We are safely in Beijing! The plane ride over was obviously very long. We were pleased by the selections of free movies (and free wine/beer) ... Kings Speech, Space Battleship Yamato, The Tourist, Gulliver Travels and much much more). Our seats reclined just enough so our foreheads were not knocking into the seat in front but not at all enough to get comfortable.

Once we arrived at our destination we waited for almost two hours for our guide to pick us up. Needless to say we were confused, exhausted & agitated. We had no yuan to make a phone call so luckily Dad took charge and found some English speaking Chinese girls, working at a tour desk, who allowed him to use their desk phone to call our guide- the mix up was that our guide had our old itinerary which had our flight landing one hour before it actually did.

Here are the confused Americans, weary from travel and anxious to assume horizontal posture...


We ended up on a small bus with 2 other families who had been picked up at a different terminal. One of them originates from Texas. Both families are here to adopt their daughters and they will leave Sunday to fly to their prospective families. The ride to our hotel was surprising to us all- at night at least, the roads, buildings, green exit signs, digital information boards over the interstate all looked like home. They are even driving on the same side of the street. We were expecting vastly different sites and today was not the day we would experience much except fatigue.

We got checked into our hotel with the help of our friendly guide. Our room is very pretty. The bed is much lower to the ground than what we are used to back home. And there are only a handful of hangers to hang our small wardrobe. Matt and I just ate our room service hotdogs and french fries and it was delicious. I would go as far as to say it was as good as the yummy New York hotdogs we indulged in a few years ago. We think the total for our two hot dog platters comes out to be $15. Lets hope we arent mistaken. The room mini bar has single cokes for $20 each so we will stay away from those. Here's a few pictures of our room. Notice the playpen bed waiting on our son!! We are set up and ready for Zachary's arrival!









We were told tonight we would be leaving for the orphanage at 9am Sunday! We cant wait! We are the only family from our agency staying in Beijing so we are excited to meet other families (from other agencies) who will be going to our Gotcha Day too! Exciting times!!

As we write this, we are sitting in the Seattle/Tacoma airport right next to the Duty Free store< which has Julia salivating like a rabid wharf rat at the sight of Clinique, Lancome, and other notorious brands. I pulled her out rapidly as i saw our money dwindling by the twinkle in her eyes. What a long strange day it has been already. We got up at 0500 and set about taking bags downstairs. Dad arrived at 0600 and took us to the airport. We arrived at around 0710. We cleared TSA around 0800 and we got scanned by the new full-body scanners. Matt ended up having his left arm felt up after they thought they saw something in the scan. After TSA, we went to Popeyes Chicken for breakfast and during that time, Glen and Lynda arrived. We got on the plane around 1015 and left the ground in Atlanta at 1053. We had a pretty uneventful flight until we were over Montana. At that point the head stewardess got on the PA system asking for any medical personnel to report to the back of the plane. Matt went to help and ended up helping take care of a girl who was having a panic attack and had gotten overheated. Matt ended up talking to the pilot who wanted his advice about whether to divert to the nearest airport or continue on to Seattle. The girl was stable so Matt advised to continue on, which we did. Long story short, the girl was fine and we got 10,000 Delta Skymiles given to us for Matt's efforts. So, now we wait for the next phase of the journey. More when we reach Beijing!

Adoption Update

A few days ago we made final payment for inter-China travel (hotels, airfare, excursions, etc.). Our next goal is to make sure we have all our paperwork organized & make plenty of copies!! And, we are beginning the arduous task of packing! We are only able to carry 44 pounds each. Which we are finding difficult because we are bringing snacks (for us and Zachary), clothes/toys for Zachary, and a few gifts (and packaging)for very special guides/officials. My hope is that Matt will allow me to use some of his suitcase for my makeup and hair products! LOL!! I know, I know, I need to pick the necessities but it is so hard for me to do! :))

Wanted to make you aware that our little Nacho has made his show business debut. Check the first 30 seconds of the video below (after the advertisement) and see Nacho in his little clown outfit.


The Giant vs Cobra-WCW Heavyweight title by TSteck160

Well, actually, it is not Nacho...but it could be a long-lost brother or cousin...or something...

Earlier this week two of my good friends Monica & Tricia hosted us a baby shower. We got to show off Zachary's room to our friends (and my Mother & sister). The invitation read "The room is ready, the time is near. A new little boy will soon be here!"

