Flight Information and a Warning!

We've had several of our friends ask for our flight information, so I'm posting it below.

But first, for anyone considering taking advantage of our being away from home...  
BE WARNED!  We have two overly protective dogs, a cat with a history of injuring full-grown adults, a whole-house alarm system, a watchful former Marine next-door neighbor, and a house-sitter with a very low tolerance for B.S..  At least two of the aforementioned will be armed!  Think again and live to tell about it, Bub.

Thursday 10 February 2011			Air
Continental Airlines Inc - Flight CO 7655		Status:	Confirmed
OPERATED BY /UNITED EXPRESS/TRANS STATES AIRLINES
Depart:	Washington Dulles Int'l Airport	Airline Ref:	AS2CZP
	Washington, DC, US	Seat:	08A 08B 08C
	8:17 AM	Class:	H-Economy/Coach
		Mileage:	215
Arrive:	Newark Int'l Airport	Travel Time:	1:13
	Newark, NJ, US	Stopovers:	0
	9:30 AM	Aircraft:	ER4
	Terminal A	Meal:

Thursday 10 February 2011			Air
Continental Airlines Inc - Flight CO 0089		Status:	Confirmed
Depart:	Newark Int'l Airport	Airline Ref:	AS2CZP
	Newark, NJ, US	Seat:	43D 43E 43F
	11:50 AM	Class:	H-Economy/Coach
	Terminal C	Mileage:	6817
Arrive:	Beijing Capital Airport	Travel Time:	13:45
	Beijing, CN	Stopovers:	0
	Friday, February 11, 2011
	2:35 PM	Aircraft:	Boeing 777-200/300
	Terminal 3	Meal:	Lunch

Friday 25 February 2011			Air
Continental Airlines Inc - Flight CO 0098		Status:	Confirmed
Depart:	Hong Kong Int'l Airport	Airline Ref:	AS2CZP
	Hong Kong, CN	Seat:	20D 20E 20F
	11:25 AM	Class:	H-Economy/Coach
	Terminal 1	Mileage:	8055
Arrive:	Newark Int'l Airport	Travel Time:	15:20
	Newark, NJ, US	Stopovers:	0
	1:45 PM	Aircraft:	Boeing 777-200/300
	Terminal B	Meal:	Lunch

Friday 25 February 2011			Air
Continental Airlines Inc - Flight CO 3262		Status:	Confirmed
OPERATED BY /COLGAN AIR DBA CONTINENTAL CONNECTION
Depart:	Newark Int'l Airport	Airline Ref:	AS2CZP
	Newark, NJ, US	Seat:	06A 06B 06C
	3:25 PM	Class:	H-Economy/Coach
	Terminal C	Mileage:	215
Arrive:	Washington Dulles Int'l Airport	Travel Time:	1:30
	Washington, DC, US	Stopovers:	0
	4:55 PM	Aircraft:	BOMBARDIER Q400 TURBOPROP-2 ENGINES
		Meal:

Cultural Education (or "I'd have rather had a moon PIE")

We are now five days and a few hours away from our scheduled flight time!  (Keep checking the Countdown Timer tab!) The excitement (a.k.a. "Stress") keeps building by the minute. We've double-checked our paperwork for our trip and we've started packing suitcases. We've set aside our original orphanage donations for a local christian charity that helps homeless and needy families in our area.

An interesting story of cultural education:

With the Lunar or "Chinese" New Year, we decided to do a little celebrating with BSP's godparents & their children. We went to an authentic Chinese restaurant in east Fairfax that has long been a favorite of ours. As always, the dinner was phenomenal and the service was wonderful. Once we were done with dinner and had paid the check, the waitress brought out an unexpected and unidentified gift for us. The gift was an odd, heavy, round, brown, pie-like object with five red fruit or beans on top and a leaf wrapper underneath. It was roughly eight inches in diameter and more than an inch thick.

One half of the object

After asking our waitress, she informed us that it was a "moon cake" and we thanked her for the gift. We'd never had a moon cake before, so we thanked the waitress and took our gift home without trying it (we'd eaten too much dinner by then).  We split the cake in half (a very difficult cut) and gave one half to our friends.  The following evening after dinner, I decided that I was in the mood for something sweet and that I would try a piece of the moon cake.  I sliced off a small wedge and eagerly took a healthy bite.  To my great dismay, the moon cake, not only had bizarre visual and tactile characteristics, it also had the consistency of wax and the taste of vinyl.  This was quite possibly the single blandest thing I had ever eaten.  I am certain that I could make a mixture of bleached flour and distilled water that would yield more flavor than this moon cake.  After disposing of our half of the offending object, we warned our friends about the moon cake.  We were too late.  They had also tried it and found it to be lacking in every aesthetic measure.  I have since determined the following possible explanations for this object's existence:

1. The Chinese are really bad at desserts, and this was really bad by Chinese standards.
2. This was a decoration, made in fact from synthetic materials and was not meant for consumption.
3. This was the Chinese equivalent of the immortal fruitcake and was meant to be eternally re-gifted.
4. This was a practical joke that went too far - and the wait staff are still laughing at us.

In other news, we have selected our Secret Mystery Guest Blogger (SMGB) and they are now officially on staff.  To those of you who submitted applications, essays, and videos, but were not selected, we deeply thank all 1700+ of you for your interest in the position.  Despite the many qualified and talented applicants, there can be only one.

Detailed Travel Itinerary (or "Where in the World is Lucy Boo?")

