Our Friends the Borgesons Come for a Visit

Abby and Caroline at Blues City

David, baby Wyatt, Sara and Abby Borgeson

Our good friends the Borgesons came to visit us this weekend. We met them on our first adoption trip in December 2006. They were in our CCAI Travel Group 1081 to China to adopt Caroline and their daughter Abby is from the same Province (Jiangxi) and Orphanage ((Ruijin SWI) as Caroline. We have stayed close friends with them and we are so happy they are making a little side trip (and extra drive) to Memphis!! Usually we are the ones that visit them in LA since Sean travels out there for work often and I love the beach!!


We showed them around downtown Memphis and the weather was less than welcoming! They are not used to such heat and humidity coming from Southern California! We enjoyed some great Memphis BBQ, took a stroll along Beale Street and walked through the lobby of the Peabody Hotel. Then, we jumped on the Trolley and rode the River Loop. The girls loved it, but it was so hot…even at 10:30 pm…we were literally glistening with sweat (and bug spray as the mosquitoes we in full force Memphis style!)

At one point during dinner, I overheard Caroline and Abby having a very serious conversation.  Abby asked Caroline, "Hey, don't you want to marry my brother, baby Wyatt?"  And Caroline answered very matter-of-factly, "Yeah, he's going to be my husband and we're going to live in Gailie's house." 
I just love it!!  Sweet baby Wyatt has no say in the matter what so ever!  Just wait until he really starts talking!  I bet one of the first things he says is..."Stop calling me baby Wyatt!" 

China Bound for Baby Kate

Today, I spent the entire day working on our flights and travel arrangements to get to China.  Tickets to China right now are extremely expensive.  There is some big Expo in Shanghai this month and that is what the travel agents are attributing the high prices too.  It is a little different this adoption trip as Caroline has a full fare ticket and so does Kate since she is over 2 yrs old.  Finally, we found our flights and fortunately were able to book on Delta so that we could use some of Sean's frequent flyer miles to reduce the cost of Kate's ticket.
We depart Memphis on Monday, Aug 9th at 11:42 am and arrive in Beijing on Tuesday, August 10th at 11:10 pm (by way of Atlanta and Seattle).  We hired a guide in Beijing that was recommended by a Mission Team from my Mom's church recently in China.  Her name is Fangfang and she will meet us at the airport on Tuesday night in Beijing and take us to our hotel.  She is going to show us some sights over the next 2 days as well.  We have 2 days with Fangfang to adjust to the time change and sightsee before meeting up with our agency Group 1614.  We will then tour Beijing with this group for 2 days before heading to Xian where we will get our daughter! 

Happy Birthday Gailie! US Consulate Appointment Confirmed

Tonight we celebrated Gailie's Birthday. We made yummy homemade vanilla bean ice cream and it was a hit!!

We all had our picture taken on this awesome new swing that Pete built in their backyard.  There was a little breeze and it was actually a tiny bit cooler so it was bearable to be outside.

July is a busy month for birthdays for our family...but I think Mom's is the last one of the summer. In April when we were matched with Kate...I definitely thought we would be in China for Sean's and Gailie's Birthdays. I even imagined what an incredibly awesome Birthday Gift that would be to have Gotcha Day on one of their birthdays!! 

Adoption News
We didn't quite make it to Gotcha Day on one of the family b-days...but we are getting closer...one step of the process at a time! Today, we received notice that our US Consulate Appointment in Guangzhou is confirmed for 8/24/10.  This is the email we received today!  Yeah!!  Now we can book our flights...finally! 

To: Sean & Sarah Powell

Group: 1614
CCAI TRAVEL UPDATE 7/26/2010
Great news! Today we received Consulate appointment confirmations for Group 1614!
Your group’s Consulate appointment is confirmed for 8/24/2010.
Based on this Consulate appointment date, if you would like to tour in Beijing please arrive on, or before, 8/12/2010.
CCAI will provide an airport pick-up for anyone arriving on 8/12, your arrival date. If you would like to opt of the Beijing tours, please arrive no later than August 14th.
You will fly to Xian, on Sunday, August 15th. CCAI will arrange the group’s in-China flights and hotels - details will follow in your Final Travel Packet.
Your family will take the oath on the afternoon of 8/25/2010.
Your family will receive your child’s visa on the afternoon of 8/26/2010.

