Patientce...

I was never good at this. In approximately 15 minutes Samuel will be handed to his Baba. Why do I feel like throwing up. Lord help me y'all. I feel like my heart is in the delivery room but my body is in the waiting room!

Just got an email from my FIL. They are at the train station and are waiting to board. Next stop... Nanjing! I cannot believe that I will be seeing Samuel's face Sunday night! CRAZY!!!!!!
So sorry the posts have lacked meat! I get to skype with Shannon once or twice a day. They just strolled around Shanghai the last few days and didn't have a guide so they just stuck close to the hotel. Hopefully there will be a little more substance once they get to Nanjing and have a guide. I think that Shannon is anxious to get Samuel. What a sweet daddy :)

Shanghai

So the guys took a stroll around Shanghai today! I don't think they wandered too far. At first they were going to get a guide but it was about 1000 RMB's and they thought they could do it themselves. They said they saw some very interesting things and it was very smoggy. I did convince them to send me one picture.

Shannon got into a discussion with a shaolin priest. Turns out he wanted money.I walked across the street when the light changed. I turned around and Shannon had not followed me. I can't leave him alone for a second.

They have one more day in Shanghai, which they just started and then will take the train to Jiangsu Saturday!! WHOOT WHOOT!!

And a very Happy Birthday to my niece Delaney!! We (me and the kids, Shannon and his dad, and my in-laws in Greenville and sister-in-law and family and brother-in-law and his wifey) were able to sing happy birthday to her and watch her blow out her candles!! Skype is a beautiful thing!!

I miss my sweet hubby terribly :( Love you babe!!!!

I love that face!!!

Ahhhh :) That's more like it! Live from Shanghai, it's Shannon!!!!! I have been waiting since 10:30 yesterday morning to see this face :) They were just getting ready for breakfast and head out for the day! I am sure those Sharp boys will find something to get into! Have I mentioned how much I love this face???




This is the finished link that Shannon made for the kids. They look forward to seeing what dad left for them each day!

Few more days and it's Samuel time!!!

It's all I have

I finally talked to Shannon about 9:45 this morning and it was 10:45 pm in China. The flight was uneventful as far as they were concerned and they were off to bed. I hope that we will be able to Skype sometime soon as the kids and I are missing him terribly. Thankful that they arrived safely!!!!

And they are off...

And I will tell you it was MUCH harder than I had anticipated it being. I knew that "the cry" was coming. It was just a matter of time really. Stuart and Shannon checked their baggage and we headed to the terminal where you go through security. I whipped out my camera and began taking pictures of Shannon and his dad, and asked Staurt to take one of Shannon and I. Just the way he put his arm around me... tighter than usual....

Little story about Shannon and I. We met on February 5th, got engaged on July 26th and we were married January 13th. A whirlwind romance right from the start. He was NOT my type ( or so I thought) and we kinda went on this date to appease some friends. Neither of us wanted to be in a relationship. Yeah.
We have been married for 10 years. He is the kindest man I have ever met in my life. He is precious to me and to our kids and he is fiercely protective of his family. He is the most loyal person I have ever met. And he knows me better than I know myself. See, I can say all of this because he is on his way out of the country :) He would certainly be embarrassed :) We have been through so much together, as any couple, but he has handled the bad times with grace and strength. Just the way he looks at me, or the way he leaves me the last donut, or the last glass of tea. He's just THAT kinda guy :) And I love him so...

So it was no surprise to me when I looked at him upon saying goodbye that he had tears in his eyes. That is another thing I love about him. When he feels something he feels it through and through. That's when I lost it. I know that I will see him soon. I know that I will see him on Skype. I know he will be back... with our son. But his absence will surely be evident in our day to day lives.

They are going to land in Shanghai at 6:30am our time in the morning and I cannot wait to hear his voice on the other end of the phone.

4 days ...

Four days until lift off. Yep. 4. Quatro. IV. That's it.

I have a crazy calmness about me. And that kinda scares me!! I got skype up and running and chatted with my FIL and nieces and nephew and that helped ALOT. The last time we went to China our web cam didn't work and it was TORTURE not to be able to see Elias everyday. So now that this is working I feel a bit better. My FIL has an international cell phone and I can call anytime I need to. That, and I spread the news throughout the police department that my husband works for to please do several drive by's. Okay fine, I begged them :) A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

Shannon and I spent the night finishing up the shopping for the trip. There was just a little bit that we needed to get, so it was really nice spending time with him just laughing and talking. We realized that it would be a looooong time before we would have anything resembling a Friday night-date night. It's all good and certainly worth the trade off, but I do love that man and connecting with him over dinner (or in Target in our case tonight) is such a refreshing time for me!

Shannon made links for the kids tonight. That way they can count down and read a note from their dad everyday.




After he wrote them out (one side for each kiddo... awwww) I wanted to tape them together. But couldn't find my tape. I knew that Norah had it last because she will tape any and everything that shouldn't have tape on it. The first place I went was to her play kitchen. Oh. My. Stars. Apparently I haven't done damage control in a while.





I don't even know what to say.

So back to packing...

This is Shannon's suitcase.



Minus the clothes. Guess I need to work on this too.


This is me. You don't see me in front of the camera too much. There is reason for that! I look MUCH better behind it :)




And some random pictures of the kids....












Taken when I SHOULD have been packing....

FOUR MORE DAYS!!!!!!!! WHOOT WHOOT!!