10 Days to China!

I can't believe it's been nearly 20 days since I've last posted.  That just tells you how much is going on!

We leave for China on October 4, just 10 days from now.  We will fly into Shanghai where Stephanie will meet us.  We have applied for permission to travel to Luke's Orphanage in Shanghai.  We will arrive in Jinan, the provincial Capital of Shandong on the 9th.  Our Gotcha Day is the 10th although rumor has it that they might bring Claire a day early.  We will be in Jinan for several days and are hoping to travel to ZaoZhuang to Claire's Orphanage.  We will then go to Guangzhou and have our Consulate Appointment on the 18th.  We head home on the 20th.

I've been waking up between 3 and 5 every morning and lay awake thinking about the things that need to be done or purchased for our trip.  My plan is to be packed tomorrow so that I have a week to think about the things I am forgetting.

I can't believe that in just a couple of weeks we will have Claire with us!  We are all so excited!

Travel Update

Well, no one ever said any of this was going to work smoothly.  October is apparently a really bad month to try to travel.

The first week of October is a National Holiday so all government offices will be closed for the week!!!  Wondering why we don't have holidays like that in the US??

Gotcha Day can only be on a Monday and US Consulate appointments must fall on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday the following week.  There are no consulate appointments available for the rest of September. We were able to confirm an appointment for October 11 but since the week before is a holiday, no one can complete their adoptions the second week.

There is a Trade Fair that starts in Guangzhou on the 14th of October through the 4th of November.  This means two things, first:  It will be crazy busy in Guangzhou; and second: hotels, if available, will be double or triple the price.

So our options are pay extra or wait until November.  We don't want to wait.

We have asked that our Consulate appointment be on October 18 or 19.  That means that Gotcha Day will be 10/10.  Hoping for confirmation of that tomorrow.

In the meantime, we have faith that Claire will be with us exactly when she is supposed to.

Travel Approval!

We received travel approval today.  This means we can start setting dates to go get Claire!!  If Kevin were healthy we could leave next week, but that just isn't realistic.  Travel like that just less than 30 days after surgery doesn't make sense.  We have requested consulate appointments during the week of the 10th and the 16th(we have to give them 5 proposed dates) so we are waiting on those dates then we can figure out our actual travel dates.

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!

Just think!  Within 30 days we will have her in our arms!!  I am mentally ready to start  packing!!

Claire, sweet girl, our home, heads and hearts are ready for you to join us.  It won't be long now!

We love and can't wait to see you!!