It's Go Time....

Well, almost. After a fitful night's sleep, I got up at 5:00. They boys are still sleeping, which is good. I think we may have gotten Aiden turned around. Yesterday certainly helped. I am glad we got into our province a day early. It gave us a chance to relax, get ready, and get Aiden a much needed nap. Yesterday was entirely uneventful other than yet another trip to Wally World and finally meeting Emily and Jeremy. They came to our room early in the evening, and we just sat around sharing some travel and other stories, laughing and having a few beverages. At 5:55 I got a call from Holt's Lillian. She said she had our red book and asked when we could meet. Um. NOW! I knew from last time there were updated photos. So I left everybody and headed to the 2nd floor. She gave me the book, and I immediately opened it to find 10 new photos of Ethan!!

Sorry, they're pictures of pictures. It's the best I can do.

She then explained the upcoming process. It was a lot of information but pretty much the same as with Aiden. I'm not too worried about remembering it all; Holt does an amazing job of walking us through everything! After our meeting, I headed back up to the room to find a pretty wild Aiden. It was time to eat. Lillian had told me about a good curry restaurant, so I suggested that to the group. Jeremy CLAIMED he could see a sign he thought said curry and that he could lead us there. When we got to the lobby and I informed Emily of this, she made a comment along the lines of, "We're relying on JEREMY to get us there? We MAY eat tonight." So we set off in a random direction.... Ah, happy chance. We never did find the curry place. What we did find was a local place where not a soul spoke or understood English. The menu? Entirely in Chinese. Emily whipped out her phone and said, "Don't worry. I have an app for this." The waitresses were troopers, played along, and ended up bringing us a delicious meal accompanied by great beer (which interestingly is the one thing Emily can order in Chinese! hahaha) One of the items we ordered because Emily used the app to ask, "What's good here?" We have no idea what it was, but it was fabulous. We think it was beef; we know it was kind of spicy, but that, along with what we think were pork dumplings enough for all of us (and quite a bit leftover) cost about $5 per adult. There's a very real possibility we will return! Aiden was kind enough to take photos of the experience. :)

Now that I've looked back, it's time to look forward. In about an 2 hours, we will be headed down to the lobby to await our bus that will take us to our son. The time is finally upon us. One year and one day after we filled out our application, we are going to hold our boy. The sun is shining and it's a gorgeous day. That seems appropriate, fitting. It IS a beautiful day. I am remarkably calm. I have butterflies, but overall, I feel peace. As we get closer, we'll see if I can maintain this near Zen-like state, but right now, all is good. Troy is awake now and says he's a little uptight but ok. Hahaha!!! Now, as I am typing it, it seems more real that I'm committing it to words and my stomach just knotted up! Ahhhh! Ok, I better stop so I can remain calm, cool, and collected. Shut up! I CAN too be calm, cool, and collected!! ;) Besides, it's time to go get ready, eat some breakfast, and head to the Civil Affairs office. Believe it or not, we should be back here around noon; we will be a family of four!!! <3 Dreams really do come true!