6 days! I can't get over that! We are leaving for China in 6 days! I am getting excited! I am ready to go and get our baby right now! I am feeling really good. No nerves at all. Mark, well he is dreading the LONG flight and just knows it is going to be terrible. Me, well I just consider it the pain of having a baby. I think it will be just fine. Sure, who really wants to sit on a plane for 14 hours? No one! But, I don't care, I will gladly do it to get to my baby girl. He will too, but being the tall man that he is, well it's a bit more uncomfortable.
We went to Emma's school on Tuesday night for her book fair. We let her buy some new books for the trip, and while we were there we ran into her kindergarten teacher from last year. She was so excited that we are finally going. She said to us that Emma is gushing with joy at school. She is telling everyone she is going to China to get her baby sister. That just makes my heart swell. She is so ready! While reading one of the many blogs I follow I checked in on a family that is in China right now. They, like us, took their girls with them. They have 2 and went to adopt one more. All of the girls are from China. I guess going and seeing adoption up close, the oldes girl put two and two together and realized her own story, which brought up a lot of questions. I am so glad this mother posted about this as this will prepare Mark and I to not be blind sided should the same thing happen to Emma. This is one of the reasons we decided to take her. For her to understand what adoption really is and how wonderful it is. Her adoption was from Russia, but the basics of adoption are the same. I hope seeing it with her own eyes will reaffirm to her our love and devotion. We have talked a lot with Emma about Lauren and what might happen. Lauren might be very sad at first and cry, she maybe very happy. We really don't know, but no matter what, in the end, it will all be great. She may need to give Lauren some space. We also watched the Operation Smile special so she could see first hand what theses kids can go through and how they are just like everyone else and should be treated as such. She was so sweet when they were talking about a little boy that was made fun of because of his cleft. She said, "I would be his friend and protect him. I would tell those people to stop being mean, we are all born different!" What a proud moment for this mom and dad. Lauren's lip has been repaired so the outward signs of her cleft won't be visible but we felt it was important to expose Emma to it before hand. Not just for Lauren, but for those children we might see that haven't had the lip repair. Let's face it, it can be a scary thing to see from a child's point of view, even for some adults. I think we have done all we can do to prepare her and it will be great.
So, packing... well I have everything finished except... Emma and Mark clothing and the carry on electronics. I am hoping all bags to be ready waiting by the door come Sunday and I can spend Monday cleaning my house. Tuesday, well my plan is to have a nice easy going day. Go get a pedi and reflect. Well, that's the plan anyway... we shall see if it all goes as planned.