And, Yes he will! :)) we can hardly stand ourselves! Thank you to all our family and friends for helping us celebrate this very special time in our lives!

Here are a few of the beautiful decorations Monica & Tricia created for us...


In all the excitement, we forgot to take a group picture. However, there were more cameras there and I can't wait to see the pictures and get them scrapbooked for Zachary's baby album!

We have been so busy! And, there's still a laundry list of things for us to accomplish before we leave for China! Aunt Camille (Julia's sister) spent the night after the shower and created vinyl cut letters for Zachary's wall! She is simply amazing at the things she creates with her Cricut! Thank you Camie! We LOVE the wall quote & can't wait to sing the nursery rhyme with Zachary! "Twinkle, twinkle, Litte Star..."

Also, my (Julia) Mother & Father gifted us the rocking chair that they used to rock my sister & me. It has very special meaning for our family and I am beyond words with emotion that it now sits in my son's room! I will forever cherish this rocking chair!

Also, here are a few updated pictures of Zachary's room...

February, Mother Goose Tea Shower
These are some of the decorations at the tea shower. Notice the clock- it was standing still because, when taking tea, time stands still so you can relax and enjoy each others company!

My first Baby Shower was held at a dear friends home (The Queen of Tea Fancy Nancy B.) for a Mother Goose Tea. What a lovely afternoon with my friends and several pots of delicious tea (scones & tea sandwiches of course)!

I've never seen this before & I love the idea so much that I am filing it away for the future. The white flowers were sitting in blue colored water and gradually through the tea party they got darker and darker blue! They were beautiful!

I warned everyone before the tea officially got started that I was likely to cry my way through it- tears of joy!! And, unexpectedly Fancy Nancy's dear husband came in to take our group picture and said to me, "You are the Mother to be..." And, rather unexpectedly (for he had not been warned) I just bawled!! The ugly cry- - chin quivering and I was chocking back sobs of joy!! I never realized that tears of joy can look very similar to tears of sadness! LOL, anyways, poor Mr. B he was taken aback and started asking questions that I was not able to answer (hrough my bitting of my lip to attempt to stop crying) so my Bestie, Connie sitting right next to me, did not skip a beat and answered Mr. B's questions just as I would have! I was grateful for her words when I was unable to speak. And, I am sure Mr. B was grateful for Nascar because he quickly retreated to the race! :))

And, to continue my story, here I am, crying my way through the presents- - after 10 years of prayers and tears I am finally about to hold my little son. And, being able to look back and see God's plan for us is so awe inspiring I tear up for all the Blessings God has showered us with. PTL (Praise The Lord!, and the choir says- "Amen, Hallelujah")

Being a table full of scrap bookers- there wasn't a guest without a camera. This picture makes me smile. This Shower was heavily documented and I am itching to get it scrapbooked!

Thank you to all my dear friends who helped ring in the beginning of this new season of Motherhood with me! I raise my tea cup to you all! "Cheers"

Adoption Update
Today we got our tentative itinerary for China. We arrive in China, get essentially one day of rest and getting used to being in China and then the craziness hits. We tour the orphanage and get Zachary on our third day in country. After that, the days are filled with a variety of activities, including a tour of the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City, a trip to the Beijing Zoo, and various shopping excursions. These jaunts are intermingled with pitstops for various paperwork matters, medical checks, and the like.

We bid adieu to Beijing after two weeks and then fly to Guangzhou and lather, rinse, and repeat, this time for the US Consulate. After a few days in Guangzhou, we fly out to Tokyo (we hope!) and then on to Minneapolis, where, Presto-Change-o! Zach becomes an American. Then back home to Atlanta and a whole different life.

We are so excited and can't wait to pull out our suitcases and start packing! There's a lot to think about and a few more bits and pieces that we need to gather before we leave. We can't wait to meet our son!!!

Adoption Update

Yesterday we received our confirmation travel date and purchased our Domestic flights to and from China! Hoot hoot!! We are so excited!! We will travel from Atlanta to Seattle the Seattle to Beijing. On our trip home we will fly from Guangzhou to Tokyo. Then Tokyo to Detroit. Then, Finally Detroit to Atlanta. OMG! That return flight home is going to be exhausting. However, we did book our son a seat so we will have a little extra room for him to stretch out.

On a side note, we will be in China for my 40th Birthday! Another answer to prayer- I'll be a mother before I'm 40! :)) Maybe by just a few days, but it is still another prayer answered! PTL (Praise The Lord)!

