McKenna Family

So we just got settled in our new hotel to be closer to Meili and just went out for a little stroll. This is an awesome area. Wish we could've stayed here the whole time we were in Beijing. There are a couple of malls within walking distance and it's just a nice area. A little less congested....still definitely in the city but it seems more removed and there are more places we dare explore. The weather is absolutely perfect today. I can barely even feel the humidity and it's just a perfect temperature. We are now just waiting for the phone to ring. Meilin is coming to pick us up to take us to Beautiful Harbor for Meili's little party. We are nervous, yet excited, and a little emotional. It's all so crazy and surreal and amazing at the same time. I know that once we meet our sweet baby, i won't be blogging about this area so i wanted to just write a quick note about how much we like it here.

Today was an awesome day! We left downtown pretty early since it is quite the drive to the Great Wall. The countryside was beautiful!! It was incredible to see the mountains and the breathtaking terrain as we inched our way towards Mutianyu, which is just 1 of 5 different places where you can visit the wall. We decided to walk up instead of taking the cable car. It was very hot and muggy but we loved it. It is over a thousand steps and we actually did most of it twice. Needless to say, we earned our lunch.....and maybe a trip to the laundromat :). It was absolutely gorgeous today. As you can see from the pictures, we were out of the smog and the sky wasn't so bleak. This is what we were hoping China would look like. The history behind this Great Wall is fascinating and it was really amazing to be standing on such an iconic structure. It was also fun to see people from all over the world visiting. Our guide was telling us that many people in China come to visit Beijing ...

We made it in to Beijing late last night. The flight was long but uneventful. We tried to stay awake most of the time so that we would be ready to sleep when we arrived here but nonetheless we still didn't sleep much last night. We met our tour guide this morning at 9:00 and headed out for a very full day. We stopped first at Tianneman Square, then onto Forbidden City which when on and on and it was hot and humid but at least overcast so it wasn't unbearable. Actually I think it's always overcast here because of all the smog. Forbidden City was cool and shed a little more light on what China was like during the time when it was ruled by Emperors. We also got to have our picture taken by the "couple tree." It's good luck for a long happy marriage. :) We then did a tour of Hutong which is the older part of the city and it was cool. The streets are so narrow that we had to tour around in a little buggy pulled by a bicycle. Next we stopped for a real Chin...

Well, for the most part we are ready to get on that plane!! We have all the stuff from the Eagle Project packed up and ready to go and all of Meili's stuff is packed....and nanny gifts, and guide gifts, etc. There's a heck of a lot of stuff we are taking that thankfully we get to leave there. We have our flights booked. We leave Wednesday the 28th at 5:00 and reach Beijing at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday! It'll be a long flight but also very exciting. We tour around in Beijing for a few days and are still working out the details but plan to spend a couple of visits with Meili. Her 3rd birthday is on Sunday and we are hoping it works to bring her cake and have a little party. Our itinerary is a little messed up right now. They first told us we would be meeting her in her province on August 2......when we got the itinerary it has us down for picking her up on the 3rd and flying to her province on the 2nd. I questioned my agency and they weren't sure why the difference....

We FINALLY got our travel approval on Friday. We were so surprised and totally excited. A batch of TAs had come in earlier in the week on Tuesday and we really thought our TA was coming. Heidi even called on Wednesday when the WHOLE family was home and we were all screaming and jumping around when the phone rang. Then much to our total disappointment she had called to inform us that our TA had NOT come in and that the CCAA had informed her that no other TAs would be coming that week. Um....an email probably would've been less dramatic for us :) The agency never calls unless it's BIG news and until then it's never been BAD news. So we were pretty disappointed but she told us the CCAA did think our TA would be sent the next week sometime. So on Friday when I saw her number come up, I tried not to get my hopes up.....but it was awesome because the CCAA even surprised her when our TA came in that day. So anyway, we are waiting to see if we get our consulate appointment...

We are officially going insane. We are still waiting for our travel approval and yesterday there were many TAs that came through and some even had Article 5 dates later than ours. We are thrilled for these families but are sad we weren't in that batch. All in God's hands and I guess we haven't learned enough patience yet. So I have decided to try to focus on other things and I realized I hadn't updated the blog with the Eagle Scout Project. Josh did a wonderful job. He conducted the whole fundraiser dinner/bake sale/talent show. It was a huge success. We had such awesome support. The bake sale alone raised over $600.00. People were so generous. They really opened up their hearts to these orphans. We had a slide show also that added a really nice personal touch and also a supply table that showed exactly what we would be purchasing with the money. Overall, Josh raised $3295.00!! It was awesome. Here are some pictures from the event. We are so proud of Jos...