Here she is!

It was worth every day of the long wait!!




Marlo

















Not enough words to describe today, but I will try to tomorrow. For tonight, I am taking a cue from Marlo and it's time for bed, We are both exhausted!!

Goodnight and good morning to you all!

Wendy

Today is the day!!

Yesterday we went to a church service, the jade market and the Great Wall. We ended the evening with an acrobat show. The Great Wall has been my favorite sight so far. Climbing it is hard yet amazing. It was a somewhat cool day temperature wise with a nice breeze which helped. Some of the steps are just inches apart, while others can be well over a foot high. They are worn, uneven and tricky in parts. We made it to Tower 6, I believe. My legs could definitely feel it and it would be fun to take an entire afternoon to see how far you could go. It is amazing. I promised Eli I would try and bring home piece of the wall and I was able to find some mortar (what is put between the two stones-not sure of the right term) for him. Not sure of I was supposed to do that, but I snuck the piece in my pocket to show the kids!!



My luggage is packed and was picked up at 10 o'clock last night. I have to be up in less than an hour and I cannot sleep. We take a three hour flight to Marlo's province and I will meet her in the afternoon. So sometime when you all back home are sleeping, I will become a mommy again and get to hold the newest little Benson!

(All my pics from yesterday are on the camera and I haven't downloaded any to post here. Here are a couple random pics from the weekend. Next post will be of Marlo!

Wendy

Beijing Tour

China is such an amazing place to watch everything around you. I woke to look out my window to a group of men getting their morning exercise playing basketball.
Beijing is a city of old meets new and any combination of the two. A broom made of twigs cleans the city sidewalks, while the sweeper is talking on a cell phone. The Chinese "old" way is to touch, shove and shout if you are in the way. No intentions of being rude, it's just easier for the cutest, tiniest 85 year old grandmother in the super market to yell at us in Chinese to get out of the way when we were grabbing a diet coke, followed up with a very clearly spoken English "I'm sorry, excuse me" from what appeared to be her grandson. And the bathrooms are also rated in a star system. We've been told 4 and 5 star are western style, complete with tissue. 3 star is still western style, somewhat questionable. 2 star is the squatty potty, given with a warning of use at your own risk and the 1 star is go in, hold your nose, don't breath or look squatty potty.













Our guide Sherry is hilarious and wonderful. Explaining to us that she lives with her husband and mother-in-law, but they would like to be a double income, no kids couple. She speaks to her mother every day on the phone and wears a jade bracelet that was once worn by her great grandmother, grandmother and mother. She also sports a mean Louis Vuitton bag and Armani sunglasses. Old and new...

This city is amazingly huge. There are over 100 universities, 3,500 middle schools, 5 million cars and it will have rush hour traffic for 10 hours a day. It can take 3 hours to go across the city. Our bus driver, Louie, is our driver for the weekend and he also owns a hospital. Most people will have a full time job and one or two other jobs on the side. Any concept of personal space is non existent. In fact, the government has hired "pushers" for the subway system. This persons job is is to literally push the people onto the subway car so the doors will close.

We've experienced Tiananman Square, The Forbidden City, Summer Palace and tomorrow will be The Great Wall, an acrobat show, and packing! I am getting closer to Marlo. It is the next day I will fly to Nanchang to hold her for the first time!

Wendy

And I'm off...

I have officially began the journey that will bring home the newest member of the Benson family. Yesterday was a whirlwind! I had been packed since Monday, but checking and double checking and checking again threw my day into high gear. Then add in the daily notes I wanted to write the kids and also the goodbyes, snuggling and sundaes-uggh, it was a late night. Did I mention the goodbyes? Those were the hardest and took the longest. I think they were hardest on me, but it looked like they were hardest on Ilei. It was a series of goodnights and I'm gonna miss you, with a lot of tears. A lot from her, followed by me running to my closet to shed enough tears of my own. The boys goodbyes were tear free for them, but I found myself holding it together only until they were out of my sight. Poor John, I cried right to his face saying goodbye. I had no where to hide and cry so he was lucky enough to have the whole show right in his face! I'm better now, the kids are fine. And when I landed in Chicago, I received this text from John: "already threw my wallet in the dumpster this a.m." It brought an instant smile to my face and still does. I cannot wait to hear the stories from home.

As I sit here and wait for our flight (that was just delayed and delayed and then delayed some more), I am excited beyond words to get our little Marlo!! I wonder about what she is doing, how she has changed since the most recent pictures we have received. Our little Marlo has no idea that her world is about to turn upside down. The only thing she has known will be taken away. We will be given a daughter, she will be given a family. Yet, it will be ever so hard for her. She will not understand why and how her world is changing. She will be scared. We will make it through and I see a lot of snuggles coming her way and my way too. And even though I am a stranger to her, she has been my daughter for a long time. She has been in my heart before she was even born and I cannot wait for us to find a spot in her heart.

Monday cannot come soon enough. It's the reason I'm traveling half way around the world. I cannot wait to hear the words "Here is your daughter, this is your mama."