This coming Tuesday, good friends of ours, Monica & Tricia are throwing us a Baby Shower. I noticed on her blog she posted a few pictures of the things she has created for the shower. I am just i awe of her creativity and the love that she is putting into her creations. Take a look at her blog for pictures...

http://mybusybusylife.blogspot.com/

This Monday we received our final piece of paperwork necessary to schedule our appointment at the US Embassy in China! We quickly scanned the document and sent it off to our agency. The appointment will determine our travel dates. Thus we are all anxiously awaiting news from our agency!

Scrapbooking the monthly calendars has helped me keep up with all our activities! Looking at the month at a glance is awe inspiring for how much we have accomplished.



Also, I have finally put all our family pictures in the photo books that we are bringing to China with us for Zachary. Take a lookey...

Adoption Update

We have had a VERY busy week preparing for our trip to China. Monday we went to our County Health Department to get our CDC recommended vaccines. We ended up having to get Typhoid, Hep A, Hep B & the Flu Shot. Four days later and we both are experiencing a little redness/swelling/tenderness where we received our flu shots. Other wise we are doing just fine!

Wednesday we were fingerprinted for our I-797 update. And, this is the final piece of the puzzle that will get us to set our travel date stage! We are so excited and every day that passes gets us a little closer to our son!

Monday we are expecting our passports & visas to arrive. We will anxiously be waiting FedEX to ring our doorbell!

As stated above, we are very close to being able to schedule our travel dates. We are still unsure of the time line. However, we both are making uneducated guesses that March 24 or April 2 could very possibly be our travel dates. But, that is yet to be known and we will continue to keep everyone updated!

Today was a fun day for us both! We got up early in hopes of beating the inevitable crowds at Target. Our goal was to get an early start roaming the store. No I did not leave Matt at home. He got his first experience roaming the aisles holding a scanner gun to create our baby registry. And, we picked up a few items along the way. We couldn't resist this "Yeti" t.shirt. We thought it was quite appropriate!And, we picked up this cute little "Ready to Rumble" sweat suit set.
Later in the day we went to visit Zachary's Papi (Ed, Matt's Dad). We had a great time visiting with him. Ed gave us Matt's childhood toy chest to pass along to Zachary. Isn't that so sweet?! We are both excited to share it with our "Z-man". Thank you Papi!! Once we get it set up in Zach's room we will post a picture and share it with everyone. We have no doubt Zach will use it to hold his treasures!

When we arrived home we were pleased to find our fingerprint appointment letter arrived in the mail! Our appointment is set for a week from Wednesday. Also, much earlier today we mailed off our VISA applications. It is all falling together quite smoothly! PTL (Praise The Lord!)

I have been enjoying some relaxing moments in my "craft Lair" :)) scrap booking layouts for Zachary's baby album. My most recent layout highlights our Red Egg photo. Inside the pocket (on the second page) is a journal tag which explains the meaning behind the red egg and describes the making of the picture.

Also, today Matt created a baby registry on Amazon.com for Zachary. It can be found anytime by searching for our names at http://www.amazon.com/babyregistry we have been having fun browsing children books! It's amazing how many are out there! Guess we have been oblivious for a long time and now we are getting thrown right into the exciting world of nursery rhymes, potty training books, cookie monsters, etc.! We have quite a small collection of books for Zachary already. A few years ago Matt joined Zachary into a Dr. Seuss book club. Dr. Seuss is among Matt's all time favorite childhood book series.

Yesterday my parents visited to help assemble Zachary's room. Nonnie & Bop-bop worked hard & we very much appreciated everything they did for us! We certainly could not have accomplished everything as easily and with out arguments, lol. On with the room tour...

Step one. Assemble the crib. My sister has been saving her crib for us. Way back when my Father & brother in law assembled this crib for my parents first grand child Caroline & my Father said it was not nearly as difficult this time around.


Step two. Iron the curtains, Thanks Mom!

Step three. Hang the curtains.


Lots of hard work, a little perspiration & 3 hours later...

The fully assembled crib.

The dressed window & book shelf.

The Dresser in it's place. Hang picture.The dresser was mine as a child. And, the picture above it is of me and my Mother (taken by my Father). On top of the dresser are a few pictures of Matt & his Mother & a Miller Family portrait circa 1972

picture reenactment

We are very pleased with the finished room! It is a happy, sunny room! Four years ago we purchased the bedding accessories and had the room painted. In fact, my Mother-in-law Nancy, helped us pick out the yellow that we ultimately chose for the walls. It is a reminder that even though she is no longer with us, her spirit remains in the little details and her love surrounds us.

