, I will be just fine. ; )

We wanted to test the video posting, so the first video is of Lola & Bertha...they are about to get a treat. It's so funny...especially Bertha, she jumps high when she gets excited!! Enjoy and we hope you can view them. **in order to listen to the videos, you will need to pause the music**

This is our nephew, Ayden. He's "talking." We are so sure, Ayden & Crystina will NOT have a problem communicating. ; )

And now here are a few pictures.

This one is of Ayden...this is the expression we get EVERY time he sees Crystina's picture. We can't wait for them to actually meet, it's going to be SO cute!!

Our nephew, Joshua and I share a birthday! We have been celebrating our birthdays together ever since he turned 1. So, it's an extra special day for me.

Here's an updated picture of Crystina's nursery. We received the letters for her name at our Baby Shower (Thank you Migdalia & Felipe!!). We love the way it looks.

Okay, this is it until we get settled in Beijing. PLEASE, PLEASE pray for our safe travels and for Crystina. We are VERY excited about meeting our daughter on Monday. Words cannot express our emotions right now...after waiting over 2 years for this moment....well, there are no words. You can only imagine how we feel. And if you really know us, you can really imagine it. ; )

If by some reason we are unable to post, my dad is going to do it for us. So, there will be something here, letting everyone know that we made it to China.

Before I forget....PLEASE, if you can, leave a comment, only positive ones! This will be our only way of communication with everyone (well, we will be calling our parents from time to time). And we really will be needing that extra support. Thank you in advance!!!

Okay...thank you to everyone for your prayers, not only now but for the past (almost) 3 years!! Keep them coming.... Much love to all!!!!!!

Crystina - 16 months old today...

Today, Crystina is 16 months old...

Our dearest Crystina,

In less than 2 weeks, your little world is going to change so much...our world is going to change too. And we can't hardly wait. We know it's going to be hard for all of us but it's going to be worth it. We love you so much and can't wait to meet you and hold you in our arms. We are looking forward to September 1st...our Forever Family day! We pray for you every day! May GOD bless you and keep you safe. See you real soon baby girl!!!

With ALL of our LOVE...
your mommy & daddy

Baby Shower

Our family and friends gave us the most amazing baby shower on Saturday, the 16th. We were so touched by everything. Here are some photos of our amazing day...

Our dear friend, Isabel, thought of this wonderful idea...it was so cute!!!

Here we are on our way to China...traveling first class. ; )
The cake that Barbara's mom made...it was cute and SO yummy!! And the chocolates that Annabel made for us.
All of our wonderful gifts!!

We had an amazing turn out!!! Many, many thanks to everyone that attended. Your support means so much to us!
Opening the gifts...
Thank you to Debbie and Blanca for the beautiful blessings!

We were deeply touched.

Enjoying every minute...

Our nephew, Ayden, calling his cousin, Crystina...in China. ; )

Edgar, Mom, Barbara & Dad. (Barbara's parents) Shirly, Edgar, Barbara, Alvani & Joshua (Edgar's sister & nephews)
Edgar, Ayden, Barbara, Annabel & Nathan. (Barbara's brother, sister-in-law & nephew)
Grandma Ana, Edgar, Barbara, Grandma Luz. (Crystina's great grandma's)
So cute...
Our Chinese Cabbage Patch Kid...
Ready to go get our daughter!!!!
Cleaning up...and having too much fun!!

We would like to give a HUGE, BIG THANK YOU to the following people for making our Baby Shower so special.

Barbara's parents: Ed & Carmen - for the adorable decorations & the beautiful cake

And to our very own personal catering service for all the food:
Ed & Carmen (Barbara's parents)
Violeta (Edgar's mom)
Shirly
Titi Wandy
Isabel
Edna
Blanca

Annabel - for the chocolates, they were so cute!
Brenda - for the beautiful invitations
Elda, Linda, Aixa & Judy - for helping my mom (Carmen) decorate
Delwin - for making the background music
Dr. Cunningham - for allowing us to use the school cafeteria

And finally to everyone that attended...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! Your support means the world to us. We greatly appreciate all the wonderful, beautiful gifts that were given for our daughter. Words cannot express our gratitude and appreciation. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Also, we would like to thank everyone for their beautiful prayers...GOD has heard them all and HE most certainly answered. May GOD bless you all!

2 weeks from today...

Okay, so 2 weeks from today...WE LEAVE FOR CHINA!!!! We still can't believe that our dream of becoming parents is actually coming true! I've read so many journals/blogs about parents "getting ready to leave for China" and wondered if we would ever get there and how does that feel, knowing that they will be meeting their child soon! Now we know! And we'll tell you, it's an awesome feeling, so many emotions going all at once. If you are reading this and still waiting for "the call," just know that IT WILL HAPPEN. It's all in GOD's timing and HE already knows which child is yours! This child was meant for US! And it's so amazing how it all has happened. The phone call caught us totally off guard, we were not expecting it, at all. Which we think made it extra special. Sometimes GOD does that to you. ; )

We've been buying like crazy for our trip...personal things, baby stuff, munchies for the baby...munchies for us, just in case...gifts for the nannies and some other stuff that I can't think of right now. And all the stuff that we still need to get.....

Also, we've been watching the Olympics every night. We LOVE it when they show the sights and sounds of China, it seems to be so beautiful. And knowing that we will be there in 2 weeks...is just unbelievable. I feel like this is all a dream...so please no-one pinch me, just in case it is. : )

We have TRAVEL DATES!!

Friday we got a phone call for our travel dates!! Yippee!!!! ; ) Yes, we have our tickets already!

We leave Thursday, August 28th at 8:42 am from Orlando to DC...leave DC at around 12:30pm and arrive in Beijing on Friday, August 29th at 1:55 pm (China time). It's about a 13 hour flight from DC to Beijing. Ahhhh!!!

We arrive home on Wednsday, September 10th at around 10:50 pm.

We don't have our exact itinerary yet, but when we do, we will post it (see sidebar for Itinerary for China Trip).

So far, there are 15 families traveling with us. But we think we are the only ones going to Kunming, Yunnan (where Crystina is from).

We are looking forward to our trip and can't wait to hold our baby girl!! 3 weeks from Thursday we leave!! I can't believe we actually can say that! After SO long to be parents and in less than a month, we will have OUR DAUGHTER!! WOW!!! The past 2 months have been so unbelievable! But that's the way GOD works!