Happy Birthday Sean! Travel Approval Received Today!

So as you can tell by this photo...birthdays (for the adults) are kind of casual low-key affairs at the Powell household.  Don't get me wrong...we are very happy to still be having them...but we don't do anything too fancy or elaborate.  From the looks of this photo...clothes are optional (not for the adults!!)  I debated whether to include this lovely celebratory photo of my sweet family on Daddy's special day...but it is the only one we have marking the event of Sean's 41st Birthday! 

It is kind of funny looking back...it never crossed my mind when I was taking the pics and singing an off-key Happy Birthday that maybe it would be nice for Caroline to be dressed since I was taking photos!! 
Oh well!  Happy Birthday Sean...you know this is one of my favorite days of the year because I get to enjoy being younger than you for the next 8 months!
I LOVE YOU!

Adoption News:
I have been stalking my email for weeks as we await our TA (Travel Approval) from the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs).  This is the formal invitation by which our family is invited to travel to China during a certain approved period of time to adopt our daughter.  Our agency told us it could take anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks from the time that our Article 5 paperwork was in Beijing.  The paperwork was sent to Beijing from the US Consulate in Guangzhou on July 6th and could take up to a week to get to Beijing.  I had calculated on our calendar the short and long estimate thinking that the TA would come sometime between July 27th and August 10th...so we actually received the TA pretty quickly although when you are just waiting for the email to come...it feels like forever.    This is the email we received from CCAI:

To: Sean & Sarah Powell

CCAI Group: 1614
CCAI TRAVEL WEB UPDATE 7/23/2010
Wonderful news! Today we received Travel Approvals for your family! With the arrival of Travel Approvals today, we have requested appointments hoping for your family to travel to China on or around August 11th. Your confirmed consulate appointment will determine your trip dates. We’re very excited for each family!!! We have faxed the U.S. Consulate - Guangzhou requesting appointments for the families who have adequate immigration approval today.

The Consulate typically takes about 1-3 business days to reply to our requests. We will email your group when the Consulate appointment confirmations arrive. Please keep in mind that we must have a confirmed Consulate appointment for your group BEFORE we can estimate travel dates, begin planning your travel, finalize arrangements with our China staff, or a travel agency can answer specific questions about your trip. At this time, it is still not possible to book your international tickets – we will advise you as soon as we have the confirmed dates!
We appreciate your continued patience and understanding as you wait to hear from us.

So...now we wait for the next step...a confirmed US Consulate appointment.  The appointment at the US Consulate in Guangzhou is the last appointment we have in China.  Once that date is set, all of the other appointments and travel are scheduled. 

True Friends are One of God's Greatest Gifts

Bailey Sowden, Virginia Wilson and Caroline

Bailey, Fletcher Wilson, Jake Wilson,
Virgina, Caroline and Tommy Sowden

Valerie Sowden, Katie Wilson and me

My two best friends from highschool both came into town this week for a Memphis visit.  We went to school together since we were 4 years old but now we all live in different places.  We see eachother a couple of times a year yet our friendship still stays strong as ever!  We always have so much fun...feels like we are still 18!  Well kind of...the last one of us to hit the big 40 (Valerie) celebrated her Birthday while she was in town.  Both of these women are beautiful inside and out and I am so thankful for their friendship

Finally...more pictures of our Baby Kate!

It has been awhile since we received some new photos of Kate and I have been missing seeing new pictures of her so much!  These pictures are truly a gift to us.  A special thank you to Jingjing and Dan for sending all of these precious photos of our baby girl who is so far away!

These were taken at an indoor playpark where the Mooncake volunteers took the children.  Jingjing said Kate had such a fun time playing with all the colored balls.