There are a few more things to hang up on the walls & a few organizational bins to buy but for the most part it is finished. And, it will be complete once our son Zachary is finally home!

We had a productive weekend! Saturday we went to my parents house & while I registered at Baby's-R-Us Matt went off with John and Dad to a range. I hope Matt released some tension which has begun to settle on top of his shoulders. ;)

Baby's-R-Us was a bit overwhelming for me. However, my Mother, Sister and two nieces helped me navigate through the isles. I could not have done it with out their help. I am amazed at all the options! There's nothing simple about a store that has hundreds of options for something as trite as a sippy cup!

As you have likely already surmised from the picture above, I've added one more page to Zachary's baby album. I've been enjoying a few spare minutes here and there to accomplish my ever growing pile of pictures (all waiting to be scrap booked). I'm not expecting that pile to do anything less than grow faster than my ability to scrapbook them.

Earlier today, Matt came up with an apt metaphor for the situation we find ourselves in. We are making the slow climb up the first hill on a giant roller coaster (with the accompanying click, click, click) Feeling all of the fear of the unknown as we approach the top waiting for the moment that gravity takes over, we throw our hands into the air and scream for mercy!

We do have an adoption update to share. We spoke with our agency today to get much needed help answering our visa application questions and we got a guestimate of travel to China! It is possible we could travel late March however it is more likely we will be traveling in April and home by May. And, we will be gone for 21 days.

In a few days my parents are coming over to help set up the crib and hang the curtain rods. We have brought the crib up from the basement in anticipation of their arrival. And, the nursery is beginning to get some much needed attention!

I've got some more scrapbook Layouts to share! In an attempt to stay on top of Zach's baby album I created a few more layouts.

Matt and I have been so touched by everyone's response to our joyous news! We have been compiling all the emails, posts, etc. and here is the layout where we put them all together!

Opposite the above layout is this one highlighting our matching announcement.


Adoption update:
This Monday we received pages and pages of information, applications & an enormous amount of details explaining our next phase- travel. We had thought we would get a little bit of a break- to allow everything to sink in. But, that was just not the case! After all these years of waiting we are now being pushed and pulled in all kinds of directions.

So, this week we have been busy putting together our Visa Application necessary for travel to China. There are still pages of things left for us to accomplish but at least these preparations are in process & China is likely just a few months ahead of us! How excited we are!

Happy Chinese New Year!
It's the Year of the Rabbit

February 3rd it's New Years Even in China! Tonight begins the Chinese New Years celebrations! Among the various celebrations and festivities for the Chinese, Chinese New Year is always deem the most important of all. Chinese families living in different part of the country or the world will make it a point to gather together for Chinese New Year (CNY). This is very similar to the Western concept of getting together during Christmas.

Chinese New Year is also known as Lunar New Year as well as The Spring Festival. The Chinese Year is also symbolized by an animal, very much like the Western Zodiac.

Myths of Chinese New Year
There are many myths as to how Chinese New year came about. The most common one is that in ancient China, every year, a big monster would come out during the beginning of the year and start devouring people and crops. One day, a villager suggested firing off fire crackers, bang loud gongs and fly red banner to try to frighten off the monster.

More About the Chinese New Year -http://www.birthday-horoscopes.net/chinese-new-year.htm

It is hard to believe January is already over! Time sure does fly by. At the beginning of the month my sister gave us blank calendar pages to document the next few months for Zachary's scrapbook. Looking back at the month at a glance I am in awe of all we have accomplished. And, even though we have been in the process for 6 long years this last month has been a rush to the finish!



Just last Friday our adoption agency mailed our final signatures on the approval document called a "Letter Seeking Confirmation" to China! Once received China will begin our travel approval documents. We were told that could take 2-5 weeks.

Last Thursday, we mailed in our complete update package to USA immigration officers. We now wait to receive fingerprint appointments. Then, we wait for an updated valid I-797 necessary for bringing Zachary home. When we receive this document & the travel approval from China we will be able to begin travel plans. We are not sure how long it will take our government to finalize our I-797 but we anticipate we should have it by the end of February.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers! As you can tell there are a few vital details necessary before we are on the literal road to China!