Wendy

Summer So Far

It is now July and the weather has finally cooperated and it feels like summer. On Thursday, we made a trip to the Cities for Eli's soccer game and found the "warm weather" we've been waiting for. The boys playing soccer may have wished for the temperatures we had been having, but I was able to finally wear shorts to a game. Every baseball and soccer game so far this season, has had us in long pants, fleece jackets and sometimes blankets and umbrellas!! And have even a couple times, had gloves on!! Now, however, I think summer weather has arrived. Soccer with temps in the 90's wiped Eli out. This was how he and a friend rode all the way home (after a quick stop for ice cream).








Time is moving at a record pace. This is how we've spent our summer so far.
































And now we've finally been in the pool without having to heat it to hot tub temps!












And my HUGE project of going through 7 years of Ilei's clothes went from this:






To this:






Thanks to my mom, we busted through all this one afternoon and it was such a relief to have these bags re-organized, labeled and put away. (I seriously am not a hoarder! These clothes were all packed in bags, just mixed sizes. The bags were emptied and we had sorted piles of clothes from 6 months to 6!)

Marlo's stuff for China is all ready to go into a suitcase. I have but a few items to get for the trip and and the next issue is figuring out just how I want to pack it. I can take 2 suitcases up to 50 pounds to and from China, However, in China I can only have 44 pounds checked. I know I will be paying for "extra weight" in China, and the charge is fairly reasonable. I'm fine with that. And I would love to take just one large suitcase, but if I go over the 50 pounds (even though it is only one suitcase) to and from China, it's $200-each way. So now I'm bouncing around the idea of two smaller suitcases and one carry-on, but we will see. I would just love to not have to pull more than I have to.

I leave in just 12 days. I am so ready to bring Marlo home! I think we all are!! It won't be too long and we will all be home together. But for now, we will head to my parents lake tomorrow. We plan on eating too much, doing some jet skiing and even a bit of fishing. Well, a couple of them may fish-just not me! I'll be the one eating too much, doing a little jet skiing (when the boys let me take a turn), and definitely enjoying the summer weather that is now here.


Wendy

Over the next hurdle, leaving in 3 weeks!

On Wednesday, we received official word that our Travel Approval, which is what China issues to let us know we can come get Marlo, had arrived! All we needed was an appointment with the American Consulate and travel arrangements could be made. It is set and I leave Thursday, July 14th to meet Marlo! My first few days will be spent in Beijing then I will travel to Nanchang to meet Marlo on Monday, July 18th. I cannot wait to see her precious face and hold her in my arms.

Flight arrangements and seat assignments are done. Visa is done. Paperwork to bring to China is all at home, but not organized. Our "formal living room" which is used somewhat infrequently for practicing piano and almost daily for basketball and knee hockey, has been transformed into a drop zone for anything China packing related. The piano is hard to get to and the basketball hoop (which is continually being brought back upstairs after I bring it downstairs) is behind a couple boxes of pampers, some wipes, bottles, lotion, spoons, baby toys and Ilei's clothes from the past six years. Uggh. I am calling in for big help next week for sorting, organizing and packing-my mom! (It doesn't really matter how old you get, it always seems like a quick phone call to mom makes every enormous task seem that much easier.) Hopefully soon, the kids can play knee hockey or basketball and even get to the piano again. And I will be able to see a glimmer of hope for being ready to go.

Baby steps in getting ready, along with baseball tournaments, soccer games and figure skating should make the next three weeks fly by. And hopefully I will get everything done. Including putting the crib up ...

The girl with curls!

We ordered a care package from a lady named Ann in China that will have it delivered to Marlo.  We sent Marlo a blanket, and also included a disposable camera that we will hopefully get pictures back of her orphanage, caretakers and everday life, a flash drive to place any documents, photos or any other digital information from the orphanage, cookies for her caretakers and also warm winter pants for the children still there.   I ordered this Tuesday afternoon our time.  By Tuesday night (our time, Wednesday morning in China) we heard back from Ann.  She was hoping to get shoes to the children instead of pants and also asked if I would like to write a letter to the orphanage staff that she would translate for me and include in the package. Wednesday morning I sent off the letter and by 10:30 (our time) last night, I received an email from Ann stating that she had updated photos of Marlo and she would get them to me as soon as she could go through her emails that had piled up.

This morning we received the cutest pictures of Marlo!  (Well, I think they are cute and pretty sure her dad does too - but we may be a little biased.)  And believe it or not, it looks like our little Marlo may have some curls in her hair!

I can't explain how much I loved getting these updated pictures and how excited I am to put some bows in that hair!  We didn't have any of these options when we were in the adoption process with Ilei.  Not sure if that is a good thing.  The more information and photos I get, the more I want!  The pictures were taken June 16, 2011 all around 8:45 a.m.  I love looking at this little face - it warms my heart and makes it ache all at the same time.  I cannot wait to bring her home!  

(This is Ilei's favorite because there is a cucumber by her foot!)

Hopefully, we will get our Travel Approval soon and can leave about 2 weeks after receiving that.  Mid-July cannot come fast enough!  

Now, only if there was a way to have them take some video of her . . . asking a little much??