We received our detailed in-country travel itinerary yesterday from our adoption agency.  I've put the information into the table below:

DATES	FEB. 10, 2011 – FEB. 25, 2011
LOCATION	BEIJING
THU, FEB. 10	Depart for Beijing
FRI, FEB. 11	Arrive in Beijing
SAT, FEB. 12	Beijing Sightseeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace
SUN, FEB. 13	Beijing Sightseeing: Church Service, Great Wall
LOCATION	NANCHANG, JIANGXI
MON, FEB. 14	GOTCHA DAY! A.M. – Flight to Jiangxi P.M. – Meet Your Child & Civil Affairs Appointment
TUE, FEB. 15	Adoption Paperwork / Sightseeing & Shopping
WED, FEB. 16	Adoption Paperwork / Sightseeing & Shopping
THU, FEB. 17	Adoption Paperwork / Sightseeing & Shopping
FRI, FEB. 18	Flight to Guangzhou for Consulate appointment & paperwork
LOCATION	GUANGZHOU
SAT, FEB. 19	Child’s Medical Exam
SUN, FEB. 20	Sightseeing & Shopping
MON, FEB. 21	Consulate Paperwork / Sightseeing & Shopping
TUE, FEB. 22	Consulate Appointment at 9:00 am Consulate Oath-Taking Ceremony
WED, FEB. 23	Free Day in Guangzhou
THU, FEB. 24	Pick-up Child’s visa Depart from Guangzhou (Bus)
LOCATION	HONG KONG
FRI, FEB. 25	Depart from Hong Kong

So it is now official (without any major calamities), Valentine's Day will be BSP's Gotcha Day!  We're psyched that we're getting the most awesome Valentine ever!
And we're down to (just over) 14 days to go!

Care Package to BSP (or "Fair Warning!")

In an effort to allow our newest daughter the maximum time to brace herself for the approaching whirlwind that is Gibbs Family Life, we decided to employ a professional care-package-maker-type-deliverer-service (as they are known in the industry).  We chose Ladybugs 'N' Love for our package and have been pleased with the experience so far.
We wrote the following letter to accompany our package (and LNL will translate it for us):

To the Director and Caregivers at the Fuzhou Social Welfare Institute (SWI):

Please accept this letter of thanks in advance of our meeting.  We are Andrew, Melanie, and Lucy Gibbs from Fairfax, Virginia, USA.  We are adopting Fu Jingyang and plan to be in Nanchang near the middle of February.  Thank you all for the hard work, dedication, and love you have given to Jingyang since she arrived with you in May 2010.  We know that you have many infants to care for and limited resources with which to work.  Please know that the care and attention you give to these children is greatly appreciated throughout their lives.

We also adopted our daughter Lucy (now 7 years old) in Nanchang and we look forward to seeing the city again together with our daughter.  Lucy was loved and cared for by Director Liu Gang Sheng and the Caregivers of the Nankang Social Welfare Institute, who have our continued gratitude.

We are sending the gifts that accompany this letter for you, for Jingyang, and for the other children there at the Fuzhou SWI.  Please find enclosed the following items:

• 1 camera with film (please take photos of Jingyang and return the film rolls to us in Nanchang; you may keep the camera)
• 1 extra roll of film
• 1 soft photo album with pictures of our family (for Jingyang; please return this to us with the film)
• 1 stuffed animal, panda (for Jingyang; this can be given to another child when Jingyang comes to Nanchang)
• 1 infant blanket, pink (for Jingyang; this can be given to another child when Jingyang comes to Nanchang)
• 1 package of candy/nuts (for the caregivers)

Is there anything that you need (that we can bring) for the Institute or the children?  Please let us know. Our address is at the bottom of this note.

Again, please accept our heartfelt thanks for the blessing of this little girl to our family.  Fu Jingyang is a beautiful child and we are so very lucky to welcome her into our home.  Her arrival has been greatly anticipated by everyone in our family and friends.

Very sincerely yours,

The Gibbs family – Andrew, Melanie, and Lucy

Here are the 10 photos, in random order, that we are having them put into the soft photo album for BSP to chew on:

Dad

Lady Macbeth, aka "Lady"

Lucy

Lucy and Ariel

at Lucy's first piano recital

at Lucy's gymnastics meet

at a Hokie Basketball game

Mommy

Mommy (she rates 2 photos!)

Oberon, aka "Obi"

Here's hoping she doesn't change her mind about this whole adoption thing after she sees what she's getting into...  :-)

Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Today our eldest daughter turned 7!  Wow!  Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Referral Update, Photos, and Sundries

We received a "referral package update" today.  For a fee, we got two previously unreleased photos of BSP and medical information that is "updated".  I use the term "updated" loosely as we don't know the date of the information, and the only things that seem to have changed are Penny's weight and length. *sigh*  So while I grouse about not getting more information, the extra photos are worth the fee alone.

New photos:

 
So we see that: 

• BSP still is being dressed like the Michelin Man (but that's to be expected)
• She now has more hair than her Dad
• There's a creepy stuffed animal behind her... watching...
• She knows how to drool
• She belongs to a gang called, "Hong Dou", and
• She wears Mickey Mouse pants

In other news, Mel found a onesie that says "Baby Sister" on it, so we're going to get it embroidered with "Penny".


I've got more on my mind to blog, but it's late and I need to get some shut-eye.

Good News! A Clean Bill of Health!

We just got the translation results from the detailed Chinese medical records for BSP.  She's been given thumbs up from all aspects and we're excited about the news!

Included in the translated information was a little bit of "back story", where she was found and who brought her to the orphanage.  These will be about all of the details we'll be able to give her later on in her life.  We're just going to do our best to make sure that when she's old enough to notice that there's information missing, she'll have no doubts about the love her "forever family" has for her.

Here on the home front, we're trying to get ready for Christmas, Lucy's birthday, New Years, and all things BSP (nursery, playroom, child-proofing, clothing, toys, travel, care packages, etc.). I had the realization today, that if I don't get some rest very soon, I'm not going to get any for a long, long time.  But of course, it's all so very worth the exhaustion in the end.