Our Matching Announcement

Zachary Clark Miller

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, now we know who you are!
We happily announce our recent matching & soon to be adoption
Born in late summer 2009
23 pounds 1 ounce, 31 1/2 inches long
Proud parents Matt & Julia Miller

I finally got some spare time to make a few scrapbook Layouts for Zachary's Baby Album. We printed quite a few copies of his referral pictures and I seem to be scrap booking several different Layouts of the same pictures! LOL, guess I am just excited (surprise, surprise)!
You may recognize these pictures. They are from his referral paperwork. And, our pediatrician estimates he is 9-10 months old.


And, this picture was taken the same day we sent in our acceptance letter of his referral. Therefore, he is 17 months old. And, this is the only picture with his mouth closed. He looks focused on something/someone. Such a handsome son we have!

Of course I have a few more layouts in the works! And, a lot of ideas for pages that help express how excited our friends and family are for his arrival into our family! We greatly appreciate everyone's messages of congratulations! We are compiling them all and will be including them in his baby album.

Also, we finally chose the baby album for his first scrapbook. There were not a lot of options on the market. Because the albums for young children are for infants/newborns. We wanted an album cover that fit his age. We are very pleased with the one we ended up purchasing! It is a top loading page style- which I have learned I prefer to use- that just makes it easier to add the layouts into the album.The front of the cover is fabric and leather. Very elegant and we hope it will hold up to a lot of use and the passing of time.

For quite sometime we have been on the look out for a "Baby Book" for adopted children. And, we found one online that can be customized for China. The Baby Book is different from the album in that it helps answer questions about where, what, how. Adoption Families lovingly call this a "Life Book". We are excited to document every detail!

Interested in learning a little more about The Chinese Zodiac and our individual "signs" I did a little research on the subject.

The Sheng Xiao: The Chinese Zodiac
"...is a scheme that relates each year to an animal and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year cycle... It is a common misconception that the animals assigned by year are the only signs, and many western descriptions of Chinese astrology draw solely on this system. In fact, there are also animal signs assigned by month (called inner animals) and hours of the day (called secret animals). To sum it up, while a person might appear to be a Dragon because they were born in the year of the Dragon, they might also be a Snake internally and an Ox secretively. In total, this makes for 8,640 possible combinations (60 year cycle (5 elements × 12 animals) × 12 months × 12 times of the day) that a person might be. These are all considered critical for the proper use of Chinese astrology"

Chinese Zodiac Signs (based on important events in a specific year) that are important to us:
The Chinese New Year begins in February of each year. Therefore, we were matched in one year and we will travel to China in another year even though both occur in 2011!

2011 January, The Year of the Tiger- The year we were matched with our son & became parents. (Fixed Element Wood): Unpredictable, rebellious, colorful, powerful, passionate, daring, impulsive, vigorous, stimulating, sincere, affectionate, humanitarian, generous. Can be restless, reckless, impatient, quick-tempered, obstinate, selfish, aggressive, moody.

2011 The Year of the Rabbit- The year we travel to China & became a family.
(Fixed Element Wood): Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, shy, astute, compassionate, lucky, flexible. Can be moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, stubborn.

2009 The Year of the OX- Zachary's Birth Year
(Fixed Element Water): Dependable, ambitious, calm, methodical, born leader, patient, hardworking, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, dogmatic, hot-tempered, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding.

1969 The Year of the Rooster- Matt's Birth Year
(Fixed Element Metal): Acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, responsible. Can be over zealous and critical, puritanical, egotistical, abrasive, proud, opinionated, given to empty bravado.

1971 The Year of the Pig- Julia's Birth Year
(Fixed Element Water): Honest, gallant, sturdy, sociable, peace-loving, patient, loyal, hard-working, trusting, sincere, calm, understanding, thoughtful, scrupulous, passionate, intelligent. Can be naïve, over-reliant, self-indulgent, gullible, fatalistic, materialistic.

Adoption Update
Late this afternoon we received a phone call from our agency telling us that they received our "Letter seeking confirmation" from China! We were told to expect 5-12 weeks to receive the letter from China but it barely took 2 weeks!

Also, Earlier today we were told our home study agency has completed our update paperwork & it has been approved by our agency. Things certainly seem to be moving along very quickly!

Our next step is to get a fingerprint appointment with homeland security. Once that is processed by our government we will receive the final immigration documents needed to begin travel planning!

We are both so excited & we feel our heads our spinning!
Thank you for your continued